I'm a Singaporean expat in Abu Dhabi. Whenever I feel homesick with fish head curry, I will buy fish head and cook it with already made fish curry Kerala style. Yummy.
My dad would buy packets of curry from Gomez Curry at Selegie. I went once before with him. This was in late-70s. Then we would go home and eat with our own rice. Still the spiciest curry (can't remember if it was fish or mutton) I have ever had in my life. Our faces would be flushed red and tongues burning hot. Very shiok !! Gomez's curry was much thicker than anything served in Muthu's (as far as I can remember). Please can someone open Gomez Curry again?
Thanks Gregory! You have shown me what my Dad & Mom had been telling me all these years about how good this dish is and how my Dad who actually doesn’t like fish, but after the first taste he was hooked!! They both worked for a Singaporean Boss and had to travel to Singapore for work during the 70s & 80s. When the owner of the restaurant saw them Hong Kongers able to handled the spicy sauce they were very impressed! I hope one day I will be able to taste this myself!! Btw Great Vlog as usual!! Keep it up! Cheers from Vancouver!
Bro, My choice will be Karu's followed by Banana Leaf Apollo then Sakunthala's. Samy's, I like their Masala Chicken and Fried Mutton cubes. Their Fish Head is, so2 only. Chinese will be Chye Lai then Ocean. I also like the one at Forture at the junction of Old Holland Road and Bukit Timah Road . If, you're wondering why spelt as " Forture " ask the lady boss or her partner. If you're from Serangoon Garden, then you must have heard of Tip Tops who was popular in the 80s. Sadly, they're no longer in operation. One of the brothers, now operate a coffee shop opposite SC Bank. Thank you for sharing your food adventures and keep them coming.
@@GregoryLeow Lets just say, popular among their patrons. Its, assam style with slight trace of sweetness. For crabs, I usually order butter or pepper style. Keep your videos coming Bro, for it brings back so much wonderful memories for me in Sgp. Thank you always.
Very nice video Greg with a lovely backstory. When I cook this dish at home, I prefer to steam the fish head with the spice mix (without the curry powder) to avoid over cooking the fish. I then add the steamed fish head to the cooked curry and veges. That generally yields a good balanced result. I avoid adding pineapples if it's purely an Indian style. But if it's an Assam curry fish head, pineapples go in. I would also recommend Sharmi's Curry at Sembawang Road for great fish head and generally great Indian food.
Everyone seems to have an account of the origin of fish head curry in Singapore. But if you were to ask about this dish way back in 1969 chances were you would draw a blank. There was no such thing. I lived in Race Course Lane and know something about the origin of this famous dish. It all started at Gomez Curry in Selegie Road. Gomez Curry was just another Indian food outlet among many in the Serangoon Indian community. Old Gomez was getting on in years and wrote to his nephew, Fernandez, known for his culinary skills to resign his job to come home and help out. Fernandez, an ace motor grader operator, was my friend when we were working together on a road construction project who scored close to 1.5K, an unheard of monthly salary, back in the late 60s. On weekends he would do the cooking. I would go to town and do the marketing. Fish, meat, poultry, veg and so on. One day I came back with a sack of giant sized fish heads, bought dirt cheap because the best fishes and other nice stuff were sold out. He took a look, grinned, shook his head and reached out for his array of curry condiments. I think that was how fish head curry began.
@@GregoryLeow Fernandez passed away long ago. It must be remembered that all Indian makan places including the nasi kandar hawkers had curry fish in their menu since way back when. That is the truth. But fish head curry? It started at Gomez Curry in 1970. It did not hit off immediately but when it did it was chaos.
if my young child memory serves me right I remember my uncle brought me and his kids in the late fifties to this garage in the Wilkie Road / Sophia Road area and my uncle bought some curries from this friendly elderly Indian man which I later knew as Gomez.His famous curries were famously spicy and and fantastic in flavour. God rest his soul in peace.
this video is very impressive! other vloggers usually dont touch the history of the dish and/or the restaurant, which is a shame. so this kind of video is very interesting!
