Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon: The Original XO Fish Soup!
Who in the world would think of putting XO into Fish Soup?
A guy who loves XO, that's who. It turns out that the inventor of the XO Fish Soup was none other than an XO salesman who loved his drinks so much that he added it into Fish Soup. And as it turned out, it worked!
Come to think of it, there is no reason it wouldn't work. If you think of the creamy fish soup like any European cream based sauce, putting a dash of brandy in it actually does make sense.
But as luck would have it, our man Ricky struck gold when he came up with the very first XO fish soup some fourteen years ago and sprouted lots of copy cats ever since. (So he claims) According to Ricky, you can't just simply add the XO into the soup at the end. Firstly, you don't just use any old XO, it must the best grade. Then it has to be added into the soup while it is boiling and allowed to cook for a little while (the timing is a trade secret). The dash of XO just prior to serving is but the garnishing at the end of the cooking process.
This stallowner is the type of person who believes in only using the best and freshest of ingredients. Well, there's really no point in wasting good XO on 2nd rate produce is there? So he brags about how he sources his snakeheads (Loi He) from Malaysia and how he only uses the top grade MSG so that it doesn't cause the bad aftertaste. The result is a tasty fish soup with that extra XO kick! One little word of reservation. It's been a while since I ate here but I could have sworn the soup was a little more tastier in the past. Might be just that day's batch. 4.25/5
The other dish that I always order when I am there is the Har Cheong Kai (Prawn Paste Chicken). It's always freshly fried, crispy on the outside, juicy and fragrant on the inside. Again, the use of good prawn paste and MSG with fresh (not frozen) chicken wings really makes a difference. I love to dip the wings into the fish soup for just a quick soak before biting into the piping hot mid wing. Heavenly! 4.5/5
Conclusion
It is written that
The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11Ricky himself admitted that he knows nuts about cooking, but somehow the addition of XO into fish soup became an instant success story. Really goes to show that a lot of success in life has to do with chance and opportunity doesn't it?
Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee HoonBlk 46, Holland Drive
#01-359
67783691
11.30am to 2pm
5pm to 11pm
Ricky Lau 98331003
47 comments:
Tried the one at Smith Street, not impressed.
Fish soup again? This is the second blog in a week on fish soup!!!
Their san lao is even nicer!
oh no no... this fish soup is different. Its with XO and the soup is really good! lots of XO
prawn paste chicken, u have to try ban leong at upper thomson rd. they are really famous for that and almost ALL tables will order the chicken
A good shot of Xo, assuming Cordon Supreme would be at least $80, since these are served at $2000 a bottle. So the dish must be very expensive or should I say highly priced
Wow! Finally! I was wondering when this stall would appear on the blog...lol!
I must say though if u had looked around the tables that night u might have found that a lot of ppl ordered the "Hay Chou", that pork/prawn minced together in beancurd wrap served with the sweet sauce.
And I agree, the San Lao is good too! Normally I'd recommend an order of San Lao, a bowl of the XO fish soup, and then a plate of Hay Chou. Excellent combination! =)
I do love the har cheong kai more than the xo fish soup.. ;)
have not been here for a while, yup yup always order the san lao rather than the fish soup...:)
oh yes! The san lao( dried version) is really better... very tasty yet not so oily. But the XO taste not that strong compared to the soup version.
Think it's time again to visit them soon! :)
The food is good no doubt but these guys are pretty cocky and if you scan over some of the local forums you will find lots of complaints about them. Used to patronise them quite a bit but found that it is not worth the aggro.
Btw, in the day time, there is a nasi padang stall which is really good located at the same kopi tiam. PakCik is really hard working and his chicken curry is super yummy. Like his assam fish too.
ooo nasi padang here I come!.. :)
Fish pieces are big and chunky. Very intense and sweet tasting and rather oily soup, so much so that I suspect very liberal use of msg and sugar. Not really my type of fish soup, but I can understand why its popular; it will appeal to those who like "strong" tasting foods. From my on and off observations, wuite a number of tables order their fried hor fun with fish slices and tau gay.
mimosa.shy: if u read detailed enough, Leslie did mentioned "... how he only uses the top grade MSG so that it doesn't cause the bad aftertaste." maybe e MSG is doing all e work, making e food so tasty n lotsa people think it's good??
however, for some reason, when i see e owner's photo, i can't help but see a "dao pao"!! anyone else shares e same sentiments? =p
n fried hor fun with fish slices and tau gay, r u referring to san lao?
