Piao Ji Fish Soup

Would you wait 40 minutes for a bowl of $5 fish soup?

I had been wanting to try this fish soup ever since I read about it here. Though the comments were a mix of good and bad, nonetheless, I still look forward to giving it a try when my father-in-law suggested we head down to Amoy Street Food Centre for it last weekend.

I was really surprised to see the long queue when we got there. Hello... it was a Sunday, and the place is Amoy Street. Where did all these people come from? There were at least 13-14 people in the queue in front of my father-in-law and husband as they waited in line.

Finally, we got our fish soup after 40 minutes... and we finished it within 20 minutes.

The soup tasted a little different from the other fish soups I had eaten. There was a slight taste of ginger in there... just enough to tingle your tastebuds but not overpowering. There was also a lot of fried shallots which I like, and little bits of pork lard. It did not use chye sim as with most of the fish soups, but tang oh, one of the Teochews' favourite vegetable (at least according to my mum). And as for the fish, it was very fresh and cooked just right. The slices were also quite big and thick.

But the question at the end of the day was, was it worth the wait and the $5, for ordinary batang fish? I personally think it was way over-rated. For $5, I could get much more slices of fish from my favourite fish soup stall without having to wait 40 minutes, and even though the slices may not be as big and thick, but to me, taste just as good.

Anyway, this is the next one on my to-try list.