Where to Scour the Best Fish Soup in Singapore: 9 Bowls Worth Seeking Out

I didn't grow up thinking of fish soup as a dish you could get precious about. It was just the thing my grandmother ordered when she wanted something "light," which, looking back, was never quite the right word for a bowl that could be fried, milky, herbal, or clear as glass depending on which stall she chose. It took me years of eating my way through Singapore's food centres and coffee shops to realise that fish soup isn't one dish at all. It's a whole category, and the best fish soup in Singapore for one person can leave another completely cold.

This is not a ranking of the single definitive bowl. Think of it as a guide to the best fish soup Singapore has across different styles so you can match yourself to the version you're actually craving, because there's definitely a stall on this list that checks all the boxes for that exact mood.

Your Best Fish Soup in Singapore, Simplified

1. Hup Lok: Grandpa's Pomfret Fish Soup | 725 Havelock Road | Tue–Sun, 11:30am–2:30pm & 5:30pm–9:30pm; closed Monday
2. Han Kee: Clear Sliced Fish Soup | Amoy Street Food Centre | Mon–Fri, 11am–3pm; closed weekends
3. Jun Yuan House of Fish: Herbal Seafood Soup | Old Airport Road Food Centre | Mon–Wed & Fri–Sun; closed Thursday
4. First Street Teochew Fish Soup: Traditional Teochew Fish Soup | 1014 Upper Serangoon Road | Tue–Sun, 8am–3pm; closed Monday
5. Jin Hua Fish Head Bee Hoon: Milky Fried Fish Soup | Maxwell Food Centre | Fri–Wed, 11:30am–7:30pm; closed Thursday
6. Mei Xiang Black & White Fish Soup: Mixed Fried & Sliced Fish Soup | Berseh Food Centre | Tue–Fri, 11:30am–2pm; closed Monday, Saturday & Sunday
7. Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon: Fried Fish Bee Hoon with Milky Broth | Whampoa Makan Place | Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun, 9am–2pm; closed Monday, Wednesday & Friday
8. Piao Ji Fish Porridge: Fish and Prawn Soup | Amoy Street Food Centre | Mon–Wed & Fri–Sun, 10:30am–3pm; closed Thursday
9. Xin Yuan Ji: Sit-Down Fish Soup | Bugis | Daily, 11:30am–11pm.

1. Hup Lok: Grandpa's Pomfret Fish Soup

Hup Lok is where to go when you want a pomfret fish soup that feels genuinely considered rather than assembled. The broth leans Teochew in character: clear, measured, with just enough brightness to complement the fish rather than compete with it. The restaurant describes the base as a batang collagen broth served with Teochew accompaniments, and that description does a better job than most menu copy at telling you what kind of bowl you're getting.

Pomfret is a genuinely different eating experience from the batang fish slices you find at a typical fish soup stall. The flesh has more body, more flavour, and holds up to the broth in a way that rewards slower eating. The Grandpa's Pomfret Soup (S$14.10) is the main draw, with the Teochew Steamed Pomfret (Boneless) (S$14.10) also on the current ordering menu for those who want the fish front and centre without any soup at all. Note that a 10% service charge applies for dine-in.

• Address: 725 Havelock Road, Singapore
• Opening hours: Tue–Sun, 11:30am–2:30pm & 5:30pm–9:30pm; closed Monday
• Best for: Teochew fish soup fans and anyone wanting to try pomfret fish soup properly

2. Han Kee: Clear Sliced Fish Soup at Amoy Street Food Centre

Han Kee's bowl of fish soup is not trying to impress you. It's trying to be correct, and it largely succeeds. The Michelin Bib Gourmand 2026 recognition confirms what regulars at Amoy Street Food Centre have known for years: this is a sliced fish soup that trusts its broth to carry the work. MICHELIN describes it as umami-rich, built around mackerel, and the result is a clear soup that's lighter than it reads on paper but deeply satisfying in the bowl.

You can order it with bee hoon, with white rice, or simply as a clear fish soup with sliced fish floating on top. The long queue during lunch is well-documented and worth planning around: Han Kee is open Monday to Friday 11am–3pm only, closed on weekends, so an off-peak Tuesday visit is considerably smoother than a Friday lunch sprint. It also fits naturally into the wider Raffles Place food scene, where old-school food centre stalls and newer restaurants make this part of the CBD particularly rewarding to eat your way through.

• Address: Amoy Street Food Centre, #02-129, 7 Maxwell Road, Singapore 069111
• Opening hours: Monday–Friday, 11am–3pm; closed weekends
• Best for: Clean-tasting clear sliced fish soup; a fish soup fix without the richness

3. Jun Yuan House of Fish – Herbal Seafood Soup With a Different Point of View

Jun Yuan opened in 2014 at Old Airport Road Food Centre, and it's probably the strongest single argument for herbal seafood soup as a style worth seeking out on its own terms. The broth, documented by MICHELIN as built on pork, seafood, angelica root, and polygonatum root, has a warmth that's distinct from a standard fish soup stall without becoming overly fishy or tipping into medicinal bitterness. It's genuinely generous with both the fish and prawns, treating the seafood as the main event rather than an afterthought to the herbal base.

