The dish with a Teochew origin, Sliced Fish Soup 鱼片汤 typically contains fresh or deep-fried sliced fish in steamy broth.
It can be coupled with thick vermicelli (”cu mi fen”), kway teow noodles, or rice, and various assortment of veggies.
A popular hawker dish to have especially during days when we want to eat healthier, a bowl of sliced fish beehoon soup is also high in protein and about 349 kcal.
BUT if you add deep-fried fish and milk, it is a whole different story all together. (A good fish soup that is cooked for many hours will be cloudy in colour, but some stalls choose to add evaporated milk as it can be the faster way.)
Here is a list of 13 places that serve some of the best Sliced Fish Soup in Singapore:
First Street Teochew Fish Soup
1014 Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore 534752
Tel: +65 8161 9552
Opening Hours: 8:15am – 3pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon
First Street Teochew Fish Soup is a family stall hugely popular for their deliciously sweet fish soup.
It was founded by the father William Lim during the 1980s, but now largely run by his two sons Desmond and Aaron Lim.
As the focus of Teochew fish soup is on the freshness and flavours of the fish, they are dedicated and hardworking, getting their fish fresh and preparing for the soup as early as 3 to 4am every day (except Monday which is their off-day).
The varieties of fish soup offered include Batang Sliced Fish Soup ($6, $8, $10), Red Garoupa ($9, $11), Pomfret ($11, $15), and Mixed Soup with Seafood ($5, $7, $10).
Do not overlook on the additional ingredients you can add on, such as minced meat ($0.50), bitter gourd ($0.50), fish cake ($0.50) to even fish maw ($1.50).
When I had the first sip of the Batang (Spanish Mackeral) Fish Soup, there was a beautiful clear sweetness to it, with hints of ginger in a light but flavourful soup.
As for the fish slices, they were succulent and fresh, with none of that fishy aftertaste. Lovely. First Street Teochew Fish Soup (Upper Serangoon)
Qing Feng Yuan 慶楓源
Tiong Bahru Food Centre #02-49, 30 Seng Poh Road, Singapore 168898
Tel: +65 82928186
Opening Hours: 8:30am – 6:30pm (Mon – Sun)
With a poetic name of Qing Feng Yuan 慶楓源, expect comforting bowls of Teochew style Fish Soup.
The two hawkers have accumulated quite some culinary experience; one the ex-head chef of Naked Finn and the other from Perch at Jewel Changi Airport.
On its menu are Batang Fish Head Soup ($4.50), Batang Fish Soup ($5), Seafood Soup ($6), Deep Fried Pomfret with HK Soy Sauce ($6) and Homemade Ngoh Hiang ($3).
Also available is a special item of New Zealand Blue Cod Soup ($12).
Customers can customise with add-on prawns ($2 for 2 pcs), bitter gourd ($0.50), tang ou ($1), assorted vegetables ($0.50), with accompaniment of rice, porridge or bee hoon ($0.50).
The Batang Fish Soup ($5) was almost Teochew-style qing (light) in terms of taste, yet pleasantly flavourful without being overly salty. Qing Feng Yuan (Tiong Bahru Food Centre)
Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon 美芝路鱼头米粉
91 Whampoa Drive, #01-46 Whampoa Makan Place, Singapore 320090
Opening Hours: 9am – 2pm (Sun – Tues, Thurs – Fri), Closed Wed, Sat
Though this famous stall is named “Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon”, it is actually located at the morning market of Whampoa Food Centre (Whampoa Makan Place).
Long queue is a typical scene here, where they specialise in fish dishes, different soups, and sliced fish bee hoon.
The stall has also been listed in the Singapore Michelin Guide with a “Michelin Bib Gourmand“.
There are choices of Sliced Fish Bee Hoon, Sliced Fish Soup, Fish Porridge, Seafood Soup and Special Tom Yum Soup, all priced inexpensively at $4.50 per bowl.
Unlike other fried fish bee hoon with an overwhelming amount of evaporated milk in the soup, Beach Road’s Fried Fish Bee Hoon Soup ($4.50) comes in a flavourful fish stock that retains its original taste even with the addition of milk.
The added light creaminess isn’t overpowering and you can still enjoy the inherent fish-flavoured broth. Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon (Whampoa Food Centre)
Han Kee 漢記
7 Maxwell Road, #02-129 Amoy Street Food Centre, Singapore 069111
Tel: +65 6688 5665
Opening Hours: 11am – 3pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun (Note: stall may also close as and when.)
For non-CBD people, the queue during peak-hour lunch time, can be a sight to behold.
There could be at least 40-50 pax lining up at any one time, but at least the queue clears relatively fast.
The menu basically revolves on 2 types of fish: sliced fish and fish head. Each can be served as plain soup, with bee hoon, or as a porridge.
Bowls come in three sizes ($5, $7, $9) for the Sliced Fish Soup, Sliced Fish Bee Hoon, and Sliced Fish Porridge.
