Relatively low profile Song Kee pedigree fishball noodle stall tucked away in a Bishan neighbourhood 15 minutes walk from Bishan MRT station. Its handmade fishball, fish dumpling (her kiao), pork-fish ball, sambal chili, noodles etc all come together deliciously. The best thing here for me is their her kiao.
151 Bishan Song Kee has been in this quiet little Bishan precinct for 11 years now and has a regular clientele. The queue is constantly 5 to 10 deep and waiting time is up to 30 minutes.
Stall owner Mr Chua is one of Song Kee founder's five sons who run a stall each bearing the Song Kee brand. There are perhaps another dozen stalls using the Song Kee brand - these are run by extended family (cousins) and perhaps also unrelated persons.
Mr. Chua is fastidious about the quality of his food and preparation - he is reputed to test water temperature with his bare hand (rather than use a thermometer). I did not see him do that today though. Friendly Mr. Chua is assisted at the stall by his equally effable son Adrian (and another two helpers).
Our order for two of us - one mee pok dry, one mee kia dry and one fish dumpling (herr kiao) soup. Each item costs $6.
Each bowl of noodle sits in a pool of house made sambal chili and sauces, topped with handmade fishball, fish cake slices, fish dumpling, pork-fish ball and blanched lean pork slices.
What's this concoction? 🤔
It's a long story.
When I asked the helper for a mixed mee pok and mee kia bowl, he told me it's either mee pok or mee kia, no mixing.
So, I ordered one mee kia and one mee pok to mix them ourselves. Easy.
Both the mee pok and mee kia were done to a soft crunchy texture. The savoury spicy sauce was nice and not very lardy. The flavours were not very intense so it didn't leave any deep impression except that it was nice.
I am quite easy to win over, just make it more hae bee (dried shrimp) savoury, give it a sharper spicy hot sting and throw in more lard and bak pok (lard cracklings).
Hand made with yellowtail fish, the fishballs were light and springy to the bite. It had a subtle fresh fish sweetness. Very nice!
The pork-fish ball is softer with a more subtle bounce. Slightly sweeter than the fish ball because of the additional layer of porcine sweetness.
To me the star of Song Kee, its affiliated stalls and spinoffs is their fish dumpling or herr kiao. It is essentially like the Cantonese wanton but the minced pork filling is spiked with ti poh (dried sole fish) and wrapped with a skin of rolled fish paste.
151 Bishan's rolled fish wrap is relatively thick, about the same thickness as another of my favourites Chao Yang of Eunos Crescent.
Here at 151 Bishan, the wrap is more chewy to the bite whereas at Chao Yang it is slightly softer and a bit gummy. (The rolled fish wrap is made of minced fish paste and a starch binder.)
I prefer 151 Bishan's fish dumpling wrap over the Song Kee @ 100 Yio Chu Kang as the latter's rolled fish wrapping has relatively less chewy gumminess (compared to 151 Bishan and Chao Yang @ Eunos).
The minced pork filling was well seasoned so it is tasty but without ti poh it lacked a layer of umami and intensity of savoury flavour.
Definitely a Can Eat fishball noodle worth travelling to Bishan and the queue.
Written by Tony Boey on 3 Apr 2021
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