Bak Kut Teh, or directed translated from Chinese as “Meat Bone Tea”; is the greatest Chinese invention ever. I might be exaggerating a little, but this humble dish has fed generations so it’s not too far from the truth from a foodie’s perspective. Although the origin of BKT remains one of the most debatable, I choose to believe that Klang is where it all begins, at least in Malaysia. And we all have Mr Lee Boon Teh to thank. Mr Lee came to Malaysia in 1940s and started selling Bak Kut Teh to fellow early Chinese immigrants who were working at the port, and this dish serves as a tonic soup to replenish their energy and boost their health.

At its very simplest, BKT is just meat and bones slowly simmered in fragrant Chinese medicinal herbs. An order of BKT would be your favourite cut of meat, a bowl of rice, with optional YouTiao (Chinese fried dough) and a side of soy sauce with chili. A lot of places have included things such as mushrooms, tofu, green veges etc. But in this post I’m only including the original type of BKT.

You see, one of our resolutions for 2017 is to be more active and we try to go hiking/running every weekend. For the most part of the year we’ve been keeping to our promise. But the reward came rather randomly as a form of BKT in Klang, especially if we go for hike at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam, which is kinda nearby. So far we’ve visited 3 different outlets (multiple visits) and first one I’ve like to share is Mo Sang Kor.

Mo Sang Kor 毛山稿肉骨茶

Mo Sang Kor is located at Taman Berkeley, and I believe they have another branch in Hutong Lot 10 as well as Puchong. Although I’m not sure if they are as good as the original. Anyway, this place is relatively big, so even on a busy Sunday it’s not hard to get a table. The waiting time might be significantly longer if the place is packed. As this was the first Klang BKT we’ve visited, we left them to recommend a mixture of parts for us and this is what we got:

We got the Sai Kuat (Small bone) and Pork Knuckle, each come in a small bowl. Yeah the bowl is rather small and the amount of soup is not what we accustomed ourselves to, but just check out the colour! It is so far the thickest soup we’ve had, each mouthful delivering a powerful punch of herbal notes as well as the unmistaken gelatinous mouthfeel from the pork fat. The meat totally melts in the mouth with the flavour of the soup fully permeated.

Note that they don’t serve YouTiao here. But a lot of people buy their own from the hawker centre nearby, which we did too. Condiments wise, they have soy sauce and chili padi, as well as garlic which you have to get from the counter. Personally I felt that the garlic is not even needed with this.

Our second visit was also on a Sunday. This time we had an idea of what we want, though they ran out of Tua Kut by the time we got there. We got Pun Fei Shao (Half lean half fat), Chicken Feet, Pork Belly.

Good news is, the food remain consistent, but the service left a lot to be desire for. Our food took a long time to come (some of the customers who arrived later got theirs), but the lady told us we ordered the ‘wrong’ cut that’s why we got ours late. *shrugs* Oh well, plenty of other BKT shops to go to I guess.

Seng Huat 盛发肉骨茶

A week later, we visited Seng Huat, which is operated by one of the third generation Lee (that’s right, there are a few of them still selling the original recipe from Mr Lee), now this one is more famously known as BKT under the bridge and it’s been around since 1979. We went there on a Monday (one of the very few that opens on a Monday by the way) and happy to see that it’s not too packed at lunch time. This time we ordered more confidently, going for the Tua Kut, Small Intestines and Pun Fei Shao (yes I like my fatty pork if you haven’t noticed).

Check out that glorious piece of bone! Which I may or may not ngaw on after the deed. The soup here is a little lighter than Mo Sang Kor, and it’s not as thick. But still very much full of flavours with a nice balance of sweetness too. The Tua Kut is amazing here, with plenty of skin on offer. We also enjoyed the intestines. Here they serve YouTiao, chili padi and soy sauce, but no garlic.

Our second visit, just yesterday. We arrived at 11am and the crowd was crazy! Luckily we found a table of a twosome who were ok to share the table with us. Same order of Tua Kut, intestines and pun fei shao, along with YouTiao. Same satisfaction. Currently this would be our favourite until a better one comes along. This costed us RM45 in total. So, not entirely cheap, but worth it lah!

Chow Kiat 超吉美味肉骨茶

This one was recommended by none other than kyspeaks, another BKT monster. This one is another local favourite, so you best go there before 1030am before all the nice cuts sell out. We arrived there a little before that and they already ran out of YouTiao! Anyway, we went for our favourite parts again.

The Golden triangle of Tua Kut, Intestines and Fatty Pork! Big boner alert! There was so much meat on that bone it’s a little intimidating at that hour, hahaha. The soup here, also deliciously thick, although I’d say that it’s a little more on the salty side and less sweet. I’d say the meat here tastes somehow lighter than Seng Huat. They too serve this with soy sauce and chili. The reason I keep mentioning this is apparently if you go to the original BKT Teck Teh run by Mr Lee’s grandson, you don’t even get any condiment at all. We still want to go there though one day to try it out.

So these are the 3 BKT restaurants we have tried so far, there are many more on the list, which I’m sure I’ll blog again when we accumulate enough hehe.

So how big a BKT fan are you and do you have a favourite Klang BKT restaurant? All suggestions are welcome!

Restoran Bah Kut Teh Mo Sang Kor
41 Leboh Bangau, Taman Berkeley,
41150 Klang, Selangor.

Restoran Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh
No.9, Jalan Besar, 41000 KLANG
Selangor Daru Ehsan, Malaysia

Restoran Chow Kiat
Jalan Kapar, Kawasan 18,
41400 Klang, Selangor