Beyond the herbal version, Jun Yuan runs a menu that covers multiple styles of fish soup in Singapore: XO Fried Fish Soup, XO Double Fish Soup, Sliced Fish Soup, Sliced Black Grouper Soup, and Fried Batang Fish Head Soup, each approaching the category differently. The Herbal Seafood Soup and XO Fried Fish Soup start at S$8.80, while the Sliced Black Grouper Soup and XO Double Fish Soup start at S$9.80, giving you a few ways to switch between the lighter sliced-fish bowls and the richer fried or herbal options.

• Address: Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Road, Singapore
• Opening hours: Mon–Wed & Fri–Sun; closed Thursday. Check current hours before visiting
• Best for: Herbal seafood soup; trying a less conventional style of fish soup in Singapore

4. First Street Teochew Fish Soup: Street Teochew Fish Soup & Fish Maw From 1988

First Street has been doing traditional Teochew fish soup since 1988, and the original taste and approach hasn't changed an overwhelming amount because it doesn't need to. The broth is built on fish bones with a clean, clear base, and the batang fish slices are cut with a generous amount rather than stretched thin. It's exactly the kind of bowl that makes street Teochew fish soup worth understanding as its own style, distinct from the richer fried versions and the milkier preparations further down this list.

Fish maw is available as an add-on for those who want more texture in the bowl. The current menu also covers Grouper Fish Soup (from S$14.80 on the delivery menu) and Seafood Soup (from S$10.90 on the delivery menu) alongside the Batang Fish Soup (from S$10.90 on the delivery menu).

• Address: 1014 Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore 534752
• Opening hours: Tue–Sun, 8am–3pm; closed Monday
• Best for: Traditional Teochew batang fish soup; those who want a clear, no-frills comfort food bowl

5. Jin Hua Fish Head Bee Hoon: Milky Fried Fish Soup at Maxwell Food Centre

Jin Hua at Maxwell Food Centre is where the fish soup debate really splits. If you've only had clear sliced fish soup, the fried fish version here is the most convincing argument for the other side. The broth is built on old mother hen, yellow beans, fish bones, and ginger: a base that already has considerable depth before anything else is added. Adding milk creates a cloudy soup with a slight sweetness and body that coats the bee hoon rather than simply surrounding it, and the result is one of the more distinctive bowls of fish soup you'll find in Singapore.

The menu covers sliced fish soup, fried fish soup, fish porridge, and bee hoon in multiple sizes, with prices ranging from S$5 to S$15 depending on the size and the specific dish. The Grouper Fish Head Bee Hoon Soup runs S$10 to S$15, for example, while the Fried Fish Meat Bee Hoon/Soup starts from S$5. The stall is open Friday to Wednesday, 11:30am–7:30pm, and closed on Thursdays. There's a related outlet at Old Airport Road Food Centre (#01-120) for those who aren't heading to Maxwell.

• Address: Maxwell Food Centre, #01-77, 1 Kadayanallur Street, Singapore 069184
• Opening hours: Friday–Wednesday, 11:30am–7:30pm; closed Thursday
• Best for: Milky fish soup; anyone wanting to try adding evaporated milk to a fried fish bowl

6. Mei Xiang Black & White Fish Soup: Two Textures in One Bowl

Mei Xiang Black & White solves a specific dilemma: wanting both styles in a single sitting. The "black and white" refers to fried fish ("black") and sliced fish ("white") combined in one mixed soup: one bowl, two textures, one broth that sits in a pleasant middle ground between the clear and the cloudy. The current menu is unusually focused: one dish, the Mixed Fish Soup at S$6.50, and that's it.

Components of this dish include sliced fish, fried fish, ginger, and cabbage, with egg floss and chilli served alongside. The stall operates dine-in only with no takeaway, and it has a history of selling out before its stated closing time. Current operating hours are Tuesday to Friday, 11:30am–2pm, closed Monday, Saturday and Sunday, which makes this one of the stricter opening-hours situations on this list. Arrive early rather than late, especially at peak hours.

• Address: Berseh Food Centre, #02-44, 166 Jalan Besar, Singapore 208877
• Opening hours: Tuesday–Friday, 11:30am–2pm; closed Monday, Saturday, Sunday
• Best for: Trying fried and sliced fish in one bowl; a fish soup fix at an honest price point

7. Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon: Fried Garlic, Milky Broth, and a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand

Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon's 2026 MICHELIN Bib Gourmand status is the kind of recognition that confirms what the long queue has been saying for years. MICHELIN specifically identifies the sliced fish bee hoon as having a flavourful milky fish stock with fried garlic bits, a small detail that makes a real difference. The fried garlic brings a toasty, savoury edge to a broth that might otherwise read as simply rich, and it's one of those finishing touches that separates this bowl from other fish soup options around Singapore.

