Kuala Lumpur F&B company Hock Wong is pretty well-known in its native Malaysia, though it's still a pretty new player for CNY goodies in Singapore. It set up a factory here in 2018 to produce its bak kwa, and now sells the barbecued pork via its own website, shopping platform Lazada, and at pop-up booths around Singapore nearing CNY.

Its bak kwa are grilled with honey, and each pork slice comes individually vacuum-sealed to retain its freshness. Its packaging is also cuter and snazzier than its traditionally Chinese counterparts; the brand’s Prosperity Set with 2.5kg of bak kwa comes in five boxes, each modelled after a lucky Chinese deity. There are three boxes which each contains 500g of minced pork bak kwa, and two boxes each with 500g of pork belly bacon strips.

We would have included it in 8days.sg's comprehensive bak kwa ranking, but had to leave this brand out as it only sells minced bak kwa, and not the sliced pork varietal that we considered for the ranking. We give this a try anyway, and below is what we think of the taste test.

While logistically convenient, vacuum-sealing this factory-made bak kwa seem to affect its flavour rather adversely. A stale, oddly plasticky whiff clings to the super oily, aggressively salty bak kwa, which has a too-hard texture (Hock Wong is also offering a new mala flavour for its minced bak kwa this year). The pork belly bacon fares a lot better though; succulent, umami strips that are pretty addictive. We say skip the traditional bak kwa and just go for the bacon one.

Available via www.hockwong.com.sg, Lazada and Hock Wong's CNY pop-up booths (for a list of locations, click here).

PHOTO: KELVIN CHIA
STYLING: YIP JIEYING