Good grade MSG? I wonder what so special about his MSG.
i m sorry but soups like this, i think are adulterated. good fish stock when boiled long enough, will turn white from the calcium in the bones. but hawker style like this, they use evaporated milk and MSG as short cut.
the sang lo is better.
Hmmm, I question if boiling bones long enough would somehow extract calcium salts from the bones turning the soup white. It may turn a little cloudy but surely not milky white.
On the other hand, boiling the soup vigorously with oil from the fried fish forms an emulsion which is white in colour. In fact, that is exactly what milk is, an emulsion.
The fish soup from Alexandra does exactly this: http://ieatishootipost.blogspot.com/2006/12/hong-kong-street-chun-kee-is-there-milk.html
Had it few weeks ago, never will i step back there again! 1st, the soup is not nice at all but alot of MSG. Had so many cups of plain water after that. 2nd, didnt taste any of what claims to be the XO flavored fish but rather the soup served was cold! 3rd, when placing order, my gf wanted to eat the hokkien noodle and requested for more vegetables and less meat, the guy just stared at her and said "no meat, all fish". 4th, when her order came, i could literally count the number of more vegetables requested but definitely selective listening because her sliced fish potion was reduced though!
Heard from some friends, the boss dont put his whole heart into this business now as compared in the past because.....recently, he just strike toto for a mere of S$2mil!!
Dr. Tay, hmmm...u really think his food worth 4.25/5? I give only 2/5!..haahaa
my apologies, i was told that the soup turned cloudy from the calcium.
but you know what i mean - the authentic cloudy white soup coming from the bones, and not the addition of evaporated milk - which is what many hawkers these days are wont to do.
alexandra one is the real deal? ok must try - its hard to find something like that anymore.
derrick - thats funny! strike toto $2mm, and then realise he dosent hv to sell so many bowls of fish noodles anymore!?.. so its eat it or leave it! hahaah...
The Alexandra one also not that great anymore. And though they don't use milk, I saw them adding a few spoonfuls of Soy Formula (for babies) into the soup. The boss insists that if he does it, he does not add milk. So if you want the real deal, you will need to persuade the boss to cook it for you.
derrick: chun or not?? he strike S$2m toto, still wanna work meh??
i think every day at ktv or night club liao lar!!! wahahaha.. =p
like i said: "da pao" face(sorry, earlier i wrote "dao pao"!!)
if anyone of u kena toto, will go around telling people u strike $2m toto or not??
waiting for people to kidnap u meh??? haha
Anyway, I do think the food is quite good. That said, I think the boss and the attitude of the pple working there is not very good. Especially the boss: he's very rude to customers and super unfriendly! ever saw him scolding customers before! i only try to go there to eat if the boss is not around...
their sam lo horfun is super yummy!!! but my fren also mentioned that standard has seemed to drop a bit and not so tasty anymore..
erm derrick.. i tink u're giving 2/5 cos of the bad 'service' and not cos of the taste rite? well i guess that's wat usually happens when their food get famous. they become 'tao' and don't accede so much to customer requests. for me I kena a few times from them b4 but I keep going bk still cos of the sam lo horfun.
I do agree that that their standard has really dropped as compared to in the past.
The boss and his staff are also way tooo cocky and stuck-up. Unless you r dressed up like a rich man and flashes stacks of big notes in front of him, be sure that he wun even look at you when you are talking to him! Thats speaking frm past experience. My family used to eat there very regularly when we were still residing in HV.
That kind of extremely bad service that they rendered to customers is really too ridiculous and now i really dread going back there again. With their escalating fame, the prices of their dishes are also getting very steep. For the kind of price that we pay for their 'supposedly' good food, i dun think we as customers shld get that kinda stuck-up treatment from them.
Their bad service and attitude might just bring about their downfall one day.
Sorry that i sounded abit too straight and negative abt them. Just can't stand that cocky boss.
