Song Kee Fish Ball Noodle at Circuit Road Food Centre

This stall at Circuit Road Food Centre is one of the many outlets of Song Kee Fishball Noodle in Singapore. All of them are mostly operated by relatives, they are related but different entities and so, they will usually claim that they are, in fact, not related. The Finest Songkee's Cuisine at Upper Serangoon seemed to be the only exception, the nephew is a minor shareholder there so an identical name is used. As for this stall, it is operated by one of their uncles, and this uncle has been making fishballs for more than 40 years. He is still insisting on doing so right now. It is located just beside Soon Lee Lor Mee that I patronize regularly.

There was just another customer in front of me so it was my turn, he asked, "You want a mixture of everything?" I nodded. He took out the oval-shaped and started cooking. When it was done, he placed the bowl on the tray and collected $5. There is a smaller portion for $3.50.

The texture of fishballs was soft and bouncy, those 2 pieces of tau pok with fish paste were not too bad but there is no fish dumpling and no crispy lard too. The other Song Kee at Cheng San Food Centre in Ang Mo Kio used to have fish dumplings too but it seemed to stop serving. 

The other Song Kee at Tembeling Road in Joo Chiat will be moving to Yio Chu Kang Road in this coming April. The new shop is at 100 Yio Chu Kang Road and it is much nearer to where I am staying.

SONG KEE FISH BALL NOODLE

Block 79 Circuit Road #01-06 Circuit Road Food Centre SINGAPORE 370079

Operating Hours: 5.00 pm to 1.00 am (Closed on alternate Wednesdays)

Song Kee Fishball Noodle : back with their handmade fish dumpling

It all started in 1966 when Mr Chua Keok Sip opened the first stall in Toa Payoh. He opened another stall in Simei but has since closed down after his passing. There is also a Song Kee Fishball Noodle in Ang Mo Kio and another Song Kee Fishball Noodle in Eunos, both run by their relatives. There was also a Song Kee Fishball Noodle at Upper Serangoon Road started by the children of the late Mr Chua Keok Sip but was shut down in July 2016. The shop space is taken over by Finest Songkee's Fishball Noodle, run by a cousin that is also the owner of the original Song Kee Fishball Noodle in the food centre at Toa Payoh Lorong 5. 

The Song Kee Fishball Noodle that used to be at Upper Serangoon Road resurfaced after 8 months in a spacious coffee shop at Tembeling Road in Joo Chiat and is directly opposite Haig Girls' School, not too far from Dunman Food Centre. It is opened by Chua Soo Meng, 48, the elder brother, Chua Soo Chai, 47, the second brother and Chua Poh Seng, 45, the youngest of the brothers with Chua Mui Khim, 37, their younger sister and together, they wanted to keep their family tradition alive. 

The brothers and sister play a different role in running the business, their wives are in charge of taking orders and serving the food to the customers. Chua Soo Meng is mainly serving the food and making the drinks, Chua Soo Chai is the resident noodle chef and will be cooking along with Chua Mui Khim. Chua Poh Seng is the one making the 'herh keow' (fish dumpling). He has started making them at 21 years old at his late father's old stall. He insists that the skin has to be handmade as the quality would be compromised if making it using the machine, the skin might end up being too thick and it might even tear during the process. The fishballs are machine-made though.

It still tasted the same and it is, in my opinion, better than the Finest Songkee's Fishball Noodle that took over their vacated shop space along Upper Serangoon Road. The perfectly cooked noodles will then tossed together with their special chilli mix that is made of dried shrimp and buah keluak paste. A basic bowl of noodles is priced at $4 followed by $6 and then the $8 portion. A number tag will be given when you place your order and it will be served to the table later.

There is an ice cream counter at the corner of the coffee shop, it is named "Sng Gor", which means "ice cream" in Teochew and it is manned by Norman Chan, 42, their cousin. He used to run a catering central kitchen in Beijing and he was taught how to make ice cream by his Italian neighbour. A supplier is sourced to make those 25 flavours of ice cream based on his recipes. Some of the popular choices are Salted Caramel and D24 Durian, each scoop is priced between $3.80 to $2.80. You can have the option to have it with the waffle or their house-made cone. Local coffee and cafe style coffee are also available there. 

There is also a change in their operating hours, it is from 11.30 am to 9.30 pm and no longer from 6.00 pm to 1.00 am. They are still in the midst of monitoring the crowd levels and might adjust the operating hours if need be. Apparently, the parking is still an issue at this new location.

SONG KEE FISHBALL NOODLE

128 Tembeling Road SINGAPORE 423638

Operating Hours: 11.30 am to 9.30 pm (Daily)

Tiong Bahru Fishball : Oldies but still Goodies

This is one of the original stalls from the Seng Poh Road Market that was shut down in 2004 and they relocated to the Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre in 2006. It was founded by Mr Loh since 1962 and they have been around for more than 5 decades serving homestyle fishballs made from Wolf Herring fish, commonly known as Ikan Parang or Sai Tor Her using their family recipe. 

Other than the fried fishballs, there are also mixed vegetable chilli balls, otah, fried beancurd roll with fishpaste, flat ngor hiang, cuttlefish ball, fish roll, fried tofu with fish paste and so on. Some of the popular items are usually sold out quite early. You are to select what you want first then handed over to the Uncle, it will then be re-fried and cut it up nicely and presented on disposable place with a bowl of chilli. 

This is also the place to go when you need to bring something to be shared at a potluck party. 

TIONG BAHRU FISHBALL

30 Seng Poh Road #02-20 Tiong Bahru Food Centre Singapore 168898
Operating Hours: 7.00 am to 3.00 pm (Closed on Mondays)