Popular No Name (Ah Puat) Fish Soup near B & S Boutique Hotel in Batu Pahat 峇株巴轄 無名魚湯

I asked Vincent from Batu Pahat to suggest hyperlocal places for our dinner food hop.

Vincent brought us to this no name side lane stall serving fish soup.

It was exactly the type of hyperlocal experience that I look for when travelling 🕺 It's not for everyone though.

Looking for this no name stall is actually not hard. It is just diagonally across the intersection from B & S Boutique Hotel.

This fish soup stall is run by Mr Lee for nearly 40 years. Lee worked at a zhi char stall at Purvis Street in Singapore in the early 1980s. That area was once Singapore's Hainanese enclave. Lee remembers Yet Con and Swee Kee of Middle Road well - both pioneers and stalwarts of Singapore Hainanese chicken rice have closed.

(Actually, locals refer to this no name stall as "Ah Puat" as the Mr Lee is named "Ah Puat". Thanks Joyce for the information.)

Mr Lee's menu at the fish soup stall.

Mr Lee cooks everything ala minute 👍

Fish soup bee hoon.

Fish (& minced pork) soup.

Truth be told, both weren't mind blowing but they weren't supposed to be. These are everyday comfort food which score high on being, affordable, accessible, nutritious, nourishing, filling (with rice) and delicious for many people.

The soup was gently porcine sweet with a bit of tangy savoury saltiness from preserved vegetables.

The fishballs seemed generic but the pork was fresh and clean tasting sweet.

We didn't get their signature Teochew fish porridge which I must come back for next time.

After trying several popular food places in Batu Pahat, locals seem to prefer gentle natural flavours from quality ingredients i.e. not as reliant on sauces, spices, MSG, etc., for flavour.