Hm, I do agree the boss has a "take it or leave it, I don't need your business" attitude, but I still won't mind going there, I go there with a "I mind my business you mind yours" mentality and just enjoy the noodles, besides, he only sits and collects money(he has a pay-first-food-later policy) while the chefs at the back slave at the kitchen. I do find the food good though, honestly the best XO beehoon I've tried(2nd being the one nearer to West Coast), even if I'm wrong, the countless ppl who frequent the place can't all be wrong either =) I'd still give the 4.5 for food, service, I don't expect much from hawkers but yes, 2/5 indeed. =)
Derrick, my guess is the fish beehoon and horfun is ordered so often he probably has a lot prepared in the kitchen ready to cook so every now and then an order like hokkien noodles where he would rather not entertain. That said, I would say if one is going to a place specializing in Apples, don't go there and order Pears. =) Hope no one's offended, just my 2 cents =)
Not really...to me dat 2/5 is for the food, evaporated milk added too much, MSG added too much, ya hor, wats gd MSG supposed to mean? Nevertheless, after the soup i have drank the most h20 in my life, except when i was doing my part, as a man, for the country! haahaa...service??...oh pls...than i will be grading them as -20/100!
Seriously, i dont find the soup superbly nice...ya, i prefer the one at alexendar..ta bao back and had it the next day, a day old soup is even tastier!!!..haahaa...
To Andrew,
True, dont go to an apple orchard to buy pear, shldnt the seller dan not give the pear option to those buyers and strictly just sell apples? if options are given to buyers, i guess we do have a choice rite...
To Khim,
Ya ah..i think so leh, becos some of my frens who stay there n some urm...eh....errrr...do visit KTV heard the 'rumour' abt this boss...
To all,
Pls hes not cocky at his stall only, when hes outside..he is also..i certainly can find better plc for a bowl of gd fish soup...n urm, forgotten who said dat earlier its not true dat hawkers dont give gd service, i hv encountered numerous who will smile and serve you with a 'thank you' attitude...
did he pay u to write for him? e biz is going dwn hill, staff service sucks. and not that good anymore.
Lol this blog entry seems to be causing quite a stir...lol! Derrick, true, I won't argue that, but like most "cze char" stalls I guess they still have to provide those things on the menu, doesn't mean they like doing it though. And I think it was me who mentioned the service part, lol I didnt mean they gave bad service, I mean they generally don't really provide much service so I don't expect much from them. Anyway I guess everyone has their comments on which fish beehoon is better, anyone else got a good suggestion? =)
guess what we have here is the ultimate food nazi! let's all boycott the stall!
boycott boycott boycott boycott!! ya ya ya....not nice soup, we shld all go to alexander one...n oso the one at upper serangoon or serangoon? i think the name is tian wei tian? something lidat ba...
To Food God,
dont u insult Dr. Tay or his team, they dont get pay for nothing. Its Dr. Tay's interests and passion doing all these for us n so if you are not happy about the recommendation dan just dont visit the stalls or rest. Pls visit/read this site with wisdom as its just a blog! i personally feel the team is doing a great job!
Did you try the one near west coast market? They sell good XO fish bee hoon too.
the boss is as heartless as he is successful. The very last time my family was there for diiner, we witnessed him rudely turning an old man away just becos his order was only that of a plate of fried rice. He actually said it was his peak hour and told the old man to either come back later or get his dinner elsewhere. Success has gone to his head....I will not suppport such businesses, plus good fish soups, "XO" or without, are a dime a dozen. His XO brand stands for Xtra Obnoxious.
The food is overrated, and there're tons of other good places to throw money at. I've rather bad experiences there, and I've never stepped back there since 2001 (I think).
There's more to food than food isn't it? There're some food nazis that are not exactly in-your-face kind of rude, but there are some food nazis which really shouldn't! The food experience shouldn't start from the tongue (or maybe the eyes and nose as well). Even if the food is great, if the experience with bad service is such a turn off, shouldn't we just exercise more discretion and part our funds elsewhere?
I hope the owner is getting the feedbacks. Yes, I personally feel that good food is not enough. Good service and manners are as important too.
Have been there few years back, cannot remember very clearly whether the food is really that good till die die must go even being humiliated.
One thing is for sure, I am not going there till I can see better comments about them.