The versions with fish head, ie Fish Head Soup, Fish Head Bee Hoon, Fish Head Porridge, are more expensive by a dollar ($6, $8, $10). Add a serving of white rice for $0.50. (One bowl of rice max per fish order though.)
Try a medium-sized Sliced Fish Bee Hoon ($7.00), served in a light, clear, subtly sweet broth with bits of fried garlic. It has a natural, clean taste, you don’t taste any artificial flavouring.
First timers are often surprised they are getting that much fish for the price. More importantly, the freshness of this batang fish is evident in its taste and its firm yet tender flesh does not fall apart easily. Han Kee (Amoy Street Food Centre)
Piao Ji Fish Porridge
Maxwell Road, #02-100 Amoy Street Food Centre, Singapore 069111
Opening Hours: 11am – 3:30pm (Tues, Wed, Fri – Sun), Closed Mon, Thurs
The other popular fresh fish soup stall Amoy Street Food Centre, though the queue is shorter than Han Kee’s if both are opened together. (This stall is closed for a number of times, suka-suka open kind.)
Piao Ji’s signature dish is the Pomfret with fresh Prawns Soup ($10, 12, $15).
Both the fish and prawns used were very fresh, with sizable portion for its price. They also offer other fish soups which use batang or mackerel.
The stall also uses a unique chili that goes very well with their fish soups, made with chilli padi, fermented beans and pickled ginger that goes very well with their fish soups. Extra serving of the chili sauce is chargeable at $0.50.
Kwang Kee Teochew Fish Porridge
Newton Food Centre #01-20, 500 Clemenceau Ave N,Singapore 229495
Opening Hours: 11am – 8pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon
After being around for more than 60 years, Kwang Kee Teochew Fish Porridge at Newton Food Centre has gained some recognition after being listed in the Michelin Bib Gourmand Singapore 2021.
The hawker stall has come a long way since 1962, previously located at the old Orchard Road carpark (at Orchard Central) and subsequently moved to Newton Food Centre in the 1970s.
On the menu are Sliced Fish Porridge, Sliced Fish Soup, Fried Fish Soup, Fish Head Soup and Dual Fish Soup. Each bowl cost $6, $8, $10, or $12 (with the Dual Fish Soup starting from $7).
The first thing that left an impression was that the soup was clear and clean-tasting, mildly-sweet and yet flavourful. I loved that, along with the freshness of the thick-cut fish slices.
While this is Teochew style, there is no tang chye (preserved vegetables) and seaweed as Jason felt that the vegetables when left in the soup for long would turn it too salty.
Instead, the soup was added with cabbage which gave some crunch and sweetness. Kwang Kee Teochew Fish Porridge (Newton Food Centre)
Mei Xiang Black & White Fish Soup
Berseh Food Centre Stall 44, 166 Jln Besar, Singapore 208877
Tel: +65 9789 6686
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 8pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun
First things first. There are some interesting rules here.
Only Mixed Fish Soup is sold here, NO ta-bao (takeaway) only dine-in, yet the bowl is served in disposable plastic. haiz
A small portion is priced at $6, while the large bowl is at $8. Mei Xiang stall did lives up to expectations with their fried and sliced “black” (which is fried fish) and white (sliced) fish soup.
You may be surprised to learn that the cloudy soup had no milk added to it. It was just steamy, comforting goodness with fried chunks and fish slices.
The mild sweetness and fresh taste of fish balanced the strong flavors from ginger quite well.
The dish also had deep fried ribbons of fluffy eggs along with sweet napa cabbage that went well with the soup. One of my personal favourites which I do not mind having again.
Jin Hua Fish Head Bee Hoon
1 Kadayanallur Street, Maxwell Food Centre, #01-77, Singapore 069184
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 8:30pm (Mon – Wed, Fri – Sun), Closed Thurs
Jin Hua enjoys its precious spot at the Maxwell Food Centre, and is running successfully for over 20 years now.
Their cost effective, filling and healthy fish soup invites a swarm of hungry customers to the stall especially during peak hour lunch.
The menu is concise and focuses mainly on their signature dish. You have the option of adding milk to the soup, or a side of noodles or rice.
I ordered the Fried Fish Meat Noodles ($5), and there were also green veggies, tomatoes and a few pieces of tofu in the soup.
While it is not as healthy, I would recommend adding milk to the soup as it was not as tasty without that.
The star of the dish was the succulent and plump slices of crispy deep-fried fish with a thin yet delicious batter. The fish itself was quite flavourful without any added spices.
The soup was also soaked in the sweetness and taste of fish, with a rich milky base.
Angel Horse Teochew Fish Soup 仙马潮州鱼汤
270 Queen Street, Albert Food Centre, #01-95, Singapore 180270
Opening Hours: 11am – 8pm (Mon – Sun)
No matter what time you stop by this stall at Albert Food Centre Hawker Stalls, you will always find it swarming with hungry customers.
This is largely because their serving sizes of fish soup are huge and could leave you satisfied.
