Value-For-Money $6.50 Mini Seafood Steamboat At Geylang Bahru Hawker Stall - 8days Skip to main content

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Value-For-Money $6.50 Mini Seafood Steamboat At Geylang Bahru Hawker Stall

The stall’s boss, who used to work at a fish soup stall in Sengkang for 10 years, also sells a salmon rice set that he brags offers “100% guaranteed satisfaction”.
Value-For-Money $6.50 Mini Seafood Steamboat At Geylang Bahru Hawker Stall

There are few hawker foods that we find more comforting than fish soup and fish head steamboat. Flavourful soup brimming with fresh fish slices delicately cooked to perfection. It’s simple, light yet hearty — what’s not to love?

So, we were excited to discover that fish soup stall Lan Tian Ban Mian Fish Soup in Geylang Bahru Market and Food Centre offers a mini steamboat at just $6.50. The best part? It’s served in an old-school funnel hotpot that just hits different compared to the modern versions.

The stall is helmed by chatty boss Shandong-born Qi Ke Feng, 45, who has been running the business with his wife for more than a decade. Prior to starting their own biz, the couple, who are now Singapore PRs, worked at a fish soup stall at a Sengkang food court for around 10 years.

Other fish soup dishes available include Sliced Fish Bee Hoon ($5.50), Fried Fish Soup ($5.50), Tom Yum Sliced Fish Soup ($6) and Salmon Soup ($6.50). There’s also Ban Mian ($4) and rice sets with proteins like fried saba fish, salmon and black pepper fish from $6.

Seafood soup in a hotpot

Think of this as seafood soup served in a hotpot for one. Instead of cooking the food yourself at the table, the hawker boss blanches the seafood in broth at the stove before serving it in a beaten-up aluminum hotpot about the size of a ramen bowl. Very grittily retro. 

Rather than charcoal, the pot is heated with a tea light candle. Not exactly that traditional, but we were still thrilled to catch glimpses of the bright orange flame, which kept our soup piping hot throughout our meal. 

This is also the reason why Ke Feng introduced the mini steamboat. “A lot of people like the feeling of having a flame [heating up] their hotpot. It also adds a nostalgic factor,” he says, though he doesn’t have that many pots to go around – just 10. That said, it can be quite daunting balancing the hotpot on a tray at the self-service stall and walking back to our table, especially during peak dinnertime.

The steamboat is very value-for-money, considering how generous Ke Feng is with his ingredients. Our pot came loaded with six thick, firm slices of batang fish, squid, two tiger prawns, tofu cubes, napa cabbage, tomatoes, and seaweed. You can add more fresh batang or fried dory fish for $2 (three large chunks), while carbs like rice, ban mian, you mian, thick or thin bee hoon are available at 50 cents.

The soup is Teochew-style – clear, light and clean-tasting. It is cooked by simmering fish head and bones for several hours to extract the flavour. There is also a delicate sweetness from the prawns, cabbage and onion toppings merrily cooking away. We would have liked the flavours to be more robust, but overall, still pretty enjoyable. The charming mini hotpot is the cherry on top.

Salmon fish set, $7

Despite the stall’s name, the bestseller here is the salmon fish rice set, which Ke Feng confidently assures us that “100 per cent guarantee you’ll be satisfied with it”.

He brags: “I tell my customers that if they don’t like it, I will give them a refund. I can sell more than 300 plates of this a day.” The pan-fried salmon, thinly sliced and draped over rice, is flavourful with a crisp crust. The hearty dish comes with a sunny side-up egg, a bowl of the same Teochew-style broth and teriyaki sauce on the side. A somewhat unusual combination, but satisfying as promised. We wouldn’t mind ordering again if we are in the area.


藍天板面魚湯 (Lan Tian Ban Mian Fish Soup) is at #01-46, Geylang Bahru Market and Food Centre, 69 Geylang Bahru, S330069. Open daily except Thu & Fri, 9am-8.30pm.

Photos: 8days.sg

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