Fishball Soup in Toa Payoh

01-07, Toa Payoh Lor.8. hawker centre.

There are plenty of fishball soup stalls in Singapore but the favourite of the night shift taxi drivers is definitely the stalls in Tao Payoh Estate. There are 2 good one in this estate. The popular one that closes by mid night is called "Song Kee FishBall Noddle at Toa Payoh Lor 5. The other stall that starts at 7pm and closes only when everything is sold out around 4am is called "Khim Kee Fishball Kway Teow" at 01-07, Toa Payoh Lor 8's recently upgraded hawker centre. Most night shift taxi drivers prefer the latter stall, partly because it stays open till the wee hours of the morning, has easy parking and the food is excellent too.

The owner of "Khim Kee" is a blading Teochew man of about 60 and goes by the name of Ah Khim. He has been selling fishball noodle soup single-handedly for more than 20 years at this location. Unlike other stalls that get their fishballs from food factories, Ah Khim hand made his fish-balls and fish-cakes personally. He uses the common yellow-tail fish and turn the fish meat into fish paste. With salt and seasoning added but without flour, he "beats' the fish paste for hours till it attain a springy texture. Each even ball shape is produced by hand and the raw fish ball is boiled for a standard period to achieve a bounce when thrown on to the floor. The water from boiling process is used as soup. He claims that no MSG is added. Instead the clear and tasty soup if further sweetened with pork bone which are cooked overnight.

A standard bowl of Khim Kee's fishball yellow noddle or kway teow soup cost $3. A separate bowl of eight pieces of fish ball cost $2. Nowadays, he has 2 China national assisting him at his stall and he adds a few fresh slides of "Batang" fish to his standard bowl and charge $5. His price is "normal" in Singapore context but the food, easy parking and operation hours suit my taste.