We decided to come here for fish soup partly because the last one we recently had at Toa Payoh was really bad 😤 We needed to find something to erase the memories of that one 🥹 Of course, we can always go back to our tried and tested favourites, but we are greedy - we want good and new experiences despite the risks of wasted calories 🫢
Anyway, here we were at Cai Ji at Chong Boon hawker centre in Ang Mo Kio. They have many different variations of fish soup - batang, red grouper, sliced, fried, meat, head, mixed, plus other seafood (prawns), etc.
Buddy came back with two bowls of different types. $10 each bowl.
Let's talk about the classic clear soup one first.
The soup was tasty though my idea of perfect fish soup is clear like water with the taste of fresh fish, lettuce, tomato and a pinch of salt. It's almost like that at Cai Ji 👍 but they added ti poh powder that clouded the soup and also the taste (like they do at the famous First Street).
Besides fresh fish (we had batang and grouper), there were lettuce, tomato, scallion, minced pork, fried garlic, pepper, and savoury ti poh already dissolved in the soup. (I know for a lot of people, got ti poh means win already.)
The soup was tasty though not as "cheng" or clean tasting as I like.
The fish meat, both the batang and grouper, were fresh and thickly cut. Cooked to tender texture. So thumbs up 👍 and I don't need to add any comments
😁
Balls of minced fresh pork. Soft tender, savoury sweet. Nice to eat and added flavours to the soup too.
The second bowl was fried fish head soup.
It was very cloudy in looks and taste, because the batter from the fried fish and fried yam leaked into the soup. If you like chuk 濁 (cloudy, thicker) fish soup, this could be your cup of tea soup.
Me.... I am a clear soup boomer.
The fish head was, of course, bony. It wasn't meaty, partly because I wasn't diligent in digging out the meat as I was still full from the previous meal 🫢
They have fried fish roe, which was a steal at $2. But deep frying took away much of the flavours of the fish roe. It also became slightly chewy though still tender. Next time, I will check if I can just have them blanched and dropped into my soup.
Can? Surely can. It's a wipeout even though we just had kway chap only moments earlier 🫢
So, have I recovered from that Toa Payoh fish soup? Yeah....., time heals everything 😄
Written by Tony Boey 5 Oct 2023
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Wah today then I read fully your article hahaha. Our expectation a bit high lah. But definitely it removed our bad experience cos this stall the fish was really fresh. I can double confirm the fish is fresh today cos by 530pm the red grouper slices already sold out (which wouldn't be the case if they used any frozen/frozen thawed fish. 🤔🤔).
ReplyDeleteThe soup would be personal preference liao (my wife had this again today- third time this week.).
Btw the fish head wasn't fried. I confirmed with him. He cut it right before people order, and then do one quick boiling water over the fish head and then put into the pot to cook. The soup base is made up of tipo and small disintegrated bones.
I'm prob biased since I talked to him three times this week and he's really too nice. 😅😅😅
It's good they have a competitor when 453 fish soup started,if not previously their fish slices very thin,that's why last time I prefer to go Blk 409 food centre for fish soup
ReplyDeleteJa Ck yep after trying both sides I now patronise 453,where I ca get the mildly grinded chilli n add light sauce or add taucheo,yes I prefer the clear soup.
ReplyDeleteI feel the seasoning covers the fish taste, for contrast, the 453 stall around the corner, more cheng
ReplyDeletefish head and minced pork in soup. woo hoo. btw will you also be patronising the Rahim mee rebus stall that's also at Chong Boon Food Centre?
ReplyDelete