Get ready to welcome The Year of the Tiger! This year, the first day of Lunar New Year falls on 14 February 2010. Even if you forget to mark your calendar, the queues that start forming at bak kwa shops will remind you that Chinese New Year is just round the corner.
Strangely, although bak kwa is available all-year round, many folks are willing to pay inflated prices and queue for hours during this time just to get their hands on the barbequed meat.
Well, we may not understand this irrational behaviour but if you have to have your bak kwa for Chinese New Year, then spend your time and money on those that are worth it!
At inSing.com, we conducted a blind taste test on five brands of sliced barbequed pork to find the best. Here’s our verdict!
Address: 203 New Bridge Road
Opening hours: 9am – 10pm
Price: $44 per kg
Rating: 4.5/5
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know that Lim Chee Guan takes top spot for the longest bak kwa queue every year. The shop really doesn’t need the extra publicity, but truly, its bak kwa is the unanimous favourite among our panel of tasters. The meat was very well-marinated, with a great balance of sweet and savoury flavors. The robust, umami flavours burst in our mouths as we chewed on the tender and succulent meat. It also had a lovely, subtle smokiness. However, this was also the fattiest bak kwa in our round-up, which could prove a bit too rich for some. Also, we detected that the oil was slightly rancid in some pieces.
Address: 189 New Bridge Road
Opening hours: 7am-10.30pm
Price: $45 per kg
Rating: 4/5
One thing we didn’t like about Bee Cheng Hiang’s sliced BBQ pork was its inconsistent quality. Some pieces were juicy and tender, while some were tough and fibrous. The good ones were a joy to devour. The meat was well-marinated, succulent, not too fatty, and had good bite. It was a bit on the salty side, but overall, the sweet and savoury flavors were robust and nicely balanced. If not for its uneven consistency, we’d have rated this 4.5.
Tel: 63245825
Opening hours: 10am-6pm
Price: $38 per kg
Rating: 3.5/5
At first glance, the bak kwa here looked lean and dry, but it turned out to be quite moist and tender. Although the meat lacked fat, it was pleasantly soft and chewy to the bite. Taste-wise, it wasn’t too salty and was sweet without being cloying. However, it lacked a smoky flavour. There was also a hint of chemical after-taste. Overall, we thought it was pretty good, but we wished the flavours were more distinctive.
Opening hours: 10am-8pm
Price: $43 per kg
Rating: 3.5/5
For many years, Kim Joo Guan was a wholesaler supplying bak kwa to famous retail brands, but it recently entered the retail market. We found that its seasoning tasted similar to Bee Cheng Hiang, with a good blend of sweet-salty flavours. The meat was very thickly sliced, in fact, the thickest among those reviewed here. Although the meat was fatty, it was dry and tough to chew in some parts. The bak kwa also had a very strong char-grilled smoky flavour, which some of us liked, but others thought was overpowering. On a side note, we were rather impressed with its classy packaging.
Opening hours: 9am-10pm
Price: $45 per kg
Rating: 1/5
This was a major disappointment. Fragrance’s bak kwa was overly sweet and had no savoury flavours. Also, the meat was very soft, but not in a good way. The worse part was this strong porky smell detected by all the tasters. Needless to say, it was extremely unpleasant. We tried hard to find some redeeming features, but Fragrance’s bak kwa failed in every aspect.
Note: Prices listed for all the brands above will most likely increase closer to Chinese New Year. Opening hours will also be extended. Please check with individual outlets for latest prices and opening hours.
For more bak kua shops click here: Bak Kua
