Bak kut teh has been a very popular food especially among the Chinese. So during my trip to JB, I actually visited 2 bak kut teh stalls within the same area (Taman Sri Tebrau). They are Soon Soon Heng Bak Kut Teh and Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh. Both locations is about 10 minutes apart by foot so it is pretty near. Of course, there are other famous bak kut teh in the same vicinity as well but I haven't try them yet. So, I am going to compare these 2 stalls first and I will add in the list as I visit other stalls there.
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| Soon Soon Heng Bak Kut Teh |
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| Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh |
Let's begin my review...
- Both Soon Soon Heng and Soon Huat have a lot of good reviews
If you ever google online or ask people who frequent JB a lot, these 2 stalls has a lot of good reviews and they are very popular. Each of them has their own supporters. Before I went JB, I did my research on these 2 places. It is hard to tell which one is actually better.
Soon Soon Heng might have an advantage based on location since it is only located outside of KSL. KSL itself is a giant tourist attraction. The chance of people going to Soon Soon Heng is so much higher since it is so convenient if they are at KSL.
Soon Huat, on the other hand, is located at Jalan Sutera 1. Although that stretch of road has a lot of well known food stalls, it is not as convenient as to compared to Soon Soon Heng which is just beside KSL. Only food lovers like me or those who know where to get good food will know about Jalan Sutera 1. Still, it is only about 10 minutes walk from KSL (which I feel isn't that inconvenient).
- Soon Soon Heng is cheaper than Soon Huat
Let's just assume that we order 1 person's share from both the stalls. Soon Soon Heng cost RM8.00 while Soon Huat Cost RM9.00. It is only RM1.00 difference though, but still Soon Soon Heng is cheaper.
- Soon Soon Heng is more conveniently located than Soon Huat
Soon Soon Heng might have an advantage based on location since it is only located outside of KSL. KSL itself is a giant tourist attraction. The chance of people going to Soon Soon Heng is so much higher since it is so convenient if they are at KSL.
Soon Huat, on the other hand, is located at Jalan Sutera 1. Although that stretch of road has a lot of well known food stalls, it is not as convenient as to compared to Soon Soon Heng which is just beside KSL. Only food lovers like me or those who know where to get good food will know about Jalan Sutera 1. Still, it is only about 10 minutes walk from KSL (which I feel isn't that inconvenient).
- Soon Soon Heng uses gas stove while Soon Huat uses charcoal stove
Well, I think most people didn't realise this. Most of the places, including Soon Soon Heng, uses gas stove to cook the bak kut teh because it is easier and faster. However, Soon Huat uses the traditional way of cooking (charcoal stove) for cooking the bak kut teh. That only applies to the bak kut teh though. They cook other dishes on gas stove.
I have this stigma that anything that are cooked over charcoal tends to taste better, although scientifically proven that it doesn't make a difference. Even that being said, it is a fact that using charcoal to cook definitely require more work to be done compared to the easy-to-use gas stove. So for this point, I will give it to Soon Huat.
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| Soon Huat's Bak Kut Teh |
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| Soon Soon Heng's Bak Kut Teh |
The pictures are just for illustration. They were ordered in different amount and added different ingredients.
Now I will zoom in on the bak kut teh itself...
- Soon Huat's meat is nicer than Soon Soon Heng's
In terms of meat, it was pretty obvious that Soon Huat's was better. One of the crucial point that I look at for the meat is the ease of removing the meat from the bone. The meat from Soon Huat came off easily without much effort. I could separate the meat and the bones even using just chopsticks.
Soon Soon Heng, however, I could not remove it with just chopsticks. I need to bite it off the bones, which might be a messy thing to do.
- Both Soon Soon Heng's and Soon Huat's soup taste equally good
Soup from both stalls tasted really good and taste about the same to me. It was a really hard decision to make to determine which soup base was better so I am going to give both a draw in this section.
Verdict
Based on the above points, both Soon Soon Heng and Soon Huat had a draw on 2 areas, won on 2 areas and lost on 2 areas. So they can be considered a draw, I am not satisfied with a draw, so I have to announce a winner.
If I were to choose, I will give the winner to Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh. The reason is simple, the food itself is more important than any other factors. Just by looking at the bak kut teh itself, Soon Huat actually won Soon Soon Heng.
Now that we have a winner, there is one extra note that I wanted to share.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment, bak kut teh is classified as a "heaty" food. Hence, you will tend to feel dehydrated after eating bak kut teh. Depending on how diluted is the bak kut teh, the effect varies as well. After eating at Soon Huat, my throat felt very dry. It felt like I had bad breath, but I don't. My friends had the same feeling as me too so it wasn't just me. It doesn't felt nice, but then again, it also mean that Soon Huat's bak kut teh has the quality. Soon Soon Heng, on the other hand, didn't have that much effect on me. This might a another reason why I gave the winner to Soon Huat.
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