Singapore Michelin Bib Gourmand Steamed Fish Restaurant

This steamed fish restaurant in Jurong East Singapore is a blend of tze char, chai png and coffee shop. A Singapore Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand restaurant for many years, Zai Shun Curry Fish Head is located in a coffee shop near Yuhua Food Centre.

Zai Shun Curry Fish Head

Even though it is named as a curry fish head restaurant, we have never tried their curry fish head. The best time to go is in the morning before the lunch crowd. That is when the variety of fresh fish available for steaming is at its largest.

Steamed Fish Restaurant Singapore

At first glance, Zai Shun looks like any other coffee shop with an economic rice stall and cooked food (tze char) options. A large array of meat and vegetable options are displayed. Just point and select as would do at a chai png stall. Some items are not on display and will be cooked on request. We did not see any fixed menu of these items but the person in charge of taking orders made some suggestions to us and we selected one of his suggestions – fried bitter gourd.

The steamed fish choices available for the day are displayed on a counter at the front of the coffeeshop. Popular fish suitable for steamed such as pomfret and grouper (of different kinds) are usually available.

Red grouper seems to be a popular choice as a number were stored in one of the white boxes. The type of fish varies from day to day and the order taker was happy to discuss the type of fish and the style of cooking. Since these are all “market price” kind of fish, we also ask for the price. For this visit we selected the grouper tail on top of the pile. At a visit some years back, a steamed pomfret of about the same size cost $55. It is likely to cost more now.

What We Ate at Jurong East

The first items to be served were the pre-cooked food that were on display. We ordered two vegetable dishes and fried spicy dried prawn (hae bee hiam) to go with rice and porridge. The star of this part of our meal was the hae bee hiam. It was fragrant with the right amount of spiciness. This is a dish that can brighten up any meal. The veg dishes were ok but not exceptional.

Around 15 minutes later, the cooked items arrived. The grouper tail was our steamed fish dish. The price of this was $55. It was a common breed of grouper, not a red grouper. Being quite large, the tail half of the fish provided a good quantity of meat. It was cooked Cantonese style which we think is perfect for this type of fish.

Our other cooked food dish – bitter gourd fried with egg was a very good dish. The portion was large and the earthy flavour of the gourd (which was only mildly bitter) provided a contrast from the other dishes. The total price of our meal was around $78. We did not ask for a breakdown of the separate items

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 2
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs

Zai Shun Curry Fish Head
Block 253 Jurong East Steet 24, #01-205
Singapore 600253