Order fish soup around Singapore and you'll often choose between two well-loved fish: pomfret or threadfin. Both are treated as a good bowl, a step above the everyday slice. 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.
Here's a plain comparison of pomfret versus threadfin fish soup.
Texture: Silky Versus Meaty
This is the first thing you'll feel, and it's the biggest split between the two.
Pomfret is a flat, silver-skinned fish with fine, tender flesh. It flakes apart gently on the spoon rather than holding a firm bite. In hot broth, that softness turns almost silky, closer to buttery than chewy. It's a light, comforting mouthful.
Threadfin is different. The flesh is firmer and more substantial, with a clean, meaty bite that holds its shape in the bowl. It gives you something to chew, and it doesn't collapse the moment it hits the spoon. So pomfret melts, threadfin holds. Neither is wrong. They suit different moods at the table. If you want a fish soup for everyday dining, threadfin's dependable texture is a big part of why it's such a popular choice; you can see how one restaurant builds its bowls at Hup Lok on Havelock Road.
Flavour: Gentle Sweetness Versus a Fuller Body
The second difference is in how each fish tastes on its own.
Pomfret has a mild, clean sweetness when it's fresh and handled well. It doesn't taste strong or overly fishy. That gentleness 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 rather than shouts over it.
Threadfin carries a fuller, richer flavour. It has more presence on the tongue, and it can stand up to a stronger, more robust soup without getting lost. That's part of why threadfin is often paired with heartier broths. It has the body to match them. Pomfret leads with sweetness; threadfin leads with substance.
Cooking Behaviour: How Each Holds Up in Hot Broth
This is where the kitchen side shows, and it changes how you should eat each bowl.
Threadfin is more forgiving. The firmer flesh can sit in hot soup a little longer without falling apart. You have some room to take your time before the texture starts to turn.
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. Threadfin 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.
A lot of fish soup gets its rich, white look from evaporated milk. A firmer fish like threadfin can hold its own against that dairy note. 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.
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.
A soft, mild fish also has nowhere to hide, so where it comes from counts. The founder's family has traded fish in Singapore for three generations, from his father's days as a street fish hawker to the wholesale seafood business, Haixian, now run by his brother. Hup Lok sources its local fish through Haixian. If you'd like to discover the family behind the restaurant, that trade is where it starts.
So Which One?
If you want a firmer, meatier bowl you can take your time with, threadfin is your fish. If you want something softer and sweeter, pomfret is the one, as long as you eat it while it's hot.
To taste the soft, sweet side of the comparison, drop by Hup Lok on Havelock Road, order Grandpa's Pomfret Fish Soup, and eat the fish first while it's still tender.
