Order fish soup around Singapore and you'll usually meet one of two fish: pomfret or batang. Both end up in a bowl of broth, but they eat nothing alike. The differences come down to three things: texture, flavour, and how each fish behaves once it hits hot broth. Get those clear, and you'll know which bowl you're really after. If you want to see how one restaurant builds around these fish, you can explore the full dining experience at Hup Lok on Havelock Road.
Here's a plain comparison of pomfret versus batang fish soup, so you know what to expect from each.
Texture: Soft Versus Firm
This is the biggest difference, and it's the one you feel first.
Batang is a firmer fish. The flesh holds together, slices cleanly, and gives you a proper chew. When you bite a piece of batang in soup, it stays intact and has some body to it. That's why it's the go-to for most sliced fish soup around the island. It's reliable, and it doesn't fall apart.
Pomfret sits at the other end. It's a flat, silver-skinned fish with fine, tender flesh. Instead of a firm bite, it flakes apart gently on the spoon. In hot broth, that softness turns almost silky. One fish gives you something to chew, the other melts into the bowl. Neither is wrong. They just suit different moods.
Flavour: Clean Sweetness Versus a Fuller Taste
The second difference is in how each fish tastes on its own.
Batang has a clean, straightforward flavour with a bit more presence. It's firm-tasting as well as firm-textured, and it can carry a stronger broth without getting lost. That's part of why it pairs so often with milky or robust soups. It stands up to them.
Pomfret is gentler. When it's fresh and handled well, it has a mild, clean sweetness that reads quietly rather than loudly. It doesn't taste strong or overly fishy. That mildness is a strength, but it also means a heavy broth can bury it. A soft, sweet fish like this wants a broth that supports it, not one that shouts over it.
Cooking Behaviour: How Each Holds Up in Hot Broth
This is where the kitchen side really shows, and it changes how you should eat each bowl.
Batang is forgiving. Because the flesh is firm, it can sit in hot soup a little longer without falling apart or turning unpleasant. You have some room to take your time. It won't punish you for chatting through the first few minutes.
Pomfret is less patient. Its delicate flesh keeps cooking after the bowl reaches your table, and soft fish overcooks fast. Leave it too long and the slices turn dry and firm, and that silky quality slips away. So with pomfret, eat the fish early, while it's still tender, then work through the broth and carb at your own pace. That one habit is the difference between pomfret at its best and pomfret gone stringy. Batang gives you slack; pomfret asks you to pay a little attention.
The Broth Each Fish Wants
The fish is only half the bowl. The broth around it matters just as much, and the two fish call for different treatment.
A lot of fish soup gets its rich, white look from evaporated milk. It works, and plenty of us grew up on that dairy note. A firmer fish like batang can hold its own against it. But a milky broth can sit heavily over a fish as gentle as pomfret.
At Hup Lok, the broth is built 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. That gives the broth real body and a gentle stickiness on the lips, without any dairy flavour covering the fish. For delicate pomfret, that clear collagen base is a natural match, because it supports the sweetness instead of masking it. Note the neat detail here: batang bones help build the broth, while pomfret takes the lead in the bowl. Both fish earn their place.
How the Signature Bowl Puts It Together
The pomfret bowl at Hup Lok is Grandpa's Pomfret Fish Soup, named after the founder's own father. It shows what happens when the extras support a delicate fish rather than mask it.
The soft pomfret and the collagen broth are finished with shiitake, julienned ginger, tomato, salted plum and a splash of hua tiao wine. Each does a single job. Shiitake adds savoury depth. Ginger lifts the broth and cuts any richness. Tomato brings a gentle acidity. Salted plum gives a sour-savoury edge. The hua tiao wine rounds it off. None of them fight the fish. They frame it.
So Which One?
If you want a hearty, chewy bowl that you can take your time with, batang is your fish. If you want something softer, sweeter and more delicate, pomfret is the one, as long as you eat it while it's hot.
To taste the soft, sweet side of the comparison, try Hup Lok's signature dish. Drop by Havelock Road, order Grandpa's Pomfret Fish Soup, and eat the fish first while it's still tender.
