Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Soup Eating House

I am not a fan of Bak Kut Teh. However a program on the TV made me crave for the hot peppery soup. In Singapore, there are 2 version of BKT. The peppery version and the herbal version. I’ve tried both and the peppery version always has been my favorite.
The dishes that was ordered.
1. Signature Pork Rib and Meaty Rib soup. (This is the BKT)
2. Braised peanuts
3. Braised soy beancurd platter
4. Braised egg
5. Preserved Vegetables
Review in order above.
1. For the BKT, the soup is full of flavor. However, it’s a little too peppery for my tastebuds. For those who likes really very peppery soup, this is for you!!! The soup, although too peppery for me, is very addictive!!! The good thing about this place is that you can ask the wait staff to refill your soup. Even when the soup is too peppery for me, I had my soup refilled once. So you know how addictive this soup is.
There are 3 pieces of ribs in a bowl. 2 short and 1 long rib. The pork rib, i prefer the short meaty rib as it is more tender. The more expensive long rib, the meat seems to be more dry when compared to the short rib. Couldn’t find any of those melt in the mouth garlic cloves though.
2. The braised peanuts are not from the tin as some other eateries served. It’s braised by them. One of the more enjoyable side dish.
3. There’s nothing special about the braised soy beancurds. In fact it’s just taste of salt nothing special.
4. The braised egg was ok. It’s fresh egg though not overnight eggs which is something that’s nice as the white is still soft and there’s no weird smell in the yolk as in eggs that’s are not fresh.
5. The preserved vegetables is the let down side dish. The letdown is, the only flavor is the vegetable oil taste. No other taste. This dish is supposed to have the melt in ur mouth texture. But the dish served here is hard and flavorless except for the oil taste. This is the dish that I won’t be ordering again.
Besides all the above dishes, I had the fried dough, you tiao 油條. This is a must have for dunking into the soup! Let it soak in all the goodness of the soup and stuff the bite size dough into your mouth. That’s pure happiness! The good thing about this fried dough is that it’s not oily at all!!! So my soup was not contaminated with the smell of the oil from the fried dough.
This place has an old school feel with newly renovated interior that has a clean feeling. The only setback is that they have no aircon in the place which can be terrible if the weather gets too hot. Otherwise I won’t mind coming back again.

I am not an expert of bak kut teh and in fact, I have only started eating the dish after I moved to Singapore. But even before that, I have heard of Ng Ah Sio. It was made pretty famous by our former Chief Executive. The story was that on his prior official visit to Singapore, the former CE asked Ng Ah Sio to extend its opening hours to accommodate his schedule (at that time the store only operated till early afternoon) but his request was readily declined. That’s why Ng Ah Sio is very famous in Hong Kong and I am curious to see how good it is.
I went with my family who were in town for a short visit. We didn’t try the side dish but shared a pork rib soup with some rice and fried dough (you tiao). They have two kinds of pork ribs, one is the long rib and the other is the bone with meat. The rib appears to have less meat but this is an illusion because the rib meat is quite fatty as well. I really like the peppery flavour and the soup at Ng Ah Sio is definitely on the peppery side so I am very satisifed. To finish the soup, we had three servings of the fried dough. The strong taste also meant that plain rice is a complement. We ordered the Kung Fu tea which you can brew and make yourself with the table side kettle, the tea helps wash away the greasiness and is a good substitute for coffee as we were having bah kut teh as our breakfast. Service was efficient and the place was neat and clean. We definitely felt very full after the meal and I understand why this is a popular item among early Chinese settlers, especially the laborers.
After the meal, we walked down Ragoon Road towards Little India and we saw another bak kut teh shop, Founder’s bkt. It seems like a very popular place too and I wonder if it tastes very different. But we are too full to try another bowl of bak kut teh so perhaps I will return with my next batch of visitors to Founders.

