I stumbled upon T.G. Fish Soup at Haig Road Food Centre using the most primitive way of food hunting. Stalk the hawker centre for stalls with the longest queues. In the Internet age, there are far more efficient ways to "hunt" for food but that would take away all the fun of a real food hunt ๐ (Update 2026: Nowadays, we could actually "write food reviews" with AI, but that would take away human expression and creation which I feel are basic human needs like food and air.)
But, I know right? This is far from a fail safe method as taste is a very subjective thing and sometimes stalls sport long queues for reasons other than good food.
I don't have a big calorie budget, so I usually peek at the ingredients first to see how fresh they are. Can't afford to waste calories ๐
Fresh fish checked ✅ and I spotted a table of happy Teochew Ah Hia (i.e. middle aged buddies) who should know their Teochew fish soup having a fish soup party.
I joined the queue. I didn't time the wait but got irritated at one point as the wait was longer than expected. People in front were taking away large orders and the soup was cooked one pot at a time.
Whatever I was feeling, it all melted away when I received this. This set of fish soup and rice costs $7.50 (2020 price). I asked for fish roe (I order that whenever it is available).
In the light tea colour soup, there were generous amounts of thick slices of Ikan Batang fish (Spanish Mackerel) and fish roe together with pieces of lettuce, seaweed and bits of tee poh (dried sole fish). No tofu or tomatoes (but I do not miss them ๐ ). Those who know me personally know that I do not like sourish taste in my food one... .
The soup is watery and light but far from bland. The basic gently savoury sweet fish soup was given additional layers of flavours from preserved vegetable, seaweed, tee poh and fried shallot. The fish add their own natural sweetness to the soup.
Bottomline is the soup was delicious ๐
I like it that the fish was sliced thick and with skin on. It was cooked to perfect doneness - it was tender (not soft, not flaky) and had a subtle fresh fish sweetness. Nice.
The roe was soft with softer pops to the bite and tasted sweet with subtle eggy flavour.
Bits of tee poh lifted the taste of the soup with savoury-umami.
Not much to shout about here but... yeah.., this is how I like to eat my rice with fish soup ๐
I like this fish soup. There is nothing for me to fault except perhaps for the waiting time. Fresh ingredients, expertly executed, delicious, competitive pricing. Yeah, I recommend T.G. Fish Porridge, if you are in the Geylang Serai area.
Hmmmm... I would say this is among the best Teochew fish soup that I have tasted.
Restaurant name: T.G. Fish Porridge ๆฝฎๆบ้ฑผ็ฒฅ
Address: 14 Haig Road, stall #01-50, Singapore 430014. Haig Road Market & Food Centre
Hours: 8:00am - 3:00pm
Singapore Toponymics
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