Great Vlog as always Greg...really commendable the amount of time you spend on this one... Actually sat at the same table last December ...agreed the pineapple does nothing...would have been better if they added eggplants...I had the squid fry as well....while I agree that that they have toned down the spice level the heat is still pretty good...did not get a chance to try the fish head curry anywhere else but I felt it was a solid dish at Muthu's
Ah... one of our top favourite dishes.. and a history lesson that makes it all even more interesting. Have a like. As for the restaurant, I prefer the one further down the road with a slightly less commercialized ambience. Anyways, guess what I will be stuffing my face with today..
Hi Greg. Tried this place last Saturday thanks to your review. It was really nice. Then went to a Vietnamese place to have coffee and saw you there haha. Thank you
PM Lee savored the dish with much gusto, that's a fresh memory. Tried making fish head curry myself but instead of the pricey snapper, I chose snakehead, came out wonderful.
great video and I agree with Rang Klos love the investigation style of video. Fish Head Curry and Chicken Rice are these the iconic dishes of Singapore? Where does Chili Crab come into play? any chance you could review such dish?
Oh Yes, Gomez's curry did pack a punch, very nice. It should be at the corner- last shop. Can't remember much cos that was during my Primary school days. Get to makan only ocassionally.
He going to enjoy the curry fish head he will love it all thank you for sharing your beautiful foods. I love them all very good thank you for sharing your beautiful video love your video thanks
Hi. Gregory. We are coming back to Singapore in a few months, last time we were there we went to Banana Leaf Apollo, in your opinion is Muthu's better? Or is there something even better? P.S. Thanks for making your very informative and delicious video's.
I love the food in. Singapore the best food in the world and lots of nice healthy foods to enjoy them eat any foods you like spicy food fresh healthy foods thank you for sharing your beautiful food enjoy the fresh food thanks
Always great to see some research rigor on the origins of this dish. This will help to debunk hearsay and the myth that it originated from elsewhere. How about doing one on Hainanese chicken rice? Thanks for the video.
You know one place where you might want to try a Chinese fish head curry which btw you can request for fish slices is that chicken rice place on tan quee lan street.. they have 2 versions assam and not assam… lemak and oh so good… from one baba to another you gotta check it out
You might wanna try Banana leaf Apollo next and compare them both :P thank you for the effort made for researching a lot of stuff about fish head curry. Cheers
Gregory, great work. Saw it 3 years late, hahahaha! Appreciate the dedication to look for the original and the genealogy of the dish. When I was little, my Dad, used to bring us to this kopi shop in Selegie, across from Peace Centre. It was Chinese run, served a variety of Malay-based curries, Rendang and Sambal dishes. The sambal squid, curry prawns, fish head curry is unbelievably good! I have no idea where they went, and it must have been 30yrs since they were there. Do you have any recollection of this joint?
@@GregoryLeow I don't think it is Rendevous. Rendevous is also very good, but they've been around the Selegie area, if I'm not wrong, diagonally across the road from Peace Centre. Kinda where the current Rendevous Hotel is. Yes, they've moved to Central Mall for a good few years already. The kopi shop I referred to above, was a congested, rather small 1-2 shophouse joint. I could be wrong, and it might really have been Rendevous in its first iteration, but my recollectionis that they were 2 different places, Rendevous being tidier and more "upscale".
There’s a picture of the old restaurant in this link. Maybe this is the one you remember? ieatishootipost.sg/rendezvous-restaurant-childhood-memories-of-nasi-padang/
I just can't digest how they would call it South Indian style when they put pineapples in it. It might be better to call it Peranakan style. Generally, fish head curry, as Greg mentions is catered towards Chinese customers. Most indians would probably go to one of the shops behind Muthu's curry, along Chander Rd, for a proper authentic south indian fish curry...Ghandi's, Chettinadu or Arasu's serve fare that is better suited to Indian palates.
Many years ago, I had fish head curry with my friend in Muthu's Curry. We ate almost to the end until I saw a funny looking "nut like fruit". When I scooped it up, I had the worst nightmare of my life. It was a cockroach - brown and white. I called the manager and he just said he won't charge for the curry fish head. I was so embarrassed. Never would I step into Muthu's Curry again. I rather go elsewhere.
Should not be watching this on an empty stomach, I live in New Zealand and getting good Malay/Singaporean food will cost upwards of $20 for one meal. I think it would cheaper for me to buy a plane ticket and book a hotel for a week there than it would for me to go to restaurants here regularly. I've been forced to cook my own but it just doesn't taste as good.
