Shun Fa Bak Kut Teh 顺发肉骨茶 (Johor Bahru) – Famous JB Style Bak Kut Teh, Near Aeon Bukit Indah

During my recent food hunt in Johor Bahru, I visited Shun Fa Bak Kut Teh in Bukit Indah. It was a very satisfying meal and this is my full review of the restaurant!

Restaurant Shun Fa Bak Kut Teh

Shun Fa Bak Kut Teh (顺发肉骨茶) is a famous bak kut teh chain in Johor Bahru. The original shop was founded at Jalan Sutera (Taman Sentosa) way back in 1975. The restaurant is also known as “Shoon Huat” or “Soon Huat”.

This successful restaurant chain has over 20 outlets in Johor Bahru! I visited the Bukit Indah branch, which is a 6-minute car ride from Aeon Bukit Indah.

Because there are so many Shun Fa branches, we almost selected the wrong outlet when booking through Grab, so make sure you check carefully before going down.

Clean and Spacious Restaurant With Good Service

Kitchen at front of restaurant

The Shun Fa Bukit Indah branch is a no-frills open air restaurant that is clean and brightly-lit. The tables are spaced out nicely and I did not feel crammed at all when dining here.

Service was surprisingly good. The staff taking my orders was very patient, and I did not have any problems getting their attention throughout the meal.

The restaurant offers free soup refills and the staff came twice to top up our soups when they saw that we were running low. This was unlike my experience at various Song Fa branches in Singapore, where I usually have to wait really long for my soup refills.

Menu (click to enlarge)

Interestingly, the menu is displayed in large print on the wall. It is in Chinese only, so I have done a rough English translation in the picture above.

The main item on the menu is of course the Bak Kut Teh. A single-person portion costs RM11, and it goes up to RM55 for a five-persons portion.

You can choose to add on additional ingredients like enoki mushrooms, canned mushrooms, beancurd skins, meatballs, youtiao, pork intestines, etc. I highly recommend adding some of these ingredients to make the soup more flavourful.

The menu also offers other savoury dishes like Pig Trotters, Sesame Oil Chicken, Pork Intestines Soup, etc.

For drinks, there are various options like Ginseng Chrysanthemum (RM4), Luo Han Guo (RM4), and Orange Plum (RM3.50). These come in bottles which I like for hygiene reasons. There is also an Ai Yu Ice drink (RM3.20).

Note that all prices are before SST.

Bak Kut Teh (2 Pax)

The wife and I visited Shun Fa on a Saturday at 11.30am and ordered the Bak Kut Teh for 2 Pax (RM22). We added Enoki Mushrooms (RM5), Beancurd Skins (RM4), and Canned Mushrooms (RM3).

The bak kut teh arrived in a steaming claypot. The clear broth was delicious! It was light with a mild herbal flavour and slight peppery taste.

It was somewhat a cross between herbal-style bak kut teh and peppery bak kut teh. There was also a tinge of smokiness due to it being prepared over charcoal fire.

The generous portions of mushrooms and beancurd skins added a savoury-sweet flavour to the broth. As for the pork ribs, they were quite delicious and juicy, but could be more tender.

On the whole, this was definitely a very satisfying bak kut teh dish. I especially liked that we could add extra ingredients, which adds flavour and an extra dimension to the dish.

However, if you prefer strong flavours or herbal-style bak kut teh, you might find Shun Fa’s bak kut teh too mild for your palate.

The restaurant offers free soup refills. The staff will come to your table if you are running low, or you can simply ask one of the many friendly staff.

Salted Vegetables

We also ordered Salted Vegetables (RM3.50), which is one of our favourite side dishes for bak kut teh. Unfortunately, Shun Fa’s version was really bland without any salty taste at all. Skip this.

Pig Trotters

The Pig Trotters (RM11) was served in a claypot with hot dark savoury-sweet sauce. The chunks of pork meat were delicious and quite tender.

However, most of them were just regular pork ribs and not pork trotters. Only one piece was a pork trotter, but it consisted mainly of skin with little meat.

I’m not saying it didn’t taste good, but if you order this dish be prepared to get served regular pork ribs instead of pork trotters.

Ai Yu Ice

The wife ordered the Ai Yu Ice (RM3.20), which was surprisingly delicious and refreshing. It felt good to drink this after the savoury meal.

Conclusion

After dining at Shun Fa Bak Kut Teh personally, I can understand why it is so popular in Johor Bahru. The restaurant is clean and spacious, service is good, and the bak kut teh is delicious. I enjoyed the lightly savoury broth, but I felt the pork ribs could have been more tender. Nonetheless, it was definitely still a very satisfying meal.

Shun Fa Bak Kut Teh (Bukit Indah)
Directions: 6-minute car ride from Aeon Bukit Indah (we took a Grab ride)
Address: 43, Jalan Indah 16/12, Taman Bukit Indah, 81200 Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.479444,103.6626302
Opening Hours: 8.15am to 8pm (CLOSED on Mondays)
Phone: +601 6752 8408
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ShunFaRouGuCha

Shun Fa Bak Kut Teh (Jalan Sutera) – Original Branch
Address: 13, Jalan Sutera 1, Taman Sentosa, 80150 Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.4904894,103.7677374
Opening Hours: | Mon: 8.30am – 5pm | Tue to Sun: 8.30am – 9pm |