I had long wanted to try the popular fish soup stalls Han Kee and Piao Ji at Amoy Hawker Centre. Didn't get to taste them until today because the queues were always sooo.... looong. Finally got the chance today because I was in the area early to visit the historic Thian Hock Keng temple.
I went straight for Han Kee because the queue is normally the longest. (I wanted to try Piao Ji on another day.)
The order taker (auntie) came to take our orders and collected payment while we were back in the queue. I ordered fish soup and rice, and she said $5.50. As we got to the front of the stall, I saw that there were also $7 and $10 options. I requested to upsize to $7 (since already queued so long right..?) but auntie snapped "cannot change"😂
So here it is - the $5.50 serving of Han Kee fish soup. I thought it was quite a generous serving.
The clear watery light bodied soup was mildly savoury with a bit of fish sweetness and punctuated with bits of savoury fried garlic.
The slices of Batang fish (Spanish mackerel) were fresh, tender and naturally sweet. I liked it.
After I am done with the Han Kee fish soup, I was only ¾ full.
Just nice lah. I popped over to Piao Ji to top up to full tank 😄 The queue wasn't as long as at Han Kee but today, it seemed to take longer to clear (about 30 minutes).
Like at Han Kee, the more friendly auntie at Piao Ji came up to the queue to take orders and collect payment. Prices started at $7 for fish soup at Piao Ji, so I ordered that.
The $7 fish soup from Piao Ji (I skipped the rice as this was my second round).
By the time I got my Piao Ji fish soup, it was already 12 noon. Walking around the hawker centre with my tray of food, I couldn't find any available table.
Several tables were occupied by tissue paper. I had no choice but to sit at one of the "choped" tables and tried to finish my food quickly before the "owner" comes back.
Piao Ji's fish soup was watery light and tasted mildly savoury. There were layers of savouriness from fried shallot and also fried pork lard crackling. It was a bit "chok" compared to the more 清 clean tasting soup at Han Kee.
$7 at Piao Ji gets about the same amount of Batang fish at Han Kee for $5. Piao Ji's fish was sufficiently fresh but tasted slightly more savoury due to the soup.
Oh... I managed to finish my meal and cleared the table before the tissue paper owner returned to his/her "choped" table.
👉 Wasn't my intention to do a comparison but since I ate at both Amoy food centre fish soup stalls back to back, why not right...? Truth be told, I feel both are just "ok only". But, since I prefer my fish soup to be cheng cheng (clear and clean tasting), I would opt for Han Kee the next time. This time I shall go for the $7 serving.
Address: Amoy Street Food Centre @ intersection of Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street, Singapore
GPS: 1°16'46.9"N 103°50'49.1"E 🌐 1.279684, 103.846961
Restaurant name: Han Kee 汉记鱼汤 (stall #02-129)
Hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm (Sun off)
Restaurant name: Piao Ji Fish Porridge 標记 (stall #02-100)
Hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm (Thurs off)
Non Halal
Date visited: 19 Nov 2018
P.S. I went to Thian Hock Keng temple today to do research for my blog.
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