Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon

A food visit to the Balestier area isn’t complete without a stop to whampoa market . Sometimes known as Whampoa Drive Food Centre, the huge complex is split into two blocks and a wet market, where you’ll be spoiled for choice by the variety of stalls. The “Morning Market” at Blk 91 serves the early birds, while Blk 90 next door only gets busy later in the day. But no matter the time of day you drop by, there’ll always be something open, even if it’s at 2am on a Sunday night (except when it's closed for cleaning, of course).

This guide focuses more on the hidden gems of Blk 90, where most of the stalls are open from late afternoon onwards, thus its other nickname as the “Night Market”.



It’s a bit ironic that Whampoa’s arguably most famous hawker stall is named Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon, but the stall draws in the crowd, rain or shine. Way before the stall was named in the 2019 Michelin Bib Gourmand, the stall was already popular amongst even the pickiest fish soup lovers. Queues begin even before they open at 9am, and you should be prepared to wait at least 40 minutes to get your bowl of fish soup.



There’s only one size at $4.50, with the option of fried or sliced fish, and the option of porridge, rice, or their signature thick bee hoon. For those who love the stronger fishy taste of fish head, you can also request to be given the fried fish head upon ordering.



I ordered the classic Fried Fish Bee Hoon, with milk. Huge thick pieces of fried fish with crunchy batter came in a full bowl of bee hoon and milky broth, and remained a bit crispy even though it was sitting in the bowl for a while as I took my photos. The fish didn’t have that fishy taste, and the fried shallots and ikan bilis added some savoury depth to the sweet, milky broth. The thick bee hoon noodles were slippery and went down easily.



The stall also has a Special Tom Yum Soup broth for those spicy lovers for $4.50, with the choice of just soup, bee hoon, or rice. The sour and spicy soup is filled with huge pieces of cabbage, and the fried fish pieces soak up the soup for flavourful bites.



The food is definitely worth the wait, as evidenced by the regulars who turn up daily for their fish soup fix. And don’t think that you can just wait for the crowd to die down after lunch! The stall indicates that they close at 2pm, but they almost always close out earlier when everything’s sold out.