Chinese Ocean Curry Fish Head @ Toa Payoh Lor 4

Nice Chinese style curry fish head with sweetish, slightly tangy curry and mild heat. Served bubbly hot in a claypot with ocean fresh Ang Ko Li 紅戈里 (gold band sea bream) and loads of vegetables.

Restaurant name: Ocean Curry Fish Head 海洋咖喱鱼头

Address: Block 92, Lor 4, Toa Payoh, #01-264, Singapore 310092 

Tel: +65 6252 2168

Hours: Lunch 11:00am - 2:00pm, Dinner 5:00pm - 9:00pm

We had been wanting to try the famous Ocean Curry Fish Head together for some time and finally found the opportunity last week at their Toa Payoh Lor 4 outlet.

Ocean Curry Fish Head is an economic rice type of place with their popular curry fish head as the signature dish.

Yeah, a lot of food and this was the third stop of our food trail 😄 We also had Kim Keat Claypot Hokkien Mee which is at the same kopitiam 🤭

Ang Ko Li is my favourite fish for curry fish head and Ocean Curry uses ocean fresh fish..., like that win already lo... . The Ang Ko Li fish served has a good 50-50 balance between head and fish belly meat. The Ang Ko Li's white flesh is relatively firm-tender and sweeter compared to red snapper (the other fish commonly used in curry fish head).

There's tomatoes, brinjal, cabbage, onion and lady fingers which contributed sweetness and a slightly tangy zest to the mild curry. Ocean Curry Fish Head grind and fry their own spice paste (rempah), so the spice blend is fresh with depth of flavour and aroma. The rempah gave the thick curry a grainy feel.

The fish head is cooked directly in the claypot, so some fresh fish sweetness is infused in the curry. The coconut milk that hold the spices together is relatively thick (personally, I prefer it to be slightly lighter like that at Johor Bahru's Kam Long).

I like it that the mildness of the spice allowed the natural sweetness of the Ang Ko Li fish to dominate the dish.

The litmus test of freshness of fish head is in the eyes and soft tissues in the crevices - Daniel gave them the thumbs up.

I love their sambal cockles. The sambal cockles that I have tried elsewhere all had chewy, almost rubbery texture due to overcooking. At Ocean Curry Fish Head, the blood cockles are soft. Smothered in sambal chili with mild heat, I can still taste the subtle flavours of the blood cockle.

We also had stir fried pork, sambal prawn and oyster sauce squid which you might want to add if you have a larger party. For 2 or 3 persons, I will just go for their curry fish head and sambal cockles with plain white rice - I think that would be a simple but great lunch or dinner.

Pro-tip: The queue is long during lunch. But, if you are having the curry fish head, skip the queue. Order at the counter and your food will be served to you at your table.

Read about the history of curry fish head 👈 click

Date: 17 Sep 2020