Founder Rou Gu Cha Cafeteria

We were craving something soupy late at night and we thought it was a good idea to drive over to Balestier to have some Teochew-style pork ribs soup at Founder. We figured since it was about 10pm that the dinner crowd would have dissipated by then. Man, were we wrong. There was still a queue outside the tiny air-conditioned restaurant. Oh well, it wasn't a horrendously long queue (there were only 2 groups of people in front of us), so we decided to wait the approximate 7 minutes for us to be seated.(Please note that you generally get seated faster if you are willing to share a table with somebody else)

We ordered the Bak Kut Teh ($8 for 2 long ribs). The clear peppery soup was delicate yet rich in flavour. The meaty pork ribs were very tender and succulent, but we still felt the $4 for just one rib pricetag was a little too steep.


We added Fried Dough Fritters (you tiao) ($1.50), which were served at room temperature and very limp. Which was fine with me. But not with the BF who refused to eat it because he likes his dough fritters crispy.

It's really a preference thing. Some bak kut teh places serve crispy dough fritters, fresh out of the fryer. Others serve limp and cold dough fritters, which are meant to be "revived" by dunking them into the steaming hot peppery soup.


The BF wanted to try the Pig's Trotters ($6) because almost every table ordered at least one portion of this. The tender, juicy, fall-off-the-bone meat was good, but not the best around (the BF says the best pig's trotters is at this particular coffeeshop in Tiong Bahru).




Founder Rou Gu Cha Cafeteria
347 Balestier Road
Tel: 6352 6192
Open daily from 12noon to 2pm for lunch and from 6pm to 2.30am for dinner. Closed on Tuesdays.

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