The perfect peppery herbal Bak Kut Teh. Authentic spacious clean. Must try when in Singapore. Remember to accompany the Bak Kut Teh with some tea. The stronger the better.

A friend of a friend is a local in Singapore and brought us to this place when we asked her to bring us somewhere we had to try.
I have no doubt in my mind that this is real authentic Singaporean food. You can tell, however, that the restaurant has been been given a look geared towards non locals, with the history of the restaurant on the walls, and menus and signs in both Chinese and English.
We ordered many dishes to share but the focus is on the «bak kut teh» which translates roughly to «meat bone tea», and is a soup made from pork ribs. It’s intended to be an invigorating and nourishing staple. We each had a bowl of this dish to ourselves, and each bowl had a hearty amount of hot soup and at least two pork ribs with plenty of meat on the bones.
The soup was nothing like I’ve ever had before, very peppery and almost spicy. Normally, these flavors aren’t something I lean towards but the soup was addicting. It was a warm night but I still couldn’t stop drinking this hot soup! And you will never have to worry about running out of it because the ladies will come around and refill your bowl with more. The pork rib meat was not tender as some I’ve had before, but still good.
We also ordered a dish with mushrooms, another with vermicelli, one with braised duck (sliced thing and delicious!), pork feet, and asian veggies. All very standard, but yummy asian dishes.
*Wifi & password is on a sign on a column!

The restaurant had recently renovated so it has the new old-​school look. It’s clean but no air-​con with I would very much appreciate. By law (mine anyway), all restaurants that sell piping hot soup must install air-​con!!!
Let’s talk soup. Theirs is a peppery type. And I do mean PEPPERY! My hubby loves it while I found it a tad overpowering. Pepper was all I could taste. The pork ribs were quite tender despite being quite big chunks. Again, the meat in each serving was not a lot but the sliced pork bowl was value for dollar to raise your pork intake.
Their lettuce dish was the best dish, the one that stole the show in a meat-​dominated stall! Funny right?!? But the light but tasty sauce that covers the layers of crispy lettuces really does it for me! I had 2 plates of it!
I would personally not opt to return but if it’s majority’s choice then I won’t starve myself there, I’m picky but not a dumb.

Bak Kut teh broth is on point!- the right mixtures of spices, pepper, flavor and is temperature hot!
Got a box of broth to take home and make on my own– hopefully it turns out!

Came here for lunch with a group of coworkers and we feasted! Yes, we came here for the infamous bak kut teh and the peppery broth was very satisfying. I had the combo version of pork bones and pork ribs. Love all the melt in your mouth garlic cloves and the never-​ending supply of broth they come around with. I could drink this all day long but then we of course ordered a crazy selection of side dishes to eat too!
Braised peanuts, braised tofu, braised eggs, some veggies and oh, a plate of braised duck… there really were only 5 of us but we did pretty well in finishing everything off. I recommend all the items that we tried! Now I’ll just have to go back and explore the rest of the menu.

