Bau Mak Fish Soup • Taste of Home @ Golden Mile Food Centre 寶媽 • 家的味道 ☏ 9007 0161

Bau Mak 寶媽 • 家的味道 | 505 Beach Rd, stall #01-82, Singapore 199583 (stall in Golden Mile Food Centre) 🚅 10 minutes from Lavender station or Nicoll Highway station ☏ 9007 0161 ⏰ 10am - 7pm (Sunday off)

You know whenever I am at Golden Mile Food Centre, I will pop by Kopi More to say hello to kopi boss Lawrence and to get my kopi C kosong fix.

When there are good new stalls, Lawrence will tip me off to them 😬 🙏

"Go try the fish soup opposite the aboling stall upstairs. Their soup a lot of flavour, not the water type."

And so, here I am.

I wanted just the basic ikan batang fish soup but boss suggested upsizing to the $9 set - good deal he said, "comes with ngo hiang and free rice".

Good deal and free, I am sold down the river 😂

Can add 50 cents for bitter gourd.

Throw that in I said, today I am ready to splurge. (Last week, I spent like a multi millionaire in Pontianak and Singkawang 🤭 )

First looks, good.....

... but had to minus some points for factory supplied fried shallot 🤭 (But, often it can't be helped as it is very difficult to get help to run hawker stalls in Singapore.)

The tea coloured soup was good as Lawrence said. The tee poh umami was very pronounced, and with that, most Singapura tastebuds are already conquered. Vegetables in the soup provided natural sweetness for balance. (No evaporated milk nonsense.)

Boomers stand no chance (of not liking it 😂 ).

No doubt, one of the best fish soup, soup I have tasted so far.

The ikan batang fish came with skin on, which is the way I like my fish slices.

The soft tender fish meat was fresh enough with a bit of fish sweetness enveloped with umami savouriness from the superior soup.

Together with the various vegetables in the soup and a piece of cut chili pepper, every mouthful of boiled rice was a gut filling, nutritious, comforting pleasure.

The bitter gourd slices had no bitterness though done a tad soft. I will still add them next time as I love bitter gourd.

The handmade ngoh heong or Chinese fried pork roll in the set was pretty good.

Pork, carrot, prawn, etc., rolled in bean curd skin and deep fried.

Complex kind of savoury sweet filling, loosely stuffed in a lightly crisped wrap. A lot of people habitually have ngoh heong with everything, and Bau Mak's is worth the calories and experience.

The umami savoury sweet soup was the winner here. Next time, I shall try their grouper fish which I expect will be fresher (but at $12 a serving, double the price of Batang). I would also get the milt and roe, next time. You can have the seafood version, if clams and prawns are your things.

If you need a snack or must have ngoh heong with everything, get it from Bau Mak.