There’s no door, just a plastic curtain. Once you step inside you immediately hear the rustling of the old aunties weighing and packing tea, the satisfying crunch of the leaves as they fold into the signature white and pink paper packaging. On one of the benches someone is working at a wood table where the colour has been stripped to the bone by years of the same action, as packages are folded and shaped, folded and shaped.
Just inside the plastic door is a large ornately carved desk at knee height, a wooden buddha stares with his shiny smile. It resembles a river with two tiers optimal for serving guests’ tea. Cups are on top and small stools are tucked underneath, primed to be used by customers and friends. Behind it, resembling a benevolent emperor, sits the fourth generation owner of this small oasis in Singapore’s Chinatown.
The shop is called Pek Sin Choon and was established in 1925. It’s run by Kenry Peh who is passionate about keeping Singaporean heritage alive. In April this year Pek Sin Choon won the “2024 Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award” by the National Heritage Board.
It does not take long to learn that one of Peh’s biggest passions is a local Singaporean delicacy known as “bak kut teh”, meaning “pork bone tea”. A greasy, flavourful soup with a strong punch of garlic and pepper, meat so tender you eat it with your hands, served with countless side dishes to share with others. It’s a feast where no one walks away hungry, and it is always served with tea.
Peh supplies 80 per cent of all bak kut teh restaurants in the city with his uniquely Singaporean oolong blend known as Nanyang tea, including one of the biggest bak kut teh restaurant chains, Song Fa.
The act of consuming the two together is a way for people to socialise and slow down in the fast paced environment of Singapore. The making and consuming of the tea and soup are a journey into an old Singapore, a culture that sees food as a chance to bond, and to slow down.
This story was produced as part of a federal government New Colombo Plan funded Curtin Journalism Singapore Study Tour.