Minced pork + fish slice thick bee hoon soup (肉碎鱼片粗米粉汤) ($5)!
Chinatown hawker thick bee hoon soup: a clear broth with sliced fish, minced pork balls, lettuce, seaweed and coriander over thick bee hoon. $5.
Lunch at Chinatown: minced pork + fish slice thick bee hoon soup (肉碎鱼片粗米粉汤), $5. 😋
What was in the bowl:
- Clear broth: a light, clean soup, not the milky style
- Sliced fish: white fish slices cooked just to opaque
- Minced pork: hand-rolled into loose soft balls through the soup
- Thick bee hoon (粗米粉): the plump round rice vermicelli
- Lettuce, seaweed and coriander: the greens and the umami strip
This is the two-protein fish soup: rather than just sliced fish, it adds minced pork, hand-formed into loose, soft little balls that poach in the broth, so every spoonful carries both the clean sweetness of the fish and the savoury bite of the pork. It is the value way to order a fish soup, more protein, more texture, for the same money.
The clear broth (清汤) is the harder version to do well: a light, clean soup that leads with the freshness of the fish and pork rather than the richness of evaporated milk and fried bones. There is nowhere for a thin stock or old fish to hide, so a good clear thick bee hoon soup is a real marker of a careful stall.
The thick bee hoon (粗米粉) is the noodle that makes it filling: round and plump, slippery and chewy, soaking the broth without going mushy. It is the substantial choice over thin bee hoon, carrying more soup per mouthful. The seaweed strip adds a faint sea-umami that lifts the clean broth.
At $5 for a two-protein thick bee hoon soup in Chinatown, this is excellent hawker value.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 The two proteins per spoonful in the clean broth were the standout. Hawker value bowl, would re-order.
