Fish head steamboat is one of those Singapore meals where everybody begins by saying they will have only one bowl of soup. Twenty minutes later, someone is waving at the auntie for another refill.
A proper fish head steamboat Singapore meal is quite different from contemporary hotpot. There is no conveyor belt of meat, no sauce station requiring strategic planning and generally no need to order 18 ingredients because everyone panicked.
It also represents a signifact aspect of Singapore’s culinary history. Earlier versions were commonly made with more affordable fish such as carp; today, many restaurants offer pricier pomfret, grouper and red snapper, reflecting how this once-humble communal meal has evolved.
Some may use over 30 ingredients for its broth. But at its simplest, you still get fish, vegetables, yam slices and broth simmering around a charcoal chimney in the middle of the table. The fish matters, but the broth decides whether we want a second bowl.
Here are eight places where we would happily deal with the bones.
This list is not ranked.
Nan Hwa Chong Is the Fish Head Steamboat Singapore History Lesson
First opened in 1927, Nan Hwa Chong has been doing fish head steamboat for over 90 years that it does not need to reinvent the dish.
The pot still arrives over glowing charcoal, with pomfret, grouper, red snapper and song fish among the choices. Small pots start from around $28 for song fish, while pomfret and grouper sit closer to $40.
For a first visit, we would spend the extra money on the pomfret steamboat.
Pomfret has softer, sweeter flesh, and we liked how that delicacy sat against the savoury broth. The soup was relatively clear when it first reached the table, but that changed as dinner went on. Cabbage released its sweetness, yam softened into the liquid and the fish gave the broth more body.
By the second refill, it had become a proper umami flavour bomb, but not the sort that tastes as if somebody solved the problem with seasoning powder.
The fish-head pieces are where things get interesting. There is gelatinous skin, soft meat tucked around the bones and all the fiddly bits that reward people willing to work for dinner. If your table prefers clean, thick slices without the excavation, grouper is less troublesome.
We paired the pot with prawn paste chicken wings, which gave us exactly what the soup could not: salty, crisp fried skin. A pork dish also helps break up the seafood.
What we would not do is order another whole fish. One fish has already agreed to carry dinner. Let it finish the job.
Nan Hwa Chong Fish Head Steamboat
Best for: Heritage charcoal steamboat and first-time diners
Address: 812 North Bridge Road, Singapore 198779
Opening Hours: Daily, 11am–12am
Price range: $$
Whampoa Keng Fish Head Steamboat Goes Richer and Smokier
Whampoa Keng Fish Head Steamboat @ Balestier is where we go when we want the broth to hit harder.
Important note: older diners may remember Whampoa Keng on Rangoon Road, but the branch we are talking about here is the Balestier restaurant at 556 Balestier Road.
The fish head steamboat comes with options including sliced Bardan fish and red garoupa. For a family table, we can see the appeal of the Bardan because nobody has to spend dinner performing bone archaeology.
But we prefer the grouper.
The flesh is firmer and meatier, and the thick slices remain intact even after sitting in the charcoal-heated broth for a while. This is especially useful at a long dinner where everybody is too busy talking to rescue the fish immediately.
The soup itself is richer and smokier than Nan Hwa Chong’s. It has more weight on the palate from the beginning, then becomes fuller once the yam and vegetables soften into it. This is the sort of pot where the first bowl is good and the third is considerably better.
For sides, get the deep-fried prawn rolls. The crisp wrapper and juicy filling provide a good break from all that warm broth. Cereal prawns are another crowd-pleaser, although we would stop there.
Fish steamboat, cereal prawns, salted-egg prawns and crab in one sitting starts to look less like dinner and more like seafood declaring war on your cholesterol.
And don’t forget to order some vegetables. Your body may send thanks later.
Whampoa Keng Fish Head Steamboat
Best for: Richer soup, sliced fish and big family tables
Address: 556 Balestier Road, Singapore 329872
Opening Hours: Daily, 11am–1am
Price range: $$–$$$
Ah Orh Fish Head Has the Teochew Tang We Want
There is something reassuringly old-school about Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant. The room is not trying particularly hard to impress you, which puts all the pressure where it belongs: on the food.
Its fish head steamboat leans Teochew and the difference becomes obvious once you taste the soup. Yam gives it body, but sour plum stops the broth from becoming relentlessly rich. There is a slight tang behind the savouriness, followed by sweetness from the fish and vegetables.
Pro tip: order the pomfret if it’s available.
Its soft flesh and natural sweetness work particularly well against that sharper broth. Grouper is the safer choice if your table prefers firmer fish that stays together more obediently.
The oyster omelette gives you crisp, browned egg around the edges with plump oysters tucked inside. The Teochew braised duck is tender and deeply savoury, with enough braising liquid to justify another bowl of rice.
And if everyone still possesses functional stomach capacity, finish with orh nee with gingko nuts.
That yam paste is dense, smooth and unapologetically rich. Nobody orders it because they are still hungry.
