Fragrance 香味 Bak Kwa at Chinatown New Bridge Road

Another popular Bak Kwa brand in Singapore is Fragrance (Xiang Wei 香味) with 21 outlets in Singapore. Weeks closer to Chinese New Year, queues form at these outlets to pick up freshly barbecued Bak Kwa marinated in special recipes handed down from the founding matron of Fragrance  (Xiang Wei 香味). 

Bee Cheng Hiang at Chinatown

Chinese New Year is that time of the year when you see long queues at retail stores such as that below that sells barbecued meats known as Bak Kwa 肉干in Singapore - be it pork, chicken, beef that are barbecued over a charcoal fire. Bak Kwa is one of the favourite delicacies eaten by the Chinese during Chinese New Year. 

Traditionally Bak Kwa is made with raw minced meat marinated with spices, sugar, salt, soy sauce,   flattened into thin square slices, dried on racks at temperatures 50-60 degrees Celsius, then barbecued over live charcoal fire. 

In Singapore, one of the top three Bak Kwa store is Bee Cheng Hiang that dishes out delicious mouth watering Bak Kwa that is the Asian equivalent of the western meat (beef/ pork) jerky. 

Traditional square slices of pork Bak Kwa

Coin shaped Bak Kwa to represent gold coins to bring in a little festive cheer during this Chinese New Year season

Bacon Bak Kwa is the new favourite as the fatty parts give a delightfully rich flavour.

This broken parts comes from the ends & corners of the whole meat slices, and are sold at a more affordable price. Bak Kwa prices do go up by more than 20% during the festive season due to the huge demand.