Salmon by Hinoyama (Golden Mile Food Centre)

Golden Mile Food Centre has always when a fairly interesting place to visit considering the high turnover rates of the stalls — it is almost guaranteed that there is something new to check out once every couple of months. Whilst we had only recently written about the new Charr’d The Hawker which had just opened its doors at the lower level of the food centre, Salmon by Hinoyama is yet another new stall that had moved into the upper level of Golden Mile Food Centre. Located in the same row of stalls that is opposite that of where Cat in the Hat Bakery is located, Salmon by Hinoyama can be easily identified with its bright orange signboard and a menu board that has pretty large illustrations of the various items which they serve up. Whilst we are not usually very drawn towards fish soup as an item to go for our meals, we did notice the social media post which Chef Kevin Wee (yes, the same one who is affiliated with House of Chirashi previously, as well as Age-Ya and the now defunct Chirashi Sora) had posted about the concept — not sure if hah sort of affiliations does he share with Salmon by Hinoyama, but definitely sparked enough interest in us to give it a try. Items available at Salmon by Hinoyama are circled around their Salmon Miso Soup offerings — the renditions of the dish on the menu include a Salmon Fish Miso Soup, Salmon Fish Head Miso Soup and the Salmon Fish and Belly Miso Soup. Patrons can choose to pair their choice of Salmon Fish Soup with a bowl of rice on the side or Inaniwa Thin Udon in the soup at an extra dollar; they also do serve up the soup as-is as well.

We recalled that during our visits to House of Chirashi in the past and Age-Ya, a Salmon Miso Soup was something which would accompany the Donburi on the side — we are not exactly sure if the same recipe is used for the Salmon Miso Soup here at Salmon by Hinoyama, though we did feel that the one is slightly tweaked for a heavier flavour that would work better as an item that stands on its own to be paired with rice and noodles.

We initially wanted to go for the Salmon Fish and Belly Miso Soup, though was told that it was unavailable as they had run out of salmon belly early in its dinner service; we found ourselves opting for the Salmon Fish Miso Soup instead — the only difference being that the soup would lack salmon belly slices and features only regular salmon fish slices. All the soups are prepared only upon order — something akin to that of ordering sliced fish soup, so do expect some waiting time to be involved when ordering the food here. On hindsight, the Salmon Fish Miso Soup from Salmon by Hinoyama does feel like a spruced up, Japanese-infused version of the local fish soup; the addition of miso actually helps to provide a rich, bean-y earthiness that gave the soup here a lot more depth that the usual local-style fish soup that we are accustomed to. Other than that, the Salmon Fish Miso Soup actually comes with a chock full of ingredients — while the menu board does not indicate the elements featured in their Salmon Fish Miso Soup, items that we observed to be in the soup included salmon fish slices, charred tofu, cabbage, Enoki mushrooms, corn nibs, garlic chips and kelp; each element playing their very own tune to the Salmon Fish Miso Soup here. The garlic chips are perhaps the most noticeable element here amongst the others — these were crisp, though does soak up quite a bit of the soup if left alone for some time; carried a very distinct garlicky note that perfumes the entire bowl of soup. The salmon slices are sufficiently thick; absolutely fresh — the fish carrying a very distinct note of the fish that is absolutely sublime; something that salmon lovers will undoubtedly appreciate. Meanwhile, the corn nibs would be the elements that add a hint of sweetness, while the other greens such as the cabbage adds a soft crunch to the bowl of soup; the mushrooms provides a bouncy bite, and the tofu came with a soft and silken texture with a bit of smokiness for some differentiation. The kelp gives the item an added touch of umami-ness as well.

There has been some form of gentrification going on with some of our familiar local hawker favourites — think items such as the Mala Minced Meat Noodles as well as the Salted Egg Carrot Cake that some stalls have created and are known to be serving up. That being said, we haven’t heard much of the gentrification of sliced fish soup yet — sure, there are some renditions out there that are only introduced in very recent times that sees the fish soup being served with more premium selection of fish, but there really is not much change to modernise the fish soup by incorporating a fusion component all these while. Salmon by Hinoyama seems to be right on track in giving the humble sliced fish soup a breath of new life — the Japanese infusion is no doubt prominent here, but the item is conceptually still fish soup; albeit with fancier elements that makes it substantially different for it to be seen as something interesting and fresh. As with most of Chef Kevin Wee’s concepts now or in the past, there has always been a strong emphasis in serving up fresh produce with a good portion of food for the price tag — it is needless to say that Salmon by Hinoyama has pretty much hit that “expectation” that has been set by House of Chirashi, Chirashi Sora and Age-Ya previously; we were most impressed with the grade of the salmon fish slices which are used in the making of our Salmon Fish Miso Soup, while the soil with all the ingredients are actually of a good serving size that fills us up just about right — that is considering the fact that we had also not opted for any carbs to pair with our soup as well. With salmon being the main focus for the different soups that they are serving up, some may be sceptical about the price tag of the soups here; we would say that the prices here are competitive to what the rest of the market charges for fish soup — especially those that are using a premium type of fish — the Salmon Fish Head Miso Soup is the lowest-priced item here at $6.80, while the Salmon Fish and Belly Miso Soup is priced a little bit on the high side at $12.80. A spot to add to the list of places to visit!