Friday, March 30, 2007

Nothing fishy about this fish soup beehoon

Despite what’s been written about it, and how it's supposed to make us "smart" and happy, I’ve never been really fond of fish. Fishiness aside, it’s the texture of the fish meat that didn’t quite catch my fancy. I’ve always been a "porky" person, and I’m not ashamed to say bakwa, pig trotters, kway chap are my things.

So it was with some reluctance that I agreed to tag alone when Victor and Moogee suggested trying the fish soup beehoon stall in a kopitiam at Bukit Merah that perpetually draws long queue from office workers nearby. "Fine," I said to myself. "So long as I dun have to drive." Finding a parking lot in that area is a nightmare. Especially so if I have to parallel park. Go on Victor, snigger for all you want. Do I look as if I give a damn? Heh.

We’ve passed by that kopitiam many times, but we never had the patience to join the queue. Boy, we didn’t know what we were missing! The signs are all there, and as they say, the fatter the rats, the longer the queue, the better the grub? That proved to be true in this case.

There were already about 10 customers in front of us when we arrived at the kopitiam.


And when we finally got our beehoon about 30 minutes later, it didn't disappoint. I ordered fried fish soup to go with yam rice. You would expect the fish to be soggy in the soup, right? But no, the fish was surprisingly crispy, unlike most other fish beehoon stalls I know. What I love about the soup is that it is served with a generous amount of cabbage, coriander and spring onion. The yam rice was fragrant with a fair amount of yam. On top of the usual cut chilli, the stall also provides garlic chilli like those eaten with chicken rice.



If you don't like fried fish, you can order sliced fish. Or if you fancy both, you can even tell the hawker to have them mixed, which was what Victor and Moogee had. Try asking the same in another fish beehoon stall and the hawker would probably throw you a dirty look. Gee, I juz realised the stall actually serves pig organs and seafood soup, and pork porridge ...


If you're thinking of heading down to the kopitiam, be prepared to wait for 30 minutes or more for your food. Also, if you're driving there, you need to bring at least two other guys along. Patronising a popular stall like this calls for some strategic planning, especially so if you want to go back office on time to prevent your boss from accusing you of skiving. Okay, you need the driver (Moogee) who would alight you guys while he queues (what? And you think you need only to queue for the fish beehoon?) and wait for a parking lot; another guy (that's me, the idle smart one) to "choop" the seats at the kopitiam (sorry, I dun believe in choopping with tissue paper one); and the last guy (Victor, the primate who loves fish... how odd?) to queue for the fish soup beehoon.

Trust me, it's worth the wait!

The stall is at:
Block 124
Bukit Merah Lane 1

I dunno the unit number. But juz look for the stall with the longest queue lor. You can't go wrong with that. LOL.

Category: Food

7 comments:

Chris Sim said...

Times of Your Life by Paul Anka was intentionally put in the background to make Chun See drool.... and make him tear out his hair in frustration if he can't get the music to play in his blog... Oh, the sadist me ... wahahaha..

Victor said...

Before I can hantam you for putting Chun See's song in your blog, you've already pre-empted me and put in the explanation as your very first comment. So clever.

Now I am accessing your blog using my son's computer which is newer than mine. (He's having his dinner now.) No problem whatsoever. But as I told you, he hogs this computer most of the time. Expect me to access your blog less often and also comment less.

Chun See - Chris left out a very important point. Do you know you have to pay royalties for playing a song on your blog? If not, you may find people knocking at your gate one day. Don't say I never warn you hor. However, there's a way to get round this problem - sing your own song lor. Or ask Elaine to sing for you - she sings well and has a very sweet voice.

Chris Sim said...

Victor:
It's time to junk your old pc and get a new one lah... You got PB, right? Anyway, it seems that you're the only one who's got problem with my blog when I add in music. Dun you think it's too big a sacrifice to the other blogofriends of mine who might enjoy the music i put up? Why should i remove the song juz because of "one voice from the wilderness"? (Learn from PY one) And from someone who likes to whine a lot one. Selfish.

As for putting up the songs and royalties.... I dunno anything leh. But Chun See should take note because he's quite famous and a lot of pple visit his blog one. It's up to him lah. You also can sing mah. Maybe you and your GNE can have a duet lor. That would be really Times of Your Life. LOL.

Anonymous said...

I prefer the sliced fish version coz I heard that fried fish version is made from the not-so-fresh fish slices, sometimes the leftover sliced fish that are not sold out on the previous day. They used previous day sliced fresh fish that has turned unfresh, then deep fry them to mask the unfresh fishy smell.
But look at the queue, I bet the ingredients are constantly replenished, so no difference I guess!

Shilpa said...

Hahaha, YOU CAN'T PARALLEL PARK?!?! Love fried fish beehoon, by the way, but it was your handicap that caught my eye! :)

Lam Chun See said...

Sorry. Must confess did not read this post. Saving it for another occasion.

I am having 2nd thots about putting up music. I got feedback that it is quite irritating. Also I was adviced to turn the volume down (how ah?) becos somebody reading your blog during office hours may suddenly have the loud music come on in the quiet of the office and let the whole world know that he is surfing the net during working hours.

But still will try it just to learn something new. And not to waste Chris' painstaking efforts to educate this laodie. Thanks buddie.

Chris Sim said...

Tigerfish:
I think the fish here is fresh. Juz that the fried version seems to have more flour then meat. Also, one of my colleague commented that the soup tasted a bit like maggie noodle soup. But I find it ok leh. I guess it's different strokes for different folks lor.

Shilpa:
So bad one. Victor is supposed to be sniggering; NOT you hor. For the record, I CAN pararllel park, ok? Juz gimme 15 minutes to do so... hehehe...