in itself, bak kut teh is a very strong-​tasting soup with (hopefully-​not-​too-​dry) pork ribs. the broth served up here is hot and strongly peppery, but I think a little too salty (though I find more bak kut tehs a little too salted for comfort), and slightly akin to what I boiled up from a packet*, while studying in london.
(*I haven’t yet decided if this is an insult or not.)
I’m more confident talking about the braised trotter, especially given my recent spate of pork-​hunting — but it does probably matter a lot on how you like your meat. I prefer it soft and pink (that sort of cooked pink you’d recognise in expert barbecue), tender and flake-​able, chewy but not tough, and no fat or sinew or skin (thanks very much, please).
with founder’s, the trotter comes whole with soft gelatinous skin surrounding tender meat; also the way I’ve discovered I prefer. over here though, it’s a chopped up mass of meat and skin and fat — which makes it difficult to sieve through for the lean meat, and the flavor isn’t nearly as deep or as satisfying as the former. I still ate it, but there’s nothing quite like breaking down an entire trotter.
but what’s impressive here is the array of sides you can order with your bowl of rib soup and trotter. it’s more quantity than quality though:
I’m partial to braised peanuts, though I’m no elitist — I can’t tell you if they’re canned or from scratch, but but they do the job. braised shitake mushrooms were a little less successful, with the taste of woody mushrooms rather overpowering any cover-​up the sauce might have tried.
lettuce leaves were exactly just that, wilted in a salty clear sauce and topped with garlic; and the most exotic dish was that of chilled blanched squid that came with a sweet dipping sauce. passable.
the cute thing about this place and its branches, is that it plays up all the nostalgia we associate with eating long passed with the years. shortish wooden chairs, retro-​looking tiles, kungfu teapots and cups, and self-​dispensing metal containers holding cutlery. it’s possibly the most hipster establishment ever, actually, given that all of this is a façade meant to trick you into thinking you’re back in those years gone by, except with air-​conditioning.
the food is passable, but only just. it loses to founder bak kut teh, and both lose to the ang mo kio eng kee (no photos, but I’ll try next time!) — but it’ll work in a pinch for a craving.

this might be my favorite bak kut teh spot. their soup is the most peppery and flavorful, and it’s the soup that really matters to me.
the actual pork is not that tender, although their pork kidney was perhaps a little too tender for me (i prefer mine sliced a little thicker so that it has more «meatiness»). some people probably prefer it that way, but it’s just not my personal preference.
the pork rib is not super tender, but it’s good enough, and easily overlooked when considering how damn good their broth is. last time i came here, i got 3 refills of the broth. my belly was sloshing around like a milk jug walking out of here, but damn was it worth it.

So here’s the drill:
1. Sit down and order a pot of tea
2. Order the Signature Pork Rub Soup
3. Choose your sides (My favorites include the preserved vegetables, and tofu)
4. Stuff your face
I used to love this place very much till they sold out and opened a million branches on other parts of the island. Singaporean Bak Kut Teh has this strong peppery flavor, and this soup used to have depth. Not anymore.

My favorite bak kut teh shop in Singapore. Compared to other stores, Ng Ah Sio serves the ‘strongest’ soup. It’s very peppery and bold in flavor, which is why I prefer it compared to the others. As for the ribs itself, I think it loses out to Ya Hua in terms of tenderness but not by much. Don’t forget to order the pork trotters. It’s served up with a wonderful garlic chilli sauce and it might even be better than the pork ribs itself!

Bah Kut Teh — Pork Ribs Soup at Ng Ah Sio is flavorful and delicious!
Ordered the Signature Spare & Pork Rib Combo Soup (SGD 7). The spare ribs were more tender than the pork ribs! I think next time I’ll ordered just the Signature Spare Ribs Soup (SGD 8). Even on a hot and humid day in Singapore, this dish is always great!
They also serve…
— signature pork rib soup (SGD 5.50)
— fish fillet soup (SGD 5.50)
— blanched pig liver (SGD 5.50)
— blanched pig kidney (SGD 5.50)
— blanched pig & liver combo (SGD 5.50)
— pig tail (SGD 5.50)
— braised pig intestine (SGD 5.50)
— braised pig skin (SGD 2)
— braised pig trotter (SGD 8)
— tau kua pok (SGD 2)
— braised peanuts (SGD 2)
— blanched lettuce (SGD 4)
— preserved vegetables (SGD 2)
— tang-​o (SGD 3)
— blanched xiao bai cai (SGD 4)
— fried you tiao (SGD 2)
— rice (sm SGD .5/​lrg .75)

In hawker lore, Ng Ah Sio is one of those that’s ‘made it’.
It’s got a prettily renovated shop on the same spot where it has been for many years. A wall adorned with pictures of famous celebrities and politicians.
I like it more than Song Fa because I think Ah Sio’s soup is a little richer and more intense; but I don’t love it.
My bak kut teh love will always be in Klang.