The interior of Lim Chee Guan @ New Bridge Road
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Chinese New Year in Singapore rolls around again and this year we have decided to do something special. With the immense popularity of our Lim Chee Guan post, this is our first top list post ever, and of the delicious bak kwa no less! We did the research for you and on the weekend before Chinese New Year, we went down to all the famous and popular stalls in Chinatown to get you our top 5 best bak kwa in Singapore!
This list is definitely subjective, and there will be a lot of consistency issues. For example, the bak kwa at a stall may be tough on one day but soft and tender on another. Sometimes it is a lot of luck, but we have done our best and without further ado, here is our top 5 list!
We strongly recommend contacting the stores to check on opening hours and queue length, both of which can be quite irregular the closer it gets to Chinese New Year.
1. Lim Chee Guan 林志源
Established in 1938 and right now Lim Chee Guan is the undisputed most famous bak kwa in Singapore. The popular consensus (from the queues) also supports the view that Lim Chee Guan’s bak kwa is the most delicious in Singapore. We have eaten Lim Chee Guan’s bak kwa on numerous occasions and so far we have a 100% satisfaction rating, it is really super delicious every time.
Lim Chee Guan’s signature is their sliced pork bak kwa, and they do not sell the minced meat version. However, their sliced pork bak kwa is so soft and tender that it is actually softer and easier on the teeth than most minced meat bak kwa elsewhere. This was really an amazing revelation for me. Further, their bak kwa is the most fragrant with the perfect balance of the sweetness and the barbecued taste.
Click here for our full review of Lim Chee Guan
2016 CNY price: S$56 per kilogram
2016 CNY queue: upwards of 1-hour at the main branch
Contact: +65 6227 8302
Locations:
Main outlet – 203 New Bridge Rd, Singapore 059429
People’s Park branch – 1 Park Rd #01-25 People’s Park Complex, Singapore 059108
ION branch – 2 Orchard Turn #B4-37 ION Orchard, Singapore 238801
2. Kim Joo Guan 金裕源
Kim Joo Guan was founded in 1977 and since then, they have been supplying bak kwa to the famous Lim Chee Guan. They are the wholesale kings and they also supply their bak kwa to five other retail brands. The relationship between Lim Chee Guan and Kim Joo Guan is so close that Lim Chee Guan’s owner, Mr Rod Lim once said that he treated Kim Joo Guan like family. I’m not too sure what is their current relationship now that Kim Joo Guan reopened their competing bak kwa retail business in 2009.
As you enter their store you can see a big sign touting their bak kwa as ‘100% Australian grain-fed fresh pork’ that is ‘chilled and not frozen’. Since they supply to Lim Chee Guan you could say that this would be a plus point for their bak kwa as well. They also have multiple awards plastered on their walls.
Kim Joo Guan’s signature is their ‘gourmet traditional pork slice‘, and it tastes very similar to Lim Chee Guan’s super fragrant and delicious sliced pork bak kwa. However the bak kwa here is slightly tougher than Lim Chee Guan’s, which goes down to the differences in preparation. Nonetheless, if you would rather queue for 40 minutes instead of one hour plus, do consider grabbing your annual fix at Kim Joo Guan.
Click here for our full review of Kim Joo Guan
2016 CNY price: S$51 per kilogram
2016 CNY queue: 40-minutes
Contact: +65 6225 5257
Location:
257 South Bridge Rd, Singapore 058806
3. Kim Hwa Guan 金华源
Kim Hwa Guan was founded around 50 years ago and we have heard incredible rave reviews about this longstanding bak kwa establishment. At their stall, you could see two coal grills with the workers diligently grilling stack after stack of bak kwa. As you queue outside their stall you can observe the entire bak kwa preparation process, from the marinating to the grilling to the cooling down and the final magical touches. They have a nice uncle that goes down the line chatting with everyone and answering any questions you may have. Their signature is the ‘square minced pork‘ and it is slightly thinner than the typical minced meat bak kwa. Unfortunately, they limit orders to 1kg per person.