We would skip another steamed pomfret if the table already has pomfret in the steamboat. Paying twice for essentially the same fish because one arrived without charcoal is enthusiasm, not strategy.
Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant
Best for: Teochew flavours, sour plum, yam and classic side dishes
Address: 115 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-1627, Singapore 160115
Opening Hours: Tue–Sun, 11am–2pm and 5.30pm–9pm; closed Mon
Price range: $$–$$$
Xin Heng Feng Fish Soup Is Whampoa Market Comfort
Xin Heng Feng Guo Tiao Tan at Whampoa Market is what we want when the craving is for something lighter and considerably less ceremonial.
The rich broth is clear and fragrant, with dried flatfish giving it that distinctive savoury smell before we have even finished distributing bowls around the table.
Red snapper is our pick. The flesh is firm enough to withstand the charcoal simmer, and it does not disappear into flakes the moment somebody reaches in with chopsticks.
But the best part of the meal happens gradually.
At first, the soup tastes clean and relatively light. Then the cabbage releases sweetness. The yam slices soften and begin giving the liquid more body. The dried flatfish stays in the background, adding enough depth that the broth never tastes watery.
This is the sort of fish soup we can comfortably drink three bowls of without needing to lie down afterwards.
Do order the braised duck as well. The meat is tender, and its dark, savoury braising sauce gives the table something much heavier to eat between spoonfuls of clear broth.
And the setting? Plastic tables, warm Singapore weather, charcoal in the middle and a queue once dinner gets going.
Nobody comes to Whampoa Makan Place because the chairs won design awards.
Xin Heng Feng Guo Tiao Tan
Best for: Clear, fragrant soup and old-school Whampoa comfort
Address: 91 Whampoa Drive, #01-14/15, Singapore 320091
Opening Hours: Wed–Sun, 6am–11am and 4pm–10pm; closed Mon–Tue.
Price range: $
Hai Chang Fish Head Steamboat Is for East-Side Families
For those living in Tampines, Hai Chang Fish Head Steamboat saves everybody from travelling across Singapore whenever the charcoal-soup craving appears.
We went for the red grouper fishhead steamboat, although pomfret is a good option as well.
The red grouper arrives in proper chunky pieces, not sad little fragments added mainly to justify the name of the dish. The meat remains juicy but has enough firmness to survive sitting in the broth while everyone attacks the other dishes. The broth is noticeably lighter than Whampoa Keng’s.
Our first spoonful initially felt restrained, especially if you have just come from one of the heavier steamboats on this list. But leave it alone for a while.
The vegetables release more sweetness, the yam begins dissolving and suddenly the soup has considerably more depth than it did ten minutes earlier.
This is why we like charcoal fish-head steamboat. The meal is still cooking while you eat it.
For sides, get the sambal kang kong. It gives you chilli, crunch and enough greenery to reassure yourself that dinner is balanced. Order the sweet-and-sour pork ribs for sticky, meaty counterpoint.
The main thing to remember is the short dinner window. This is not the place to begin a family WhatsApp discussion about where to eat at 8.45pm.
Hai Chang Fish Head Steamboat
Best for: East-side families, chunky grouper and good-value meals
Address: 137A Tampines Street 11, #01-03, Singapore 522137
Opening Hours: Wed–Sun, 5.30pm–9pm; closed Mon–Tue
Price range: $$
Tian Wai Tian Head Steamboat Is the No-Frills Classic
Tian Wai Tian has been serving fish head steamboat since 1919, so this is not a restaurant trying to manufacture nostalgia. The destination is the pot.
Their traditional head steamboat arrives with fish, yam and vegetables simmering around charcoal, with the broth built from ginger, sour plums and dried plaice. We favour the red grouper, which starts from around $35 for the smallest serving, because the thick slices are forgiving.
The flesh stays juicy even after a little too much time in the soup, which is helpful when the conversation at the table is moving faster than the chopsticks.
The broth starts light, with cabbage providing sweetness and dried seafood supplying that familiar savoury backbone. As the yam absorbs liquid, its edges become softer and almost creamy, giving the soup more body as dinner progresses.
One warning: leave it alone. There is always one person at a steamboat dinner who feels an urgent need to stir everything every thirty seconds.
Do not be that person. Fragile fish does not improve after repeated interrogation.
Our side order would be the tofu with prawns. Silken tofu is soft enough to almost collapse under the spoon, while the juicy prawns and savoury sauce are excellent over rice. Coffee pork and salted-egg pork ribs work if the table wants something stronger.
The room itself is straightforward neighbourhood zi char: family tables, fast-moving staff and very little interest in decorative ambition. Which is rather perfect for this dish.
Tian Wai Tian Fish Head Steamboat
Best for: Straightforward grouper or pomfret steamboat with zi char
Address: 1383 Serangoon Road, Singapore 328254
Opening Hours: Daily, 5.30pm–10.30pm
Price range: $$
Tan Xiang Makes Traditional Steamboat Feel More Modern
Tan Xiang at Kallang is slightly different from the other restaurants on this list. It sits inside an industrial canteen at 5 Kallang Place, so do not arrive expecting a polished standalone Chinese restaurant with linen tablecloths.
