17 Shops That Will Deliver Bak Kwa To Your Doorstep This Chinese New Year
Some are heritage brands offering delivery for the first time, thanks to the pandemic.
Celebrating festive occasions is very different in the time of Covid-19 — and Chinese New Year is no exception. The best thing to come out of this so far is that more bak kwa brands, some of them famous heritage brands with traditionally no online presence, are now offering online shopping and delivery service. Because jostling with sweaty uncles and aunties while waiting in line for hours is not something we’re likely to ever miss. And needless to say, it’s dangerous hanging out with strangers for lengthy periods during a pandemic. So we’ve compiled 17 establishments offering the convenience of buying your bak kwa online this year and having it brought to you for your snacking pleasure. Enjoy.
GOLDEN GOURMET
From $28 for 500g of Signature Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $8, free for orders above $80
This family-run business started operations in 2018 and uses lean pork for its charcoal-grilled bak kwa so that it’s less fattening. Interesting fact: the owner’s grandad is behind heritage bak kwa brand New Eastern Kim Tee (see below). However, the businesses aren’t related even though the recipe is similar, there just a few tweaks for the newer flavours like Mala Bak Kwa. There’s also organic chicken bak kwa if you don’t take pork.
NEW EASTERN KIM TEE
From $31.20 for 600g of Signature Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $8, free for orders above $80
New Eastern Kim Tee is more famously known as Kim Tee, and it was established in 1976. The bak kwa brand has five outlets in total, with a flagship store in Serangoon Gardens — 2021 marks the first time it is offering online delivery. Its bak kwa has a tender, jerky-like texture. Kim Tee recently launched bak kwa fries and hei zho (fried prawn roll), both also available for order via its online shop.
https://kimtee.com.sg/onlineshop/
THE DELI AT GOODWOOD PARK HOTEL
From $56 for 600g of Sliced Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $21.40, free for orders above $800
The Deli at the Goodwood Park Hotel offers bak kwa as one of their CNY goodies. It’s the Deli’s first time offering online sales and delivery — pre-orders are available from 14 Jan (minimum order of $100). The bak kwa is marinated with a blend of spices and barbecued by the hotel’s chefs. It’s also sold in bite-sized pre-cut slices. Although it’s not exactly a bak kwa specialist, Goodwood Park’s barbecued pork is very good. The tender pork is sliced thinly, with a good lean meat-to-fat ratio. And it is succulent with a tinge of caramel.
KIM JOO GUAN
From $28.50 for 500g of Traditional Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $15
Kim Joo Guan, with a 30-year-old history, is popular among the health-conscious folks for its hand-made bak kwa with plenty of bite, using fresh grain-fed Australian free-range pork that's chilled, not frozen. No surprise then, that this brand, which wholesales its products, once counted atas, clean-eating gourmet supermarket SuperNature (Fann Wong shops there) among its clients. It's offering online shopping & delivery for the first time this year too.
FYRE
From $110 for 1kg of The Original 1945 Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $10, free for orders above $300
This premium bak kwa brand was born last year and it specialises in lychee and applewood-smoked bak kwa in two flavours: Mala Xiang Guo and The Original 1945, both apparently marinated with 36 spices for a month. The original bak kwa, using pork jowl and loin, has a nicely smoky, caramelly flavour, though the lean meat was a tad tough. The mala flavour was less appealing, aggressively pungent without the numbing floral notes of Sichuan peppercorns.
There’s a 10% discount till 31 Jan on the Fyre Combo ($110.40), 500g each of both flavours. https://fyresg.com/
HUP CHONG
From $15 for 300g of BBQ Pork Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $8, free for orders above $60
The brand has been a manufacturer and retailer of barbecued meat and floss since 1988. It currently has two factories — one in Tuas, and another at Senoko Road. On the menu: a variety of bak kwa, dried sausages and pork floss. Apart from its official website, its products can also be ordered via Shopee.
XISHI BAK KWA
From $22.50 for 500g of Original Sliced Pork Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $1.49, free for orders above $30
Xi Shi Bak Kwa is also known as Cecilia Minced Pork, and it’s a family-run outfit founded in 1985. The brand uses charcoal to grill its barbecued meat and has unique bak kwa flavours such as Goji Berry, Ginseng and Mushroom Pork. All products are available for order on Shopee.
https://shopee.sg/lexandriakoh
NEW PENG HIANG
From $22 for 500g of Traditional Hand-Made Tender Pork BBQ Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $10, free for orders above $200
No relation to the famous Kim Peng Hiang (which doesn’t offer delivery), which emerged #1 in our undercover bak kwa ranking list. Interestingly, like its more popular rival, it also offers pineapple bak kwa. Plus other funky options like red wine and garlic.
