En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh opens at Chinatown Point
Previously home to the popular donburi chain Aburi-EN, En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh has taken over the Japanese restaurant at Chinatown Point. A collaboration between EN Group and Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh, a Klang eatery that’s been around since 1990, the new restaurant offers an interesting lineup of dry and soup bak kut teh with a touch of Japanese influence. As a bak kut teh (BKT) lover, I was excited to see how their pork rib dish fared against other popular restaurants in Singapore.
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Food at En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh
My colleague and I tried a total of four signature dishes, alongside some sides, drinks, and desserts. Let’s start with the restaurant’s claim to fame: the Signature 4 Types Assorted Meats Claypot Bak Kut Teh ($18.90++). FYI, this dish follows the original Klang restaurant’s recipe.
For the curious, En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh’s version features the Hokkien BKT style that boasts a herbaceous flavour instead of the more commonly found peppery, Teochew-style bak kut teh in Singapore. This dish featured a dark herbal broth with a wide variety of ingredients: pork trotter, pork ribs, pork belly, Hokkaido pork collar, shiitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, tofu puffs, and fried beancurd. Also, this dish is meant to be shared between two diners.
Despite having more than 15 herbs and spices in its mix, the vegetal aroma of the broth wasn’t overpowering, which I appreciated. While I enjoy a good herbal broth for bak kut teh, I find that overdoing it with the herbs tends to steal the attention from the ingredients—I was worried it would be like that since there were four types of pork included. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case for this dish.
The broth was robust and all the meat—except a few outlier pieces of tougher-than-usual pork ribs—was soft and tender. My main gripe, though, was the oily soup that probably resulted from the generous amount of pork in the dish. The accumulated oil made the broth slightly thicker and richer than expected; the overall mouthfeel wasn’t as light as I’d wished.
If you like pig offal in your bak kut teh, the Pork Sweet Intestines Bak Kut Teh ($8.50++) is a good choice. This dish was much simpler than the previous one; you get a bowl of the same herbal broth with pork intestine pieces that were chewy and tasted clean.
Next up, my favourite dish of the lot: Claypot Dry Pork Belly Bak Kut Teh ($12.90++). Flavourful with just the right kick of spice thanks to a mix of dry chilli and green chilli, the pork belly chunks in this dish were also extra tender and delicious.
The lady’s fingers and sliced cuttlefish helped cut through the fatty, greasy parts of the pork belly.
For those who prefer seafood to meat, opt for the Claypot Dry Assorted Seafood Bak Kut Teh ($19.90++) instead. This dish features a winning combination of black cod slices, white clams, and red sea prawns. Both the dry claypot dishes follow Yeoh’s original recipe, too!
It can get jelak if you consume the dry claypot dishes on their own, so I recommend getting a side of their Japanese Scallion Rice ($2.90++) or Soumen ($3.20++) depending on your preferred carb choice. My colleague and I enjoyed the rice more than the noodles as it was extra moist, fragrant, and pillowy soft, serving as the ideal canvas for the savoury dishes.
Moving on to the sides, I had two must-haves in every bak kut teh meal: Dough Fritters ($2.50++) and Salted Vegetables ($2.50++). If you could only choose one, I’d say go for the latter as they paired exceptionally well with both the soup and dry bak kut teh.
The Braised Pork Large Intestine ($8.90++), on the other hand, wasn’t the best I’ve had. I had no issue with the texture—the pork intestines were soft with a good bite. But flavour-wise, they were slightly gamey, leaving my colleague and I uninspired to finish the dish.
We preferred the Japanese-inspired Bak Kut Teh Lava Egg ($2.90++), featuring a sliced lava egg covered in house-made bak kut teh sauce, then topped with black tobiko.
Another Japanese-inspired side is En Yeoh’s Signature Edamame ($6.50++), great to munch on before the mains.
Food aside, the restaurant doubles as a bar with a selection of drinks I can guarantee you’ve never heard of before.
My colleague and I washed down everything with two unique cocktails: Sino Miso ($17++) and Warm Your Heart and Stomach ($23++).
The former is a combination of two popular Chinese liquours, Maotai Chun and Nu Er Hong, with a touch of elderflower syrup and white miso. This umami-laden drink was bittersweet yet smooth and boasted an aromatic finish to every sip.
The second drink, on the other hand, is a warm cocktail ideal for sharing between two to four diners. This tipple stars the same liquours as the aforementioned cocktail, and blended with herbal bak kut teh broth! I’ve never tried anything like this before—let’s just say the flavour profile was interesting with a savoury edge.
We then rounded our meal off with two scoops of liquor-infused ice cream: Haizhilan Ice Cream ($5++) and Moutai Ice Cream ($6++). A word of caution, the alcoholic taste was rather intense in both flavours, so only go for them if you can handle it.
Ambience at En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh
I enjoyed dining at this quaint restaurant, adorned with traditional elements. Though it didn’t feel the most spacious as the seats were tightly arranged, En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh can seat more than 50 diners at once. It’s located on the first floor of Chinatown Point, which is within spitting distance of Chinatown MRT Station.
During our visit, En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh was occupied mostly with office workers. If you work near the area, I recommend giving the restaurant a shot.
The verdict
If you’re a fan of herbal BKT, En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh is worth a shot. I recommend getting their dry claypot dishes too, as they turned out to be my favourite.
In related content, read our guide to the best bak kut teh in Singapore. Otherwise, read our Chinatown Point food guide for dim sum, hotpot suppers and more.
Address: 133 New Bridge Road, #01-44, Chinatown Point, Singapore 059413
Opening hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
Website
En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh is not a halal-certified eatery.
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Photos taken by John Lery Villanueva.
This was a media tasting at En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh.
The post En Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh Review: Popular Klang Eatery Opens In Chinatown With Claypot BKT appeared first on EatBook.sg – Local Singapore Food Guide And Review Site.