What Tan Xiang has done is take that old-school zi char setting and make it more family-friendly. The Kallang outlet, also known as Tan Xiang Playground, has proper group seating and even arcade games and claw machines for children. It still feels casual, just considerably more thought-out than the average industrial-estate dinner.
Their Charcoal Fishhead Steamboat remains the reason we would come. What we particularly enjoy is having the fresh fish slices arrive separately so we can control how long they stay in the bubbling broth. Drop the grouper in briefly and it stays juicy and springy. Forget about it while arguing over another dish and you have created an expensive rubber coaster.
The broth has a pronounced dried-seafood character, while tomato, vegetables and yam gradually add sweetness and body. It is still recognisably an old-school charcoal pot, but the flavours are fuller and more contemporary than some of the clearer Teochew-style soups elsewhere on this list.
The charcoal tofu is worth adding because its soft centre gives us something completely different from the firm fish. Coffee ribs are another easy crowd-pleaser when the table wants some meat between bowls of soup.
It is still an industrial-canteen meal. Just one where considerably more thought has gone into keeping the whole family occupied.
Tan Xiang Charcoal Fish Head Steamboat
Best for: Family gatherings, thick fresh fish slices and a casual industrial-canteen setting
Address: 5 Kallang Place, Singapore 339152
Opening Hours: Daily, 11am–10pm; last order 9.30pm
Price range: $$–$$$
Chang Long Fish Head Steamboat Has the Zi Char to Match
The reason we like Chang Long FishHead Steamboat in Bedok is simple: dinner does not collapse once the steamboat stops being the most interesting thing on the table.
The charcoal fish-head steamboat is built around red fish and a relatively clear broth, with plenty of cabbage adding natural sweetness. Compared with Whampoa Keng, it drinks much lighter.
That is not a weakness. At a long family dinner where half the zi char menu somehow ends up on the table, we would rather have a soup we can keep returning to than one that defeats us by the second bowl.
The fish is still the centre of the meal, but our favourite supporting order is the fried pork with garlic. The pork arrives crisp and savoury with enough fried garlic to announce itself from across the table. Eating a piece between spoonfuls of the gentler broth resets the mouth nicely.
The deep-fried yam ring with seafood is another good group order. Crisp outside, soft yam within, plenty of fresh ingredients piled into the centre. Very old-school. Very difficult to dislike.
We would leave the chilli crab for another restaurant. There are better places in Singapore to spend that crab budget, while the garlic pork plays much more convincingly to Chang Long’s strengths.
Peak dinner gets busy, especially with large family tables, so reserve if you are bringing a crowd.
Fish-head steamboat is comfort food. Waiting behind three extended families while hungry is not.
Chang Long FishHead Steamboat
Best for: Bedok family dinners and strong supporting zi char
Address: 122 Bedok North Street 2, #01-110, Singapore 460122
Opening Hours: Daily, 11am–11pm
Price range: $$
What Separates Fish Head Steamboat From Fish Soup in a Large Pot?
Not every fish soup served in a metal vessel deserves to be called traditional steamboat.
The better pots begin with broth that already has some depth from fish bones, dried flatfish, ginger, herbs or vegetables, then continue changing at the table.
Some Teochew versions introduce sour plums. Yam adds body as it softens. Cabbage supplies sweetness.
Fresh fish slices should arrive thick enough to survive the simmer rather than disintegrating before reaching your mouth. Pomfret should remain sweet and tender; grouper should be juicy but firm.
Most importantly, the broth should improve.
A good fishhead steamboat tastes better after twenty minutes. A bad one merely becomes saltier.
The Best Fish Head Steamboat Is the Pot Everyone Keeps Drinking
There is something unusually comforting about a fish-head steamboat meal.
This dish has a strong Teochew roots in Singapore, brought over and adapted by Teochew immigrants who turned a simple fish-and-broth meal into something deeply tied to family dining here. That sense of familiarity is part of what makes eating in Singapore so enjoyable. You can find it in old-school family restaurants, neighbourhood coffee shops and even the quick lunch spots around the CBD. Our guide to Republic Plaza food takes a look at some of the latter, from fish soup and nasi lemak to pasta and sandwiches.
The ingredients are still not particularly complicated: fish, broth, vegetables, yam and charcoal.
But the meal keeps changing while everyone talks.
The soup gets sweeter and more flavourful. The yam softens, and the fish and vegetables mix to give more of themselves to the broth. What began relatively clear can become noticeably fuller and more delicious by the time the table is halfway through dinner.
That is also why we keep ordering refills even after insisting we are full—because you expect nothing less from a truly satisfying steamboat.
The clearest sign of the best fish head steamboat is not an empty fish plate. It is everyone still drinking the broth after dinner is supposedly over.
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