Wow!! What a great video Gregory!! You are my two favourite youtubers that introduces food that I like. Well done!!
Thank you!
I'm a Singaporean expat in Abu Dhabi. Whenever I feel homesick with fish head curry, I will buy fish head and cook it with already made fish curry Kerala style. Yummy.
Awesome video! Appreciate your hard work in the research of the dish! Ive been binge watching your videos!
My dad would buy packets of curry from Gomez Curry at Selegie. I went once before with him. This was in late-70s. Then we would go home and eat with our own rice. Still the spiciest curry (can't remember if it was fish or mutton) I have ever had in my life. Our faces would be flushed red and tongues burning hot. Very shiok !! Gomez's curry was much thicker than anything served in Muthu's (as far as I can remember). Please can someone open Gomez Curry again?
Another great video - love the historical aspect. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Gregory! You have shown me what my Dad & Mom had been telling me all these years about how good this dish is and how my Dad who actually doesn’t like fish, but after the first taste he was hooked!!
They both worked for a Singaporean Boss and had to travel to Singapore for work during the 70s & 80s. When the owner of the restaurant saw them Hong Kongers able to handled the spicy sauce they were very impressed! I hope one day I will be able to taste this myself!!
Btw Great Vlog as usual!! Keep it up!
Cheers from Vancouver!
Wonderful story! Hope you can make it singapore one day too!
Bro,
My choice will be Karu's followed by Banana Leaf Apollo then Sakunthala's. Samy's, I like their Masala Chicken and Fried Mutton cubes. Their Fish Head is, so2 only.
Chinese will be Chye Lai then Ocean. I also like the one at Forture at the junction of Old Holland Road and Bukit Timah Road . If, you're wondering why spelt as " Forture " ask the lady boss or her partner.
If you're from Serangoon Garden, then you must have heard of Tip Tops who was popular in the 80s. Sadly, they're no longer in operation. One of the brothers, now operate a coffee shop opposite SC Bank.
Thank you for sharing your food adventures and keep them coming.
lol I didn’t know forture was famous for their fish head curry. I always order their Kam hiong crabs!
@@GregoryLeow
Lets just say, popular among their patrons. Its, assam style with slight trace of sweetness. For crabs, I usually order butter or pepper style.
Keep your videos coming Bro, for it brings back so much wonderful memories for me in Sgp. Thank you always.
Very nice video Greg with a lovely backstory. When I cook this dish at home, I prefer to steam the fish head with the spice mix (without the curry powder) to avoid over cooking the fish. I then add the steamed fish head to the cooked curry and veges. That generally yields a good balanced result. I avoid adding pineapples if it's purely an Indian style. But if it's an Assam curry fish head, pineapples go in.
I would also recommend Sharmi's Curry at Sembawang Road for great fish head and generally great Indian food.
Thanks for taking the time to vlog of all the food stuff in Singapore!
Everyone seems to have an account of the origin of fish head curry in Singapore. But if you were to ask about this dish way back in 1969 chances were you would draw a blank. There was no such thing. I lived in Race Course Lane and know something about the origin of this famous dish. It all started at Gomez Curry in Selegie Road. Gomez Curry was just another Indian food outlet among many in the Serangoon Indian community. Old Gomez was getting on in years and wrote to his nephew, Fernandez, known for his culinary skills to resign his job to come home and help out. Fernandez, an ace motor grader operator, was my friend when we were working together on a road construction project who scored close to 1.5K, an unheard of monthly salary, back in the late 60s. On weekends he would do the cooking. I would go to town and do the marketing. Fish, meat, poultry, veg and so on. One day I came back with a sack of giant sized fish heads, bought dirt cheap because the best fishes and other nice stuff were sold out. He took a look, grinned, shook his head and reached out for his array of curry condiments. I think that was how fish head curry began.
Wow! What an interesting story! Is Fernandez still alive?
