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A short drive from the CIQ, lies this bustling restaurant with a crazy crowd who would brave storms to taste a flavorsome light brown broth.  When I was a little girl, I would look forward to Saturdays because pa will bring us to this stuffy yet fulfilling restaurant if we manage to catch the morning church service!

Now that I’m a big girl, Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh is where I’ll head for piping hot herbal pork ribs soup with friends who don’t mind the heat! So last Saturday, I was there with Kelvin, Vic, Mariko and Cablenazi.

Vic looked like he was glaring at Cable Nazi for scooping ladle after ladle of broth from the claypot. Haha. By the way, Kelvin and Cablenazi was so pleased with the fare that they ate 2 bowls of rice which they really shouldn’t had. GUYS DON’T EAT SO MUCH RICE. Must remember to always leave some space for more yummy goodies when you’re in JB.

:S

Basically the most important feature of this dish is the broth: it is a balance between the herbal and peppery version of Bak Kut Teh. Ah Soon’s herbal version is a tad milder than Kedai Bak Kut Teh Hin Hock (another one of my favourite) but it is still delectable. I’m a really big fan of herbs and spices. It should contain star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic.

Well we were late, so there wasn’t much ‘stuff’ in the Bak Kut Teh lest for pork ribs. Normally in the morning before brunch,  we can find additional ingredients such as offal and pieces of dried tofu or fried tofu puffs added into this claypot delight at Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh. If you woke up late, just like us, then just be happy with the pork ribs.

Secret. The Bak Kut Teh tastes so good because uncle Ah Soon insist on using charcoal to prepare his specialty dish.

(:

The Bak Kut Teh came in a big claypot so we gotta scooped the herbie treat into individual bowls. Hm. It’s weird how I dislike to have my Bak Kut Teh served in little porcelain bowls.… If I can, I would just slurp the broth straight from the claypot because I like my Bak Kut Teh extra warm. Haha. Or perhaps it is the claypot illusion that there’s more broth and meat inside.

Oh when you’re here, do try the Yellow Rice Wine Claypot Chicken, Tau Pok/Fried Bean Curd and Salted Vegetables.

Yellow Rice Wine Claypot Chicken was awesome. The meat was so tender, moist and and we can tell from the taste of it that the usually dry and unspectacular chicken meat had successfully retained the sweet taste of rice wine! It must had been simmered really slowly over a small fire the entire morning.

Also, the soft and a little goey Tau Pok went extremely well with the thick soy sauce and cut chillies. Do remember to eat the Tau Pok immediately when it is served because it will not taste as nice after it turned cold. As for the salted Vegetables. In my opinion, Ah Soon’s salted vegetable is one of the best among the Bak Kut Teh restaurants in JB. It’s not too heavily salted yet briny enough to tantalise my taste buds with a slight hint of pickled sourness.

If you noticed, we didn’t have You Tiao/Chinese cruller fried bread stick. Another reason for you to have breakfast here instead of brunch/lunch.

For Bak Kut Teh (4 persons), Claypot Chicken (2 persons), 2 bowls of Salted vegetables and 2 bowls of Tau Pok, we spent roughly RM65 on lunch for 5 hungry adults. Not sure if Vic, Mariko or Kelvin gonna crave for this and be back again but I will definitely say yes  if dad wants to date me for breakfast this coming week when I’ll be back in JB for holidays. He’s the best. Cablenazi shall tag along if he has been a good boy this week.

Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh
141, Jalan Keris 1
Taman Sri Tebrau
Johor Bahru
016-7152678

Ah Soon is just 5 minutes walk away from the ‘famous’ Bamboo paper-wrapped herbal chicken which I personally think is over-rated. Would not recommend that Bamboo chicken restaurant because quality of food deteriorated after the renovation.

After our morning self-tour to the Hong Kong bird and flower market, we decided to have a typical Hong Kong breakfast at a Char Chan Teng. Ah dining at Char Chan Teng is an important part of Hong Kong’s culture as noted in many Hong Kong movies and TV dramas. Well Char Chan Teng is a traditional Hong Kong cafe that has this generic look. Even traditional cafes in Macau looks the same!

Since there are so many Char Chan Tengs around and we can’t decide which one to patron, what we did was we looked for a Char Chan Teng crowded with locals. Easy theory that work all the time! So we popped into a Char Chan Teng near Bird Market because there were many uncles with their birds (in cages of course) having breakfast! As expected, the food turned out to be really good. Here’s what we had at this Char Chan Teng.

That’s a Beef Chow fun, one of Hong Kong Char Chan Teng’s classics. Super nice! It has beef, hefen (wide rice noodles) and bean sprouts. Apparently all good chefs in Hong Kong should know how to whip up a good beef chow fun. The rice noodles is broad, elastic and a bit chewy.

Then we had a pork chop bun. The meat is quite tender but it was a little greasy. lol. The tomatoes were cold and freshly cut! Check out the sinful dollops of mayonnaise. This actually tasted better than the one we had in Macau.

When we’re in a Char Chan Teng, we cannot resists ordering the pineapple bun aka bo lo pau (???). Guess we watched too much Cantonese drama. This bun is so ‘familiar’ to us but we were pretty shocked when we found no pineapple in it.

Although bo lo pau is known as “pineapple bun”, it actually contains no pineapple! It’s “pineapple bun” because of its golden-brown sugary top crust which looks like a pineapple. Interesting.

The crusty top of the bo lo pau is made of sugar, eggs, flour, and lard. It’s kinda crunchy like sugar cookies. Sweet!

To yum cha (a term in Cantonese which means “drinking tea”), we had a quirky drink called Yuen yong (??), which is a mix of milk tea with coffee. It can be served hot or cold. I had the hot one while Mr.Ong had the cold one. We both prefer the cold version.

Well, most of the Char Chan Tengs offer the same fare. They normally have set meals and there are various sets throughout the day for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Their price is extremely affordable. We spent only S$12!

Dining at a Char Chan Teng is an eat-and-go experience. Well don’t expect service to be like a big restaurant. Char Chan Tengs are usually small and very busy. Be prepared to share a table with strangers, waiters yelling orders over your head or get the occasional nudge as people try to move about!

I would definitely not skip breakfast if ma prepares this every morning. Hehe.

Big breakfast! Lightly salted baked potatoes, crispy fresh lettuce, juicy tomatoes, bacon, baked beans and eggs! That’s a mouthful of goodness. Ma’s big breakfast beats MacDonald’s hands down.

Making your own big breakfast is much much healthier. It’s also very easy! Cut the lettuce and tomatoes a night before and store in the fridge. Next morning, bake/boil the potatoes, toast the bacon, heat the bake beans and fry an egg! Then, arrange everything nicely on the serving plate. Tada!

Your own Big Breakfast!