Order fish soup at two different stalls and you might get two very different bowls. One arrives clear and light, the broth almost see-through. The other comes cloudy and white, thick enough to coat the spoon. Both are called fish soup, but they are not the same dish.
The difference comes down to how the broth is made, and that decision shapes everything else. This guide breaks down clear versus milky fish soup across four things: preparation, appearance, flavour and texture. By the end, you will know what you are ordering and why it tastes the way it does.
Let's start with the part you don't see: the pot.
Preparation: Where the Two Broths Split
The split happens in the pot, before the fish even reaches your table.
A clear broth is usually built from fish bones and simple aromatics, simmered so the flavour comes out without turning cloudy. The Teochew style leans this way. It keeps things clean and lets the fish lead.
A milky broth takes a different route. Many stalls reach for evaporated milk to get that white, creamy look quickly. It works, and plenty of us grew up on it.
But there is another way to build a cloudy, rich broth without any dairy at all. That's collagen. When fish bones simmer long enough, they release natural gelatine, and that gelatine turns the broth thick and slightly cloudy on its own.
This is how Hup Lok's seafood restaurant builds its base. The broth comes from batang bones and a siput (shell) base, cooked down until the collagen thickens it naturally. It isn't thickened with milk. It's thickened with the fish itself.
So there are really three broths here: clear, milk-thickened, and collagen-thickened. Two of them look similar but taste worlds apart.
Appearance: What the Colour Tells You
Colour is the first thing you notice, and it can mislead you. A clear broth looks light and clean, sometimes with a golden tint. You can see the fish and the aromatics sitting in it. There is nowhere for poor fish to hide.
A milky broth looks white and opaque. It reads as rich before you even taste it, which is part of the appeal.
Here is the catch. Cloudy does not automatically mean milk. A collagen-thickened broth can look just as white and creamy as a milk-based one. The only way to tell them apart is to taste, which brings us to flavour.
Flavour: Clean Fish or Comforting Cream
This is where the two broths part ways completely.
A clear broth tastes of the fish and little else. It is light, savoury and clean, often lifted with tomato for acidity and ginger for warmth. Because there is nothing to hide behind, the quality of the fish shows immediately.
A milk-based broth tastes softer and rounder. The dairy sits on top of everything, adding a comforting creaminess but muting the fish underneath. You taste the milk first, the fish second.
A collagen broth does something different again. It gives you the richness and weight of a milky bowl, but the flavour stays firmly in fish territory. There's no dairy note sitting over the top. Once you've tasted the difference, you can't unnotice it.
Grandpa's Pomfret Fish Soup shows how far you can take a collagen base. It's finished with shiitake, julienned ginger, tomato, salted plum and a splash of hua tiao wine. The shiitake adds savoury depth, the ginger lifts the broth, the tomato brings acidity, the salted plum a sour-savoury edge, and the hua tiao wine rounds it off. None of them fight the fish. They frame it.
Texture: Body on the Spoon
Texture is closely tied to flavour, but worth its own look.
A clear broth feels light in the mouth. It's more about clean flavour than weight, and it drinks almost like a good stock.
A milky broth feels thicker and rounder, softened by the dairy. It coats the spoon and sits heavier.
A collagen broth has body too, but it comes with a slight stickiness on the lips; the sign of natural gelatine from the bones. That's the tell. Milk gives smooth creaminess; collagen gives that gentle, clinging weight.
One habit matters whichever broth you choose: eat the fish early. In a hot broth, the fish keeps cooking after it reaches your table. Leave delicate slices too long and they turn dry and firm. Take the fish first, while it's still tender, then work through the broth at your own pace.
Which One Should You Order?
A quick way to decide:
- Want clean, honest fish flavour? Go for a clear Teochew-style broth.
- After something soft and comforting? A milk-based broth delivers that.
- Want richness that still tastes of the sea? Look for a collagen-built broth.
The key move is to taste the broth on its own before you add chilli or lime. That first clean spoonful tells you where the body comes from: milk or fish.
If you're deciding where to enjoy fish soup in Singapore, keep the three-broth distinction in mind wherever you go.
Wrapping Up
Clear and milky fish soup differ from the pot outwards. Clear broths stay light and let the fish lead. Milky broths add comfort, but the source of that creaminess matters: dairy softens the fish, while collagen keeps the flavour clean and adds body from the bones themselves.
Next time, taste the broth plain, notice where the richness comes from, and eat the fish early before it overcooks.
If you'd like to try a collagen-built Teochew broth for yourself, drop by Hup Lok on Havelock Road and start with Grandpa's Pomfret Fish Soup.
