Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup: $5.50 porridge & $6 fish soup at Orchard
When we think of Orchard, it’s usually expensive restaurants or cafes that come to mind. But there are a handful of places where you can still get food for under S$10 in the area. One such place is Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup located at Lucky Plaza.
Hua Ji has been here for over 20 years, with some customers who have been frequenting it since their late teens now middle-aged. Even so, many of their regulars marvel at how the quality of the food here has never fallen.
The stall isn’t located at the much bigger Asian Food Mall but at the rather cramped kopitiam at the corner of the basement. I arrived past lunchtime and the Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup stall was one of the few with a queue still going. Be warned that you may need to wait for a seat.
The chatter by patrons ahead of me was mainly about whether the fried fish had sold out. I also quickly gleaned that while the most popular order was the fish soup, a lot of the older folks there opted for the Fish Porridge (S$5.50).
When it was my turn, I was in luck as they still had fried fish dishes on the menu.
What I tried at Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup
I started my order with a Double Fish Soup Bee Hoon (S$7) and requested milk in the soup. It was the easiest way to get the best of both worlds and to sample what Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup had to offer.
The aromatic scent of the fish soup immediately hit my nose, likely because they were generous with their Shaoxing wine. With the addition of milk, the soup becomes a semi-creamy delight with a subtle sweetness to it. Even without any additional soy or pepper added, you can smell how fragrant it is.
I also didn’t feel overly thirsty after draining most of the bowl.
The chunky slices of fish were fresh and soft, with even the slightest pressure from my chopsticks causing the pieces to split in half. After being submerged in the milky soup, the fish itself also had a gentle sweetness to it.
The fried fish adds a layer of savouriness to the soup, as you can still taste the saltiness if you eat it alone. The pieces were meaty and did not use flour to overcompensate and make the pieces bigger than they were.
Capping off the first dish is the thin bee hoon. Customers can opt to have thick bee hoon, yee mian, mee sua or Rice (S$1) instead.
The bee hoon absorbed quite a bit of the soup, making it quite addictive. It also helps that when you eat it with the pieces of fried fish as it doesn’t make the latter as salty. Together, they achieve a nice balance in each bite.
I was curious to try the soup without the addition of milk, so I ordered a bowl of Sliced Fish Soup (S$6) with an additional topping of Crispy Egg Floss (S$0.70).
For this, there was a good portion of lettuce and a quarter slice of tomato added in. There were also cubes of tofu floating about.
In contrast to the silky and creamy soup with milk, I found this bowl was far less balanced. The soup was much saltier than before. If not for the addition of vegetables, it may have been overpowering. The leafy greens added a much-needed crisp and fresh taste when eaten with the soup.
Without the milk to help mask it, even the slices of fish were overly savoury. As it was just the soup, there were no noodles to help balance it out. I have to give fair praise to the amount of fish in it, though; Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup was quite generous with the serving portion.
If you’re planning to get this without milk, I do think getting noodles or rice with it should give it a more rounded taste. Like before, the slices of fish were fresh and easy to bite down on, with no overt fishiness.
Another ingredient Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup was quite generous with was the crispy egg floss. It added a different texture to the bowl as it became slightly chewy after soaking in the soup.
If you’re going to add this to your order, I again recommend it with the addition of milk to the base as it’s another salty ingredient.
Final Thoughts
I strongly feel that Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup is a pretty strong contender for one of the better renditions of milk fish soup in Singapore. For me, without the milk, it becomes too salty if not balanced out with noodles or rice. But I can see why they have managed to retain a loyal customer base for so long – they don’t skimp out on the quality or amount of ingredients.
As one of the few places in Orchard that still offers wallet-friendly prices, I will likely return for a quick bite.
Expected damage: S$5.50 – S$9.50 per pax
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