We went to this coffee shop called "Wong Poh Kopitiam" at Kovan Centre the other day. This hidden coffeeshop located at one corner in the Centre had also been previously featured in one of the local food hunt TV show for its superb culinary skills in preparing the delicious Oyster Egg Omelette and Fish Head Soup. The stall is probably there for easily about 10 years but we only discovered it recently. When we reached the place for dinner at about 630pm, there was already a large crowd of patrons waiting for tables and to order the Fish Head Soup. We understand from the staff that the queue never ends and they have to continue to operate even on weekends. Business is especially good on Friday and weekend nights.
We quickly grabbed a table and placed our order. The ordering is a bit chaotic here because you cant really tell who is taking the orders from customers. Most of the staff are busy clearing the tables for new customers and most staff are so busy in their own chores that you will be ignored. You really have to spot and hunt the order-taker down yourself! Alternatively you can go to the main stall front and place your order there with the staff but using this way will usually end up waiting longer as I have tried. We had to try the well-rated Fish Head Soup and chose the red grouper at $20 (small portion for 2 person). We also ordered the famous Oyster Egg Omelette at $8.
It was not too long a wait luckily for the food (maybe because our order was taken down by a very efficient lady staff) and the Oyster Egg arrived first. This dish was cooked very special indeed. The fried egg came looking and tastes like a flat hive. Delicious and crunchy fried egg is something rather extraordinary indeed. A handful of oysters were placed on top of the egg and garnished with lettuce. The dish is simply wonderful and all blended very well together, especially with the garlic chilli.
Then came the delicious hot fish head soup! The hot metal steamboat was boiled with traditional charcoal. The soup was very tasty and pretty rich in flavour. Understand from the food hunt TV program then that the owner painstakingly spends many hours brewing the delicious fish soup base. The soup came with fresh vegetables, fried yam and of course, the fish fillet slices. The fish slices were a little tough, in my opinion but rather chewy. All in all, the soup was well done, just nicely flavoured and eaten together with the fantastic Oyster Egg Omelette – it was a wonderful meal for two indeed at only $28 (excluding rice, hand towels and drinks). Take note you can have additional serving of the soup at no extra costs and you can DIY yourself using the soup kettle or ask for staff to give you extra soup when the steamboat is slowly depleting.
Great taste especially full marks for the Oyster Egg!
Shan Tou Shi Teochew Fish Head Seafood is at Blk 203 Hougang Street 21, Wong Poh Kopitiam, Singapore Tel: 6748 3139 (Opening hours: 5pm – 10.30pm)