@@GregoryLeow Fernandez passed away long ago. It must be remembered that all Indian makan places including the nasi kandar hawkers had curry fish in their menu since way back when. That is the truth. But fish head curry? It started at Gomez Curry in 1970. It did not hit off immediately but when it did it was chaos.
if my young child memory serves me right I remember my uncle brought me and his kids in the late fifties
to this garage in the Wilkie Road / Sophia Road area and my uncle bought some curries from this friendly
elderly Indian man which I later knew as Gomez.His famous curries were famously spicy and
and fantastic in flavour. God rest his soul in peace.
excellent presentation Gregory ... creates massive hunger !!!
this video is very impressive! other vloggers usually dont touch the history of the dish and/or the restaurant, which is a shame. so this kind of video is very interesting!
Thank you!
New Sub,objective pleasant persona,enjoyed your delivery enjoyed your Vlog,.Blessings from Steve&Theresa Rainham Essex England 🇬🇧
You’re dedication to the food arts is commendable. Surely, One of the top 3 Singapore bloggers. Carry on eating my man!
Thank you for the kind comments!
Great Vlog as always Greg...really commendable the amount of time you spend on this one...
Actually sat at the same table last December ...agreed the pineapple does nothing...would have been better if they added eggplants...I had the squid fry as well....while I agree that that they have toned down the spice level the heat is still pretty good...did not get a chance to try the fish head curry anywhere else but I felt it was a solid dish at Muthu's
Ah... one of our top favourite dishes.. and a history lesson that makes it all even more interesting. Have a like. As for the restaurant, I prefer the one further down the road with a slightly less commercialized ambience. Anyways, guess what I will be stuffing my face with today..
Hi Greg. Tried this place last Saturday thanks to your review. It was really nice. Then went to a Vietnamese place to have coffee and saw you there haha. Thank you
Great video, I always want to come to Singapore, and now I have so many on my list to visit thanks to your channel. Keep it up!
Oh..my..... ! That fish head curry looks divine ! I must pay a visit to Singapore soon ! Marvelous presentation !
PM Lee savored the dish with much gusto, that's a fresh memory. Tried making fish head curry myself but instead of the pricey snapper, I chose snakehead, came out wonderful.
This is so awesome!! Muthu's is the best!! Thank you for reviewing it.
Ooohhh I've been waiting for you covering fish head curry!
My favorite dish of all time.
We eat this in south India but we don’t call it curry we call it fish pulusu (curry usually don’t contain tamarind sauce if we use it becomes pulusu)
great video and I agree with Rang Klos love the investigation style of video. Fish Head Curry and Chicken Rice are these the iconic dishes of Singapore? Where does Chili Crab come into play? any chance you could review such dish?
origins of chilli crab already done. right here! ua-cam.com/video/Qet_aT66Zns/v-deo.html
Oh Yes, Gomez's curry did pack a punch, very nice. It should be at the corner- last shop. Can't remember much cos that was during my Primary school days. Get to makan only ocassionally.
He going to enjoy the curry fish head he will love it all thank you for sharing your beautiful foods. I love them all very good thank you for sharing your beautiful video love your video thanks
Love this investigative approach!
I used to cooked this weekly...thanks for sharing....
Hi. Gregory.
We are coming back to Singapore in a few months, last time we were there we went to Banana Leaf Apollo, in your opinion is Muthu's better? Or is there something even better?
P.S. Thanks for making your very informative and delicious video's.
My favourite among the big name South Indian places is samy’s. but I’m incredibly biased towards this place!
I love the food in. Singapore the best food in the world and lots of nice healthy foods to enjoy them eat any foods you like spicy food fresh healthy foods thank you for sharing your beautiful food enjoy the fresh food thanks
The BEST sg youtuber
Haha I try my best
Always great to see some research rigor on the origins of this dish. This will help to debunk hearsay and the myth that it originated from elsewhere. How about doing one on Hainanese chicken rice? Thanks for the video.
I love the fact to went to the trouble of finding Gomez's fish head curry shop! Boy would I like to try fish head curry.
Iconic Sing food. Thought it was much older than the 1960’s. Love your T-shirt, too.
You know one place where you might want to try a Chinese fish head curry which btw you can request for fish slices is that chicken rice place on tan quee lan street.. they have 2 versions assam and not assam… lemak and oh so good… from one baba to another you gotta check it out
You might wanna try Banana leaf Apollo next and compare them both :P thank you for the effort made for researching a lot of stuff about fish head curry. Cheers
awesome video greg
Fusion suggestion, sambal belachan dipping sauce on the side will be great:)
Okay, remember it's the last corner shop during my primary 😘
Gregory, great work. Saw it 3 years late, hahahaha! Appreciate the dedication to look for the original and the genealogy of the dish.