KIM GUAN GUAN
From $19 for 500g of Minced Pork Spicy Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $3.99 (Qxpress), $5.99 (QX Quick)
The 40-year-old brand sells mostly dried mushrooms and vacuum-sealed bak kwa. Its selling point is interesting bak kwa flavours — like mushroom and seaweed. The factory is located in the boondocks of Tagore Lane in Upper Thomson, so it’s good news that they’re offering online delivery for the first time this year. There are two options: Qxpress and QX Quick. The former is cheaper but doesn’t allow you to choose a delivery date and time while the latter does.
WU CHIN LEONG
From $24 for 500g of Signature Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $1.49 (Ninja Van), free for orders above $25
The food trading company was founded in 1979 and specialises in mainly bak kwa, sesame oil and pork floss. It’s the brand’s first time offering delivery this year. Order via its Facebook page or Shopee (the latter may have cheaper delivery fees, depending on your location).
FRAGRANCE
From $23.80 for 500g of Signature Sliced Tender Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $6, free for orders above $50
Remember Sharon Au’s face plastered all over its ads? With over 30 stores islandwide, fans of Fragrance’s bak kwa like it for its herbal marinade, which we find a bit of an acquired taste. Order $88 worth of bak kwa and enjoy free next-day delivery.
LIM CHEE GUAN
From $34 for 500g of Signature Sliced Pork
Delivery fee: $15 for orders below 8kg, $8 for orders between 8kg to 15kg, free for 15kg and above
No snaking queues this year at this wildly popular bak kwa stalwart which opened in 1938. The family-run biz has four outlets: two in Chinatown, one in Jewel Changi Airport and another at Ion Orchard mall. Its flagship store is known to attract overnight-long queues each CNY. However for the 2021 festive season, only online orders and deliveries are allowed during the peak period of 20 Jan to 9 Feb 2021, to avoid any safe-distancing issues during the pandemic. That being said, the brand's website crashed since its launch on 6 Jan and is still down as of now. We’ve just been informed that the website will only open for pre-orders on 15 Jan from 9am, and there’s a purchase limit of 20kg of bak kwa per customer. Let's hope the website works smoothly soon.
BEE CHENG HIANG
From $28 for 500g of Sliced Pork
Delivery fee: $8, free for orders above $200
Bee Cheng Hiang is kinda like the Bengawan Solo of the bak kwa world — ubiquitous and not terribly exciting, but reliably good. It has 370 outlets in 11 countries, with at least 58 stores in Singapore alone. The brand claims to use 100% natural ingredients, without meat tenderisers, preservatives, artificial flavouring and MSG. Our fave item here is the yummy Gourmet Fusion Bak Kwa, a blend of bacon and minced pork. We’d have loved to try the limited-edition Applewood Sliced Pork Bak Kwa, but we hear that it’s mostly sold out already.
BAK KWA DELIVERY
From $58.90 for 1kg of Traditional Sliced Pork Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $6.90, free for orders above $100
Its name says it all — it only offers delivery. The charcoal-barbecued meat is made with premium Australian grain-fed pork and no artificial flavourings. Orders above $100 get same day delivery within three hours upon order.
HOCK WONG
From $17 for 300g of Classic Minced Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: $8, free for orders above $200
This brand from Malaysia is well-known in its country but still rather new in Singapore as it only reached our shores in 2018. The company has set up a bak kwa factory in Singapore. Its bak kwa is grilled with honey and each slice vacuum-sealed to retain its freshness. However, Hock Wong only offers minced pork and bacon bak kwa (go for the latter instead), not sliced ones.
PEACH GARDEN RESTAURANT
From $63 for 1kg of Peach Garden Bak Kwa
Delivery fee: Free
The stalwart Chinese restaurant group is well-loved among fans for its Cantonese cuisine, but unbeknownst to many others, Peach Garden has been selling its own bak kwa every Chinese New Year since 2014. The production is outsourced to a food manufacturing company and its minced pork bak kwa contains less oil and sugar than most regular bak kwa.
FRIENDLY VEGETARIAN
From $6.96 for 250g of Friendly BBQ Snack Original
Delivery fee: $9.80, free for orders above $120
This one is for the salad-chompers. Friendly Vegetarian provides a range of soy protein and mushroom products, including this meat-free bak kwa made of soy fiber, mushroom and starch. It’s offering delivery for the first time since it opened for biz in 1988. Suitable for vegans, too.