Maybe the problem lies with the fact that Singaporean foodies are willing to be abused and yet wait in line to queue. Look at the infamous pepper crab of Joo Chiat. Wouldnt let Makansutra film him, tells customers off, dont allow customers to order from other stalls. Basically a tyrant.... but result? He get more famous and people still want to eat. Hence of course he gets even more arrogant.
Same for this xo fish stall. scold customers but they still come back for more....
CK
CK
machi:
ai ya.. forget abt it lar.. even if he knows tat he's getting poor feedbacks regarding his attitude, i doubt he'll even bother to change for e better lor..
i can imagine him saying loudly: "mai lai jiu mai lai lor.. my business wun die because of u!"
(sorry, my hokkien very poor, so can't complete wat i imagined him to say fully in hokkien!!) =p
totally agree abt some of the anon comments. there are food nazis and there are food nazis.
those downright rude ones just turns me off. no matter how good the food, rude service just turns me off. the whole experience is ruined. i rather not eat than eat and get abused.
Boycotted this particular stall a long long time ago. Average foods served with cocky attitude from the boss and staff. It's is a definite NO NO for me.
While i have to agree that the owner can be quite obnoxious...you have to give him some credit for managing a madhouse night after night. Frankly, this place is awesome for my family and i cuz school is nearby...and they serve superbly fast esp for dishes within their "wu da ming cai" - XO beehoon, sam loh, hei chor, har chong gai and HK kailan...my family always sends me to order the food coz i think the uncle never seemed to be too rude to me. I guess with time, you'll learn how to read his mood and tackle the situation with a dose of humour and some basic manners/courtesy. I guess thats how Dr Tay got him to smile anyway. Cheers!
To Yummy Queen,
I fully understand and comprehend how a hawker feels as they are constantly behind the hot stoves and have to withstand the long standing hours with many interrupted breaks while having their meals and the list goes on BUT not to THIS owner as he JUST SIT there, drinks his beer and collects money. He is NOT doing none of what I just mentioned above, so the least he should do is to be courteous to his 'cai shens', which happened to be his patrons. Do not expect him to kudos to them but at least give people the respect as one deserves.
And for the food list you named, I tried 2 out of those and I will definitely NOT go all way out for him to insult and hurl abuses at me, just to try the normal zicha food. All his servers are super damn rude too!
XO Beehoon??? I dont think so!...Dr. Tay may think is nice, just like many others, but thats personal preference so I cant comment on dat but personally, i aint no going to make him richer anymore
No doubt the food is good but boycotting this one for good. Went there 2 weeks ago and attitude is the worst I have seen in the years I have been eating there.
I think no matter how stress, how hot, how bother u are... u must remember your customers are customers and if u say you as a hawker deserve respect then so do the customer as a human.
If your food is really good but to eat it, I get abused by you, scolded. Honestly the food wont taste as good after all that scolding. Also you can expect that the customer you just abused is going to share with his friends and family who in turn will share with their friends and family to avoid you at all cost. Who suffers? You the hawker do. We can live without your food but you cannot live without our business.
CK
I have also boycotted this stall a long time ago as the service sucks and the food has slumped to a new low - with the exception of the har cheong kai and hor fun.
In this post especially, i feel that there are personal comments directed at the integrity of the blogger too and i hope this will not affect Dr. Tay as he has mentioned numerous times that he does not get paid to write articles on the blog - maybe only goodwill of free meals at times that's all.
Keep up the good work doc!
Mel
I order take out from the Holland Village outlet around once or twice a week when I work late.
The place is a real life saver because I think last order is at 10pm or later and the food is friggin excellent!
Must tries are the Ha chong kai, ngoh hiang and of course the fish soup or the fish hor fun.
Got really bad attitude from the staff. They swapped the normal thick bee hoon to the thin ones without informing us, and we had to chase down one of the cocky staff to find out why. (they ran out of the thick ones.) Never going back again. Sometimes the service could easily modify the rating, and I give it a -5.
Went down last week, sat on the reserved table and gakna chased away and they claimed someone reserved it. By the time i left the table still emptied. Very bad service, especially the lady that had a tattoo on the leg. will never go back again..even they sell dragon meat
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