Musician Kitaro eats bak kut teh 2 days in a row in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Can you eat bak kut teh continuously for two days?

Japanese new age musician Kitaro did just that recently - and has even learnt to tell which bak kut teh restaurants use chilled pork and which ones use frozen pork, Shin Min Daily News reported.

He described the dish has having a "unique Nanyang flavour" and said that this was what made the soup "very delicious".

Accompanied by his wife Keiko, who is also a musician, the 63-year-old flew into Singapore on Wednesday (June 1) at the invitation of a local refrigerated foods company.

Photo: Shin Min Daily News

One of the eateries he visited yesterday (June 2) was Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh, where he was joined by veteran actor Chen Shucheng.

Chen told Shin Min Daily News that he was delighted to be able to meet his idol, and that his wife was also a huge fan.

"We play Kitaro's music in our car," Chen said, adding that the 1999 Grammy award winner was very amiable and had no airs.

Apart from bak kut teh, Kitaro also tried different types of rice dumplings. His favourite was kee zhang (also known as lye water dumpling) because of its similarity to Japanese mochi.

According to Shin Min Daily News, Kitaro was impressed by Singaporean cuisine when he was here for his concert two years ago.

huizhen@sph.com.sg