Rou Gu Cha King is a chain restaurant in Penang specializing in bak kut teh. The outlet that we visited today is at Queensbay Mall, just beside The Chicken Rice Shop.
Two of their signature dishes is the Original Rou Gu Cha (肉骨茶) and Dry Rou Gu Cha (干肉骨茶).
The original version is the soup-based that many people are familiar with. It comes with several pieces of pork ribs, meatballs and tofu skin (腐皮) served in a claypot. Frankly, I don’t find it any special; it is too watered down and does not have the real “herbal” aftertaste that defines this dish.
The dry version is worth mentioning as it is a novelty. The ingredients are the same as the original version, but the pork ribs are stir-fried in dark sauce. Somehow, I prefer the dry version over the original one.
Both dishes are available as set meals, each accompanied by Flower Prawn (鲜虾花筒), youtiao (油条), boiled egg (水煮蛋), bean sprouts, rice and Guilinggao (龟苓膏).
The Flower Prawn is quite special and tasty, but the other ingredients are just normal.
The meal is not cheap, but probably the dry version of their signature bak kut teh is worth trying.