Sin Heng (Herbal style) Claypot Bak Kut Teh

Generally speaking, Bak Kut Teh comes in two main varieties - the "Singapore style," which is relatively clear soup with loads of garlic and white pepper, and the Herbal soup style which (as its' name suggests, is a darker, stronger and thicker soup). Which style you prefer probably heavily depends on which soup you grew up drinking; since the darling and I grew up in Malaysia, we prefer the KL style.

Which is sort of a bummer in Singapore because we haven't really found any good herbal-style places so far. A friend of ours suggested Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh over on Joo Chiat Road, and since it was only about a 10 minute bus ride away, we pay a visit to see if it's any good.


The claypot BKT (without any spare parts) costs SGD12 and comes with a solid amount of meat for two average eaters. It's predominantly pork ribs; which are pretty tender without falling off the bone easily. However, we found that the soup was subpar, tasting of herbs and pepper and nothing else - in our opinion, a good BKT soup should also have a strong porky taste.


The egg fuyong with prawn (SGD7) is decently sized, and is pretty par for the course. Could perhaps use a tad bit more seasoning, though.


Kai Lan is also SGD7 ... normally we don't like ordering vegetables at restaurants because of the huge mark-up on the (extremely cheap) base cost of the greens, but with so much meat we felt compelled to order it.

Sin Heng is on 439, Joo Chiat Road. It's not within walking distance from an MRT station so you'll have to take a bus, or drive. In our opinion it's not good enough to really travel to eat on purpose, but as the restaurant is open til 4am in the mornings, it's available if you live nearby and need to satisfy a BKT craving :) Closed on Mondays. Non-halal.