We weren’t sure what to expect here and after queueing for 30 minutes, we came to the front of the line when we realised that we could have sampled the bak kwa first! However, the bak kwa sample proved incredibly disappointing and I sheepishly reduced my order amount. That was a huge mistake. Back home the Kim Hwa Guan bak kwa was super delicious! Apparently sealing and seating a stack of bak kwa together for a couple of hours drastically improves the taste and the delicious juices work their way into the cooked bak kwa. Kim Hwa Guan’s bak kwa was super soft and tender, and they had a taste which was lighter and slightly less sweet than the overwhelming fragrance that I was used to. This is delicious and the most conveniently located bak kwa.
Click here for our full review of Kim Hwa Guan
2016 CNY price: S$54 per kilogram
2016 CNY queue: 30-minutes
Contact: +65 9006 2026
Locations:
32 New Market Rd #01-1022 People’s Park Cooked Food Centre, Singapore 050032
127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh #02-40 Toa Payoh West Market And Food Centre, Singapore 310127
4. Bee Cheng Hiang 美珍香
Bee Cheng Hiang needs no introduction. It is the largest and most commercialised bak kwa in the world. They have 262 outlets across 9 countries! I personally grew up on loads of Bee Cheng Hiang bak kwa, and this probably set the standard for me. Perhaps due to their prevalence, they have become so common to the extent that their bak kwa no longer tastes outstanding and they have become the baseline for which other more outstanding bak kwa is judged. Also, with the large amount of outlets there is the inevitable issue with consistency, where you may get delicious bak kwa from one store on one day, but horrendous bak kwa on another day or from another store.
Nonetheless, if you are okay with mass produced bak kwa that tastes decently nice and you don’t want to make the trip all the way down to Chinatown for your fix, Bee Cheng Hiang is a good choice. Their signature bak kwa is the sliced pork.
2016 CNY price: S$54 per kilogram
2016 CNY queue: < 10 minutes depending on the outlet
Contact: +65 6500 0888
Locations: Too many to list – http://www.beechenghiang.com.sg/store-locator.html
5. Kim Hock Guan 金福源
Established in 1905, Kim Hock Guan is the oldest bak kwa store in Singapore. They have a rich heritage and a story that stretches back more than 120 years! To reiterate this is a bak kwa top list, and as we list the best bak kwa in Singapore, being in 5th position doesn’t mean it is bad, it means we rate this is the 5th best bak kwa in Singapore.
As they say, they do not use minced meat that they only use ‘sliced lean meat of pork hind’. Their signature is the ‘traditional BBQ sliced pork‘. For our taste test we found that their bak kwa had a delicious fragrance however it was slightly less than what we expected and the serving that we got was slightly on the tough side as well. We have no doubt that Kim Hock Guan serves delicious bak kwa as per our past experience but with the increased volume there may be some risk with consistency.
2016 CNY price: S$52 per kilogram
2016 CNY queue: < 10 minutes depending on the outlet
Contact: +65 6535 2536
Locations:
150 South Bridge Road #01-02 Fook Hai Building, Singapore 058727
180 Bencoolen Street #01-25 The Bencoolen, Singapore 189646
Final Thoughts – Best Bak Kwa in Singapore?
We wanted to know the best bak kwa in Singapore so we dedicated a Sunday one week before Chinese New Year to give you our Top 5 Best Bak Kwa in Singapore! As with all ratings, there is an element of subjectivity and consistency issues involved so a reasonable person could easily come to different ratings from ours. If we had bought the bak kwa on another day we may have came to different ratings as well.
That said, if you purchase bak kwa from any of the 5 from our list above, you can be assured that you have bought from the most famous stores with the best bak kwa in Singapore and these stores are known for producing quality and delicious bak kwa over the years.
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