For the weight-conscious, usually the choice of noodles is opted over rice during meal time. With fishball noodles – forget about beating the carbs when there are so many types of noodles to choose from!

Believed to originate from Southern China, fishball noodles is a very popular dish with Singaporeans as reflected across all food courts and hawker centres, with at least one noodle stall carrying fishball noodles. Served either dry (with chilli or tomato sauce) or in soup, both versions have won tastebuds over based on the succulence of fishballs, springiness of noodles and its overall taste.

Across the region, other countries such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines have their own versions of fishball noodles as well. Hong Kong, for instance, sells two types of fishballs. One is smaller in size and usually made with cheaper fish meat. It is sold on a bamboo skewer with five to seven fishballs and is a popular “street food” traditionally found in many “street hawkers”. The other kind is bigger in size and has a different texture and taste from its smaller relative. The bigger fishballs are usually eaten with Chiuchow-style noodles in restaurants and cha chaan tengs (tea huts) alongside with beef balls and cuttlefish balls. In Malaysia and the Philippines, fishballs are often sold as street snacks accompanied with soy sauce or chilli.

Fishballs are traditionally made from raw fish, vigorously mashed, and stretched to a paste and finally kneaded in a wooden bucket. Before that, the fish has to be cleaned, minced and mixed with other ingredients such as onions and eggs. The mixture is then flavoured and shaped into bite-size balls. When cooked, they are soft and bouncily succulent. Homemade fishballs are irregular in shape and springier compared to machine-made ones. Good ones are more chewy and tasty compared to their machine produced counterparts.

Patrons can choose from a range of noodles including bee hoon (rice vermicelli), thick or thin yellow wheat noodles, kway teow (flat rice noodles), mee pok (yellow wheat noodles resembling fettucini) or mee ta mak (rice flour shaped into narrow small cones).

You can choose from a variety of noodles like bee hoon (rice vermicelli), mee (yellow wheat noodles), mee kia (yellow wheat vermicelli noodles), kway teow (flat rice noodles) or mee pok (flat yellow wheat noodles). The noodles and fishballs are then tossed with sliced black mushrooms, minced pork, seaweed, spring onions and sometimes slices of fish cake then served.