Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh

Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh (黄亚细肉骨茶) is one of the most famous Bak Kut Teh store in Singapore.

Bak Kut Teh literally translates to "meat bone tea". It is actually a soup dish that consist of meaty pork ribs cooked together for hours with garlic, herbs and spices.

Ng Ah Sio serve Singapore styled Bak Kut Teh, which is a clear and peppery version of this pork rib soup. Ng Ah Sio used to be run in a very traditional manner.

One of the reasons why this store got so famous was because they used to only open at selected hours and supposedly rejected Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Donald Tsang's request to visit during the afternoon simply because he requested to visit during their break. (To be fair, it's probably not his request but one of his assistant's request)

All my relatives from Hong Kong know this as the bak kut teh store that rejected the Chief Executive.

Nowadays, Ng Ah Sio is run in a modern, corporate manner, with much longer operating hours, a whole host of newer staff. Thankfully, the food remains as good as ever.

The soup base of Ng Ah Sio's Bak Kut Teh is peppery hot whilst the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. I think bak kut teh goes best with some fried dough fritters, which you can use to dip in the soup to soak up the dough fritters before popping into your mouth, where you get a burst of hot soup and then the flavour of the fried dough fritters.

A true bak kut teh experience is never complete without the traditional chinese tea, which is what the "teh" (tea) in bak kut teh is all about. The slightly bitter Chinese tea cleanses your palate and washes down every thing just nicely.

This is one of my favourite places to bring friends from overseas to.

A bowl of peppery hot bak kut teh, with the taste of garlic in the background

Traditional Chinese tea, also called Kung-Fu tea, is a must to go with Bak Kut Teh

A Tourist in Singapore

The Husband and I decided we'd go to the Titanic Exhibition at the Art Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands, based on Petunia's recommendation.

I felt like a tourist in Singapore because everywhere we went today were not familiar to me. We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant we have never visited at the Millenia Walk, then went to the museum which I've never been to. The Titanic Exhibition was an interesting one, but what was more interesting to me was the view outside - a view of Singapore's financial district and key landmarks from a totally new angle.

After the exhibition, we went for tea at the Marina Bay Shopping Centre (The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands). I was surprised to find an ice-skating ring and a mini-canal (like those you see in Venice) in the mall! I didn't know you find these things in Singapore!

On my way home, I decided that I should start 'exploring' Singapore a bit more. There are still lots of places in this small island I've yet to visit.

Chamomile Tea from Teapigs

I am rather particular when it comes to tea.

Hence, we have a huge collection of tea leaves and bags at home.

We have pu-er tea that we bought from this very old shop in Kowloon City in Hong Kong. A very treasured box of white tea leaves from an ex-colleague of mine from China. Matcha and a whole lot of various green teas we picked up during our trips to Japan. A good but often neglected tin of oolong tea leaves from Taiwan.

For the more "western" type of teas, I like the No. 14 Tea from Harrods, French Earl Grey from Singapore's TWG and Tetley tea.

Apart from tea leaves and bags, we also have quite a bit of those stuff that you can't strictly call tea - yuzu jam for Yuzu tea, dried lemongrass for lemongrass tea and various types of dried flowers for floral tea.

Even with all those teas in my tea cupboard, I still often find myself replenishing the supplies for my top favourites.

Teapigs is a brand I discovered this year during my business trip to London. This company considers themselves "tea evangelists" and claim that they only sell teas of the highest quality. I have tried a number of their teas and I think their teas are pretty good. All there teas contain whole tea leafs.. and their floral teas whole flowers.

My favourite tea from Teapigs is their chamomile flowers. In the triangular tea bags (which they call tea temples), you can actually see whole flowers.

The tea is very fragrant. My colleague sitting next to me often comment on this tea whenever I make it, saying she can smell it distinctly from where she sits. The taste is also surprisingly sweet, with not one bit of bitter aftertaste.

This particular tea puts me in a very calm and relaxed mood after drinking, which is good.

I find myself asking friends or colleagues going to the UK to buy this for me, to replenish my tea cupboard. It's good to know that there is now a shop in Singapore at Takashimaya that stocks this particular brand as well.

I like the pretty looking flowers in the bag and the colour of the tea!