We tried Singapore’s worst-rated fish soup

Here we are again with another instalment of trying the “worst-rated”, as per Google Reviews. The best-rated fish soup has already been sampled, so why not the worst-rated? Today’s nominee is Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon, which despite the name, is located in Dover, a street or so away from Star Vista. 

The stall’s signage is bright yellow with red words clearly highlighting the dishes offered and price points. There is also an additional sign that proclaims that they don’t sell dishes like fried rice, crispy noodles, ee mee or Hokkien mee. Hmm.

At time of writing, Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon has 1,706 Google Reviews, and sits at a 3.1 star rating. Objectively, a 3.1 isn’t actually that bad, but based on our criteria of at least 100 reviews, it’s the lowest on Google. 

Reading through the reviews, a good number of the bad reviews mention receiving rude and belligerent responses from the bosses and terrible service, while some have also commented that the quality of the food had fallen. A very recent review commented that the lady boss was very polite though, and all smiles. Would I be met with this polite service, or would I get the short end of the stick?

What I tried at Holland Village XO Fish Head Soup Bee Hoon

I decided to order one of their signatures – the XO Fish Meat Bee Hoon (S$9). The other item that I saw praised often in reviews was their Har Cheong Gai (S$9), so I got that too. The one who took my order was presumably the lady boss, and while she was almost brusque in her tone, she was not rude or nasty as the reviews made it out to be. 

I paid and returned to my table to wait for the food to be served. It didn’t take too long, and both dishes arrived together.  

This is how the XO Fish Meat Bee Hoon looked on arrival – a bowl of opaque soup as dreary as the weather. But hey, we don’t judge books by their covers.

Digging through the murky broth revealed chunks of fish (I counted a total of about 4, varying in size), a few sad shreds of napa cabbage and a couple of slices of shrivelled ginger. Not the best first impression, but again, we won’t judge something solely on looks.

I start first by taking a sip of the broth. The taste of XO was definitely present, but perhaps overwhelmingly so – it ended up leaving the soup with a bitter aftertaste that didn’t sit well with me. It was also quite salty, and tasted strongly of milk. The flavours lacked any nuance despite the visible usage of ginger in its preparation. It was just salty, bitter milk soup.

I try the fish next. They are quite generously sized and fairly meaty. However, the meat felt dry and lacked freshness – the first bite had a strong fishy taste, and the fish itself was quite bland.

 Even though I have had worse, I was still disappointed.

The other elements in the bowl didn’t fare too much better. The bee hoon was almost overcooked and the few shreds of napa cabbage tasted like they were past their prime.

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When I looked over the Har Cheong Gai, I noticed that their colour was paler than what I’d seen at other places that offered the dish. It also came with a calamansi, and a saucer of a slightly sweet spicy sauce.

Biting into my first drumette, I was met with wonderfully crispy skin, and the meat was cooked just right. It was moist and came off the bone easily. Miles better than the fish soup, although I prefer a more pungent har cheong flavour. 

Dipping it into the provided sauce, along with a dash of calamansi, added a wider range of flavours – sweet, sour and slightly spicy. Tasty.

Final thoughts

So, after all of that, what’s the verdict? Does this place deserve its rating? 

Yeah, kind of, since I’m rating it based on the quality of the food itself and not service. 

I don’t think this is a 1-star establishment; food’s above average, but the price for their signature (S$9!!) is rather hard to justify when it turns out like this. The Har Cheong Gai was good though so I’ll give it a point for that, and maybe their other dishes are better than the signature XO bee hoon. 

I don’t really think rating a place 1 star just because the service was “bleh” is super helpful to knowing how good the food actually is at a glance, though.

Expected damage: S$9 – S$20 per pax

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