If you’ve heard of Hock Heng, a popular fish soup stall in Aljunied, you may be interested to know that the owner’s grandson runs Imperial Fish Soup, a hawker stall at AMK 628 Food Centre that serves up very similar dishes.
Imperial Fish Soup’s millennial owner, Max, started the stall in 2020 after being laid off from his finance job, having first learned the ropes at Hock Heng. Together with his childhood friend, Jerry, they have been garnering regular crowds ever since.
Even when we visited at 11am, a decent queue was beginning to form, but the allure of a warm bowl of fish soup on that cold, rainy day was a huge motivator to be part of the line.
The most popular dish here is the Signature Seafood Noodle (from $5), which we had dry. You can choose from various types of noodles, such as mee kia or bee hoon, and we went for the mee pok.
This dish was very much akin to bak chor mee, but with seafood instead of pork. The noodles were tossed in a tangy-savoury sauce comprising ketchup, chilli, and soy sauce amongst other condiments, and the vinegary taste more prominent in other bak chor mee was not to the fore, which allowed the sweet tomato sauce to stand out more.
We found that the flavours of the noodles were decently spicy and satisfying, without being too overpowering. The pork lard oil also added a nice smoky richness, while the noodles had a good chew and just the right texture.
While the bowl came with meaty prawns that were sweet and fresh, our gripe was that the prawns were not deveined. The batang fish slices were also rather tough and chewy, which made it difficult to fully enjoy the dish. We found that the fishballs were delightfully soft, but their flavours were not too interesting.
Next, we tried their Sliced Fish Soup (from $5.50)—you can add on a side of rice for $0.50. Teochew-style fish soup is served here, which is clear and does not come with the option to add evaporated milk.
I personally prefer having evaporated milk whenever I order fish soup, but a sip of the broth here changed my mind. Despite having a light and thin texture, it was made up for in spades by the complex depth of flavours: sweet and briny from the fresh fish, savoury from the chicken stock, tangy umami from the tomatoes, and coy sharpness from the ginger.
An abundance of batang fish slices adorned the dish, but while they tasted very fresh and were sizeable and meaty, they were similarly overcooked and had an overly tough and rubbery mouthfeel. A generous amount of tofu and lettuce came along as well, which made the ingredients in the bowl rather plentiful.
We also tried the Fishball Noodle (from $3.50), this time in the soup variant and with mee kia. While well-priced and affordable, we felt that the lack of toppings made this bowl rather uneventful, having only three meagre fishballs.
The soup used in the noodle soups is also completely different from that of the fish soups; it was a light, clear soup that was significantly blander. The mee kia here was also lightly flavoured, but was a tad too soft for me. This dish would have been more enjoyable in the dry version.
Imperial Fish Soup is located in Ang Mo Kio 628 Market and Food Centre, which has a rather gloomy and outdated feel to its interior. The area was also rather stuffy, but that could be attributed to the humidity of the rainy day that we visited. The stall is located right at the end of the food centre, right next to the market.
The hawker centre is a 15-minute walk from Yio Chu Kang MRT Station.
The Signature Seafood Noodles and Fish Soup here were decent enough, while the Fishball Noodles did not impress. However, the food options here are rather affordable and packed with lots of seafood and other ingredients for their low prices. The flavours were not the most amazing, but we found that despite being clear Teochew fish soup, the broth was very hearty and robust. This stall might be worth a visit if you’re in the area, especially if you’re a fish soup fan.
For more eats around the area, check out our Ang Mo Kio food guide. You can also find a “toast tasting” experience nearby at The Toast Story by Fred Bread, where you can pick your own toaster and pair jams with your coffee.
Address: 628 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4, #01-72, Ang Mo Kio 628 Market and Food Centre, Singapore 560628
Opening hours: Sun-Fri 7am to 3pm
Website
Imperial Fish Soup is not a halal-certified eatery.
Photos taken by Jordan Ong.
This was an independent visit by Eatbook.sg.
Summary
Pros
– Dry seafood noodles were tasty
– Fish soup was very flavourful
– Ingredients were plentiful
Cons
– Fish slices were tough and rubbery
– Fishball noodle soup was bland and flavourless
Recommended dishes: Sliced Fish Soup (from $5.50), Signature Seafood Noodle (from $5)
Opening hours: Sun-Fri 7am to 3pm
Address:628 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4, #01-72, Ang Mo Kio 628 Market and Food Centre, Singapore 560628