A Vanishing Street Food in Singapore

Guess what food is this 😁

Answer: "Fish balls".

While chatting with a fish ball stall boss, he lamented that factory made "fish balls" pretty much killed the fish ball making tradition in Singapore.

With fish ball noodle stalls literally everywhere in our sunny island, one may not suspect that fish ball making is a vanishing craft in Singapore. 

Out of the hundreds, perhaps over a thousand fish ball noodle stalls in Singapore, there are perhaps less than 10 that still make their fish balls the traditional way with real fish. (The situation is so far less acute in Johor Bahru.)

There is little incentive to hand make fish balls as the work is tedious, requires a lot of skill and patience - a lot can go wrong in the process, the fish ball boss told me. It just makes matters worst that factory supplied "fish balls" actually cost less than had the stall holder hand made the fish balls themselves with real fish. 

Yet, though the end product (hand made fish balls) tastes better, it does not command much price premium over factory made "equivalents". 

Hand made fish balls are in serious danger of going extinct both at the stalls and at home in Singapore. Some handmade dishes are hard to commercialise but can still be made at home. Fish balls, however, are tedious to make at home and requires considerable skill.

How do we save real fish balls for future generations?

By making it worthwhile for hawkers to master and continue the craft of hand making fish balls.

One approach is to pay more for genuine hand made fish balls but naturally very few consumers would be willing - so that is really a non starter in our current climate.

All we could do at the moment is to give the genuine fish ball stalls more support by choosing them over the factory "fish ball" stalls whenever the choice is available.

Let's help keep the fish ball tradition alive for the next generation. Here's a list of fish ball stalls that still hand make their fish balls. Please share with me in the comments if you know of other stalls, so that I can add them to this list. Thank you in advance.


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👍 Ru Ji Kitchen 如记小厨 
📭 44 Holland Dr, Holland Drive Food Centre, Singapore
📌 1.308224,103.793206 
⏰ 6:30am to 1:00pm (Closed on Monday)


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👍 Fishball Khin 欽記魚圆 
📭 #01-1825, Blk 574, Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, Singapore 560574 
📌 1°22'15.1"N 103°51'22.7"E | 1.370855, 103.856312 Tel: ☎ 9823 2921 
⏰ 11:30am to 11:30pm (Tues off)


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👍 Lao Sim Shredded Chicken Noodles 老沈鸡丝面 
📭 Blk 127 Toa Payoh Lor 1 Food Centre #02-01, Singapore 310127 
📌 1°20'18.6"N 103°50'40.9"E | 1.338507, 103.844704 
⏰ 8:00am to 1:00pm (Mondays off)


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👍 Fishball Story 鱼缘 
📭 Timbre+, 73A Ayer Rajah Crescent, Singapore 139957 
📌 1.297027, 103.787442 | 1°17'49.3"N 103°47'14.8"E 
⏰ 8:00am to 6:00pm

Date: 14 Dec 2016

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