The stall is at Whampoa Makan Place and runs an unusual schedule worth checking before you go: open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 2pm, closed Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That limited window makes planning around opening hours essential. The menu also includes tom yam soup, seafood soup, and fried fish head bee hoon alongside the sliced fish version, so there's range even within a focused offering.

• Address: Whampoa Makan Place, #01-46, 90/91 Whampoa Drive, Singapore 320091
• Opening hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday 9am–2pm; closed Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• Best for: Fried fish bee hoon with milky broth; generous serving with real depth from fried garlic

8. Piao Ji Fish Porridge: Fish and Prawn Soup at Amoy Street Food Centre

Piao Ji is worth visiting on its own terms rather than its older reputation. The business changed ownership, and the current menu reflects that change: it's now built primarily around Fish Soup and a Fish & Prawn Soup (S$13), using batang as the main fish. White rice is available separately at S$0.50. The current menu is streamlined compared to older iterations, so if you're working from a previous visit or an older guide, expect a different experience.

What makes Piao Ji a natural companion piece to Han Kee (both at Amoy Street Food Centre) is that the two bowls are doing different things. Han Kee is the clear sliced-fish-soup option; Piao Ji brings prawns into the equation, giving you a seafood soup that's slightly richer and more textured without moving into milky broth territory. It's a useful comparison if you're at Amoy Street specifically for fish soup in Singapore and want to understand the range.

• Address: Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road, Singapore 069111
• Opening hours: Daily, 10:30am–3pm; closed Thursday
• Best for: Batang fish and prawn soup together; those who want seafood soup rather than a pure fish soup stall

9. Xin Yuan Ji: A Sit-Down Fish Soup Fix in Bugis, Open for Dinner

Xin Yuan Ji solves a problem the other entries on this list don't fully address: most of Singapore's best-known fish soup stalls close after lunch, which makes them excellent for a weekday bowl but genuinely difficult to plan a dinner around. Xin Yuan Ji is a sit-down eatery in Bugis, not a hawker stall nor a food centre, and it's open daily from 11:30am to 11pm, giving you a proper evening window for a steaming fish soup or fried fish bee hoon when most other options have packed up.

The menu covers sliced and fried fish soup, bee hoon, and charcoal fish-head steamboat alongside a broader zi char-style offering. That last part matters when you're dining with a group that wants different things: Xin Yuan Ji gives fish-soup fans what they came for while still having range for everyone else. It's the option I suggest when someone wants the flavour of a good fish soup in Singapore without the hawker-centre hustle or the lunchtime-only window.

• Address: 31 Tan Quee Lan Street, #01-01, Singapore 188117
• Opening hours: Daily, 11:30am–11pm
• Best for: Evening fish soup; sit-down dining; groups with mixed food preferences

What Kind of Fish Soup Are You Looking For?

The first step to finding your best fish soup in Singapore isn't choosing a stall. It's knowing what style you want, because fish soup here splits into a few genuinely distinct camps.

• Clear sliced fish soup is the one most people picture first: a light, almost transparent broth, usually simmered with fish bones, with fresh fish slices cooked just before serving to keep the fish fresh and silky. It's the bowl you order when you want the fish to carry everything: no richness, no milkiness, just a clean-tasting broth and tender, thin slices of batang fish or similar.
• Fried or milky fish soup goes the other direction entirely. The fish is fried first, and the resulting stock often has a cloudy soup quality that's thicker and deeper than a clear version. Adding evaporated milk to some styles creates an even richer, almost chowder-like body.
• Teochew fish soup, often built around batang or pomfret, sits somewhere between the two: clear but intensely flavoured, with ginger and sometimes preserved vegetables stirred through. You may also find bitter gourd slices, tofu cubes, egg tofu, green veggies, spring onions, or fried shallots in and around the bowl. Teochew fish porridge follows the same lighter philosophy, letting the fish and broth do most of the talking.
• Herbal seafood soup is its own category, built on a base of Chinese herbs rather than tomato or milk, and usually generous with both fish and other seafood. If a fresh fish soup fix feels too mild for where you are today, the herbal version is the one worth knowing.

Once you know which direction you're leaning, the nine entries above should be a lot easier to navigate.

Finding Your Bowl of Fish Soup in Singapore

Nine entries, four main styles, and one consistent truth: the best fish soup in Singapore is a moving target depending on what you're craving that day. Clear or cloudy, sliced or fried, Teochew and clean, or herbal and warming: each bowl here answers a different question, and now you have enough to ask the right one before you order.

If a good bowl of fish soup is the beginning of a larger seafood appetite, Singapore has plenty more waiting. For the bigger, shared-table seafood meals that sit at the other end of the spectrum from a quiet bowl of bee hoon soup, we've covered that territory here as well. Either way, the next time someone asks for your fish soup recommendation, you'll have a better answer than a single favourite stall name; you'll have a style, and a reason.