Kai Juan Bak Kut Teh

Look for a corner kopitiam with a pot of pork ribs on the go. The sign will not help you.

Come for the soup. Kai Juan serves bak kut teh the Teochew way, a clear, peppery broth rather than the dark, herbal Hokkien kind, and the refill is the reason to sit down; the ribs are the supporting act. It suits a solo lunch, a rainy afternoon or anyone who thinks a bowl of soup should make them sweat slightly. The compromise is that this is a no-frills stall in an old coffeeshop, with no extras and no polish, and on Sundays it is a lunch-only affair.

It is one of the stalwarts the National Heritage Board picked for its Balestier Food Trail, around for about 50 years. The name needs a small explanation. Many people know the stall as Kai Juan after the old-school coffeeshop it sits in, while regulars call it Ah Hak. So if you are hunting for a sign that says Kai Juan Bak Kut Teh, look instead for a corner kopitiam with a pot of pork ribs on the go.

That kopitiam is half the appeal: rusty gates, a granite floor, patterned bowls and wooden tables, and the general air of the 1970s. What you get is the soup, pork ribs simmered for hours, a bowl of white rice and preserved vegetables, with fried you tiao on the side for dunking.

The broth is peppery, clear and refillable, and it is the reason to come. Beyond the ribs there is pig trotter, braised intestine, liver and kidney, steamed fish and salted vegetables, so the table can grow as far as your appetite for offal goes.

Treat it as a soup house first and a rib house second. Order a bowl, ask for a refill while the pepper is still doing its work, and add a side of offal if that is your thing. Bak kut teh is traditionally eaten with rice and often comes alongside you tiao, offal, salted vegetables or beancurd, and this is very much a place that eats it the traditional way.

How to do it well: it is at 395 Balestier Road. Come for a weekday lunch or an early dinner; it runs into the evening Monday to Saturday but closes after lunch on Sundays. It suits a solo lunch, a post-errand warm-up when the rain comes in sideways, or a bowl after a walk round Novena. Bring an appetite for pepper rather than for décor, and you will leave happy and slightly damp (pepper does that; so does Balestier Road at noon).

Good to know The stall (also known as Ah Hak Bak Kut Teh) is in Kai Juan Coffeeshop on Balestier Road. Check opening hours before you go.

Kai Juan Bak Kut Teh | 395 Balestier Road, Singapore 329799