i mentioned in a previous post that i was heading back to KL for a gastro-fest. each time i head back, there’s a list of things that i HAVE to eat in order to consider my time there well spent. one of the main dishes is bak kut teh.
my friendly pal wikipedia describes bak kut teh as ‘meat bone tea’, and is best described as various pieces of meat simmered in a broth of herbs and spices. the broth has a very distinct flavour and the dish probably stands at the more adventurous end of the local food scale for those who are trying malaysian cuisine for the first time.
i normally head to cheow sang, a restaurant in ss2 (a suburb in petaling jaya, selangor). apparently this restaurant now also has a branch in aman suria (another PJ suburb), a stone’s throw from where dad stays at, but this time we decided to head to another bak kut teh restaurant in subang jaya (yet another PJ suburb).
bak kut teh is never complete without a serve of yeow char kuay (fried dough) that you dip into the broth before eating.
my mouth is watering. crap.
you also need to soak freshly chopped garlic and cili padi (birds eye chillis) in soy which you use to dip the meat in later. another key ingredient to the bak kut teh experience 
the main cut of meat would be pork ribs. but depending on how adventurous you are you can also opt for tripe, tendons, intestines and stomachs. i’m a rib and stomach girl myself!
this is served with rice, and i personally soak my rice in the broth, soak my meat in the spicy, garlicky soy and then eat that all together (with a soggy yeow char kuay piece if that fits in too!). but, you know, whatever floats your boat.
we normally order a serve of veggies on the side as well, normally lettuce with oyster sauce and garlic.
depending on how monstrous our appetites are dad and i also normally get a small serve of cold tofu (also with oyster sauce and garlic) that is normally served in bak kut teh restaurants.
because of the crazy variety of brunch options in KL i only had this dish once. but man i wish i had more now!