When I was little, my Dad, used to bring us to this kopi shop in Selegie, across from Peace Centre. It was Chinese run, served a variety of Malay-based curries, Rendang and Sambal dishes. The sambal squid, curry prawns, fish head curry is unbelievably good! I have no idea where they went, and it must have been 30yrs since they were there. Do you have any recollection of this joint?
Yes they’re still around! They shifted to central mall www.rendezvous-hlk.com.sg
@@GregoryLeow I don't think it is Rendevous. Rendevous is also very good, but they've been around the Selegie area, if I'm not wrong, diagonally across the road from Peace Centre. Kinda where the current Rendevous Hotel is. Yes, they've moved to Central Mall for a good few years already.
The kopi shop I referred to above, was a congested, rather small 1-2 shophouse joint. I could be wrong, and it might really have been Rendevous in its first iteration, but my recollectionis that they were 2 different places, Rendevous being tidier and more "upscale".
There’s a picture of the old restaurant in this link. Maybe this is the one you remember? ieatishootipost.sg/rendezvous-restaurant-childhood-memories-of-nasi-padang/
Have you done any videos for Assam fish head? Probably your next project
Not yet but I have a few in mind when it comes to Assam fish head! Do you have any favourites?
@@GregoryLeow I am not familiar but just tried Gu ma jia . Quite ok but ex
Samy’s and Apollo is still my restaurant of choice for fish head curry.
Had the muthu’s curry at Dempsey hill was pretty damn good. Some great investigation there haha
Nice! Love curry fish head! Nice vlog! Learning how to do food vlogs.
Looks good
No horse run, Muthu's. Do agree that the flagship tastes best, amongst others like Dempsey.
I would love to try it, but the spice level would be too high for me.
Order some lassi! It will take the spice
The chinese style located at upper paya lebar is my favourite.
I also like Muthu's curry
Samy’s Curry at Dempsey is good too
It is not uniquely Singaporean.. it has been in my family in Kerala, India for generations.. probably Muthu and others commercialized it
Try the APOLLO at little India
I just can't digest how they would call it South Indian style when they put pineapples in it. It might be better to call it Peranakan style.
Generally, fish head curry, as Greg mentions is catered towards Chinese customers. Most indians would probably go to one of the shops behind Muthu's curry, along Chander Rd, for a proper authentic south indian fish curry...Ghandi's, Chettinadu or Arasu's serve fare that is better suited to Indian palates.
Hard to say. Soon Heng also around that time
Wa video improving sia.....
Ate at mutu since 70s best 🇸🇬🌷👍
Many years ago, I had fish head curry with my friend in Muthu's Curry. We ate almost to the end until I saw a funny looking "nut like fruit". When I scooped it up, I had the worst nightmare of my life. It was a cockroach - brown and white. I called the manager and he just said he won't charge for the curry fish head. I was so embarrassed. Never would I step into Muthu's Curry again. I rather go elsewhere.
Muthu's is a tourist trap. Their food aren't bad, but nothing special.
greg havetried samy'scurry at demsy andthebest dish besides the fish headisthe masala chicken and fried fish cutlet!
Yes, samy’s curry is one of my favourites. 👍
Best. Bananaleaf is as good.
Sad I never have eaten fish ate curry, parents don’t like fish head :(
try Samy's curry at Dempsey!
Tolok Blangah food ctr鸿记云吞面Since 1958
That’s not ladies finger. It was Okra.
Should not be watching this on an empty stomach, I live in New Zealand and getting good Malay/Singaporean food will cost upwards of $20 for one meal. I think it would cheaper for me to buy a plane ticket and book a hotel for a week there than it would for me to go to restaurants here regularly. I've been forced to cook my own but it just doesn't taste as good.
Go samy's curry
Actually fish head curry started in Malaysia when Singapore was still part of the Federation of Malaya.
Do you have to ask permission to film in the restaurant?
anthtan not for muthu’s. I just set up my camera and started talking. They seemed pretty cool about it!
The fish head curry here, is not good.