欧南园 · Outram · Singapore

Ya Hua 肉骨茶 Bak Kut Teh

A clear, peppery Teochew broth — simmered with white pepper & garlic, poured over fall-off-the-bone ribs. The same bowl, the same soul, since 1973.

Find a Table Our Story
Scroll
  • 53 years of broth
  • 2 heritage outlets
  • Unlimited free soup refills
01 — Heritage

Half a century
in a clay pot.

In 1973, Madam Gwee Peck Hua — together with her sister Gwee Guek Hua — set up a humble bak kut teh stall near River Valley. She had learned the craft the hard way: long nights, a roaring fire, and a broth that asked for nothing but patience.

From the old Outram Park flats to Havelock Road and Keppel Road, the address kept changing. The recipe never did. Decades on, every bowl still starts the same way: pork ribs, whole garlic, and a fierce hit of white pepper.

“We don't chase trends.
We chase the same bowl,
every single day.” — The Gwee family
Madam Gwee · the original stall
  1. 1973

    The first fire

    Madam Gwee opens a roadside stall near River Valley, serving Teochew peppery bak kut teh to night workers.

  2. Outram

    Outram Park estate

    The stall settles into the old Outram Park flats — the era that gives the name everyone still uses: Outram Ya Hua.

  3. 1995

    Havelock Road

    When the estate is torn down, the broth finds a new home on Havelock Road — and the queues follow.

  4. 2006

    Keppel Road

    A second outlet opens at Tanjong Pagar, famous for serving supper crowds deep into the night.

  5. Today

    The same soul

    Award-winning, family-run, and still poured one peppery bowl at a time.

served piping hot
02 — Anatomy of the bowl

What's in
the soul.

  • 01

    The clear broth

    Pork bones simmered for hours into a translucent, tea-coloured soup — the Teochew way. Light on the eye, fierce on the palate.

  • 02

    White pepper

    The signature heat. A generous, warming pepper that builds with every spoonful and clears the head on a rainy day.

  • 03

    Whole garlic

    Bulbs dropped in whole, mellowing into sweetness that rounds off the pepper's sharp edge.

  • 04

    Prime pork ribs

    Fat or lean, your call — slow-cooked until the meat slides clean off the bone.

Tip: ask for a free soup top-up. We've never said no.

Recognised

Voted, awarded,
and queued for.

04 — After hours

The supper
institution.

Long after the city quiets down, the Keppel Road pot keeps simmering. Taxi drivers, night-shift nurses, post-club crowds and homesick travellers — everyone ends up over the same steaming bowl.

Keppel Rd serves deep into the small hours — peppery comfort when nothing else is open.

05 — Find us

Two pots,
one recipe.

Keppel RoadFlagship · Tanjong Pagar

7 Keppel Road, #01-05/07
Tanjong Pagar Complex
Singapore 089053
Hours
Open till late · closed Mon
Open in Maps

Havelock RoadIsetan Office Building

593 Havelock Road, #01-01/02
Isetan Office Building
Singapore 169641
Hours
11am–10pm · till 11pm Fri/Sat · closed Mon
Open in Maps