The Teochew-style Sliced Fish Soup ($5) was delightfully light and clear with a refreshing blend of spices, added with rather thick and juicy chunks of batang fish slices.
While it wasn’t as flavourful as I wished, the bowl was still a simple, tasty bowl of soup which as quite comforting.
I also enjoyed the accompanying fermented bean sauce with chilli padi, enhancing the ‘Teochew-flavours’ to the dish.
Blanco Court Fried Fish Noodles
325 Beach Road, Singapore 199566
Opening Hours: 9:30am – 8pm (Mon – Sat)
The Blanco Court Fried Fish Noodles take up the shop house of the area, and has a pretty decent setup that gives off a retro coffeehouse vibe.
It is more of a self-service stall, and even in peak hours you don’t have to wait too long for your order.
There are many options in their menu for fish soup lovers, such as Steam Fish Soup ($5/6/10), Mixed Fish Soup ($6), Fish Head Soup ($5/6), Steam Fish Yee Mee ($5/6) and the most famous item which is Fried Fish Soup ($5/6).
I got the regular serving of their Fried Fish Soup with Yee Mee ($5). At first glances, I was impressed by the consistency and color of the broth which appeared quite rich and slightly on the saltier side.
Along with the scrumptious fried fish slices, there were also ample amounts of fried anchovies and bitter gourd. The noodles were delightfully springy and carried some of the fishy taste, and complimented the soup well.
Jun Yuan House Of Fish
Old Airport Road Food Centre #01-69, 51 Old Airport Road, Singapore 390051
Tel: +65 8161 8825
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 9:30pm (Mon – Wed, Fri – Sun), Closed Thurs
Jun Yuan House Of Fish located at Old Airport Road Food Centre is one of the new hawker stalls listed on the Michelin Bib Gourmand Singapore 2021.
It is not the only fish soup stall on Singapore’s Bib Gourmand though, joining Kwang Kee Teochew Fish Porridge at Newton (new entrant in 2021) and Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon at Whampoa Food Centre.
The top five highlight are the Herbal Seafood Soup ($5, $6, $7, 10), Chinese Spinach Seafood Soup with Wolfberries ($6, $7, $8), Special Red Grouper Fish Head Soup ($10, $12, $15), Special Sliced Red Grouper Fish Soup ($10, $12, $15), and Sliced Red Group Fish Soup ($10, $12).
What you get are clear broths dashed with a hint of Chinese wine. Milk is not included, but you can inform them to add should you want to.
I personally thought that the normal Sliced Fish Soup ($4, $5, $6) was just okay.
So go for the Herbal Seafood Soup ($10) instead, included with conspicuous amount of ingredients from sliced batang fish, prawns, minced meatballs, to Chinese herbs such as angelica (dang gui) and polygonatum roots (yu zhu). Jun Yuan House Of Fish (Old Airport Road Food Centre)
Xin Yuan Ji
31 Tan Quee Lan St, #01-01, Singapore 188117
Tel: +65 6334 4086
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 11pm (Sun – Thurs), 11:30am – 11:30pm (Fri, Sat)
Xin Yuan Ji is located in the heart of Bugis at Tan Quee Lan Street. This is not located at a hawker stall, but a coffeeshop-like eatery with spacious layout and air-conditioning.
It draws a lot of crowd during lunch hours, as it is THE place to eat in the area, especially amongst the working class.
The most famous dish on their menu is the Fried Snapper Fish Soup ($8.90) and the Sliced Fish Soup Bee Hoon ($5.80). You can also add a bowl of rice for an extra $0.50. There are also other zi-char style dishes that can be ordered here.
I would say get a both of the Mixed Fish Soup to experience the best of both worlds. There was a generous amount of fish slices with a firm and springy texture.
The soup was on the light side (not as ”gao” as say compared to Jin Hua’a version), with hints of sweetness from the fresh fish, along with ample amount of vegetables. With that said, I may not queue for a long time for this fish soup.
Ka-Soh Restaurant
Alumni Medical Centre 2 College Road, Singapore 169850
Tel: +65 6473 6686
Opening Hours: Lunch 11:30am – 2:30pm, Dinner 5:30pm – 9:30pm (Mon – Sun)
Also known as Swee Kee Fish Head Noodle House at College Road, the restaurant still cooks its signature Fish Noodle Soup in a traditional style.
The kitchen would first deep fry the snake-head fish bones, cook the stock for hours till it forms a white, almost-milky base.
Many fish soup stalls now use the short cut by adding evaporated milk to give that creamy mouth feel, but Ka-Soh still use the labour-intensive way.
The soup is paired with simple ingredients of white rice noodles and crunchy vegetables, and you could taste traces of wine that made it more uplifting.
I was a fan of the soup which wasn’t too intense or ‘fake-tasting’ (as they don’t add evaporated milk), like it was full of natural goodness. However, I thought that the fish slices could have been thicker and fresher? Ka-Soh Restaurant (College Road)
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