Tai Seng’s greatest hidden secret, with superb fish soup value queuing for

Office of us will at all times have one or two hidden meals gems up their sleeves. These locations can be the place they’ll go in the event that they want some consolation meals to ward off the Monday blues, even when meaning having to stroll lengthy distances or courageous the snaking queues. I’ve lastly discovered one tucked away in Tai Seng, and it’s none apart from Mei Chin Fish Soup.

Mei Chin Fish Soup is likely one of the meals stalls in a espresso store at 1010 Tai Seng Avenue. For those that work across the space, this espresso store could be discovered close to Kim Chuan Lane/Drive.

While the constructing would possibly look extremely unassuming from the within, step by way of any certainly one of its small openings and also you’ll uncover an intensely bustling, noisy and crowded espresso store, full of white and blue-collared staff from across the space.

With near a dozen meals stalls, this espresso store is a gold mine ready to be explored. However, I observed that the one with the longest and most constant queue was Mei Chin Fish Soup.

Apparently, Mei Chin Fish Soup has been round for the previous 25 years, serving up hearty bowls of fish soup to its many loyal followers. It’s run by a pair, and the stall’s major promoting level is its recent fish slices, that are purchased from an area moist market every day and hand sliced to make sure that they’re of the best high quality.

Despite becoming a member of the queue with about 10 folks in entrance of me, it moved rapidly and effectively, and it took me lower than 20 minutes to succeed in the entrance of the stall. I additionally observed that the aunty had an impeccable reminiscence, recognising regulars upon sight and remembering their orders nearly instantly. “Same ah?”, she would say in Hokkien.

One factor to notice about Mei Chin Fish Soup is that not like different fish soup stalls, it doesn’t serve fried fish nor add evaporated milk in its soup. That’s proper— it’s so conventional that it solely serves plain fish soup with recent fish slices.

What I attempted at Mei Chin Fish Soup

For essentially the most genuine expertise at Mei Chin Fish Soup, I made a decision to order the Sliced Fish Soup (S$6) with a bowl of White Rice (S$0.50).

Note that in case you’re feeling further hungry, you may get the Sliced Fish Soup in a bigger portion at S$7.50. There are additionally different carb choices, resembling Sliced Fish Thin Bee Hoon/Mee Sua (S$6/S$7.50), Fish Porridge (S$6/S$7.50), and in addition Fried Fish Head Soup (S$6).

While its soup was crystal clear, I may instantly inform that it was stuffed with flavour, because of the little purple foamy bits that lined the sting of the bowl.

This was akin to having steamboat and seeing the scum kind on the highest of the broth— a certain signal that loads of hours had gone into the making of the soup.

I took my first sip of fish soup, and I uttered: “Wow.”

The texture of the fish soup was clear and clean, but it surely was full of a lot briny flavours that it left me blown away by how full-bodied it was. It was extra savoury than candy, and was so stuffed with depth that it immediately jogged my memory of fish head steamboat broth— tasty, barely salty, and insanely scrumptious.

While I’m often somebody who provides evaporated milk into her fish soup, a bowl from Mei Chin Fish Soup has formally transformed me right into a fan. Trust me, you don’t want white pepper, evaporated milk or fried fish to make this bowl of Sliced Fish Soup any higher than it already is.

For S$6, I used to be impressed by what number of slices of batang fish I had been given. It was simply near 10, with every slice coming in odd styles and sizes— some thinner than others— which is a sign that every had been hand sliced.

These have been so clean that every fish slice threatened to slip off my spoon and chopsticks, and the minute I positioned them in my mouth, its silkiness caught me off guard. It felt like a child’s cheek— modern and velvety— and but, biting into them revealed a agency texture with not a single style of fishiness.

These have to be the freshest fish slices I’ve ever had in my life!

Accompanying the full-bodied fish soup and recent fish slices have been a very good quantity of different elements, resembling fried egg floss and loads of crunchy lettuce.

I significantly beloved the fried egg floss because it soaked up all of the great flavours of the fish soup like a sponge, making each chunk an actual addictive delight.

Final ideas

In all honesty, the Sliced Fish Soup was so good that I had fully forgotten that I had ordered a bowl of White Rice!

This was a bowl of fish soup that I’d gladly queue for, be it rain or shine. I beloved how full-bodied it was regardless of being crystal clear, in addition to its amazingly recent fish slices. I additionally observed that whereas I used to be having my meal, Mei Chin Fish Soup’s queue by no means dwindled. In reality, it stayed continuously lengthy.

For these working within the Tai Seng space, you’ve completely bought to present this place a attempt in case you haven’t. I can guarantee you it’s the actual deal!

Expected injury: S$6 – S$8 per pax

Other articles you would possibly like:

First dibs: We visited the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar, with 700 stalls, from 17 Mar – 22 Apr 2023

Hi Bánh Mì: Hidden gem in Geylang with $4 banh mi & rustic vibes that remind you of Vietnam