A great bowl of teh

I haven’t posted for a few days because I had to take a quick work trip to Penang, Malaysia. Usually, I love going there. The street food in Penang is fantastic. Sadly, it is far better than what we get these days in Singapore. Unfortunately, because of the nature of this trip, I wasn’t able to take too much time off to visit my favourite eating stalls.

One, though, that I was able to pop into, mostly because it was just a few steps from the hotel I stayed in, was Zealand Seafood Restaurant, on Gurney Drive. This moderately sized, open air and old-fashioned eatery serves what I think is some pretty damn good bak kut teh. Bak kut teh, for the uninitiated, is a pork bone soup commonly found in both Malaysia and Singapore. It’s eaten all times of the day, but most seem to prefer it early in the morning or very late at night (after a big night out). It’s eaten with rice, fried dough sticks, or simply on its own.

I’ll be honest. I don’t like the bak kut teh that most stalls in Singapore sell. Here, it’s a clear, watery soup flavoured with too much pepper and garlic. It also usually comes with few edible ingredients — a few pieces of bone with a bit of meat on it, but that’s it. The bak kut teh served in Penang, and elsewhere throughout Malaysia, by contrast, is world’s apart. It’s made with less garlic and less pepper and with many more herbs and spices (among them dong quai, cinnamon, wolfberries, star anise and ginseng). The broth is usually dark and flavourful. The soup is also served with a heaping portion of pork bones, bork belly, mushrooms, bean curd skin, and other yummy treats.

The version served at Zealand is delicious. It’s well-balanced and very tasty. And you can also get as many refills of broth as you like. I know I try to stop here at least once whenever I visit Penang. So should you.

Zealand Seafood Restaurant
62 Gurney Drive
10250 Penang
Tel: 012 4738877