Food

8 Best Fish Head Noodle & Fish Head Curry Spots in KL & PJ (2026)

From the century-old shophouse trade of Jalan Kamunting to the milky-broth rivalry playing out on the same Damansara Kim street for decades, here are eight currently-operating Klang Valley specialists that build their entire menu — or at least their reputation — around the fish head: noodle soup, XO-fried noodles, steaming bee hoon and thick, buttery curry, spanning Pudu, Sri Petaling, Section 19 PJ, Old Klang Road and Damansara Kim.

Jamie Tan8 August 20268 min read

Fish Head Noodle Is Its Own Klang Valley Genre

Ask ten KL-ites where to get good fish head noodles and you'll get ten fiercely different answers — because unlike laksa or wonton mee, this dish splits into real sub-styles that shape which shop wins your loyalty. There's the milky KL-style broth thickened with evaporated milk, preserved vegetables and tomato; the clearer Teochew-style soup built on fish bones and seaweed; the XO-fried version where the noodles themselves get wok-tossed; and, on the curry side, a thick, almost buttery South Indian-style gravy that Chinese-run kopitiams in Pudu have been quietly perfecting for decades. This list sticks strictly to shops built around the fish head itself — not the char kway teow or wonton mee they might also sell on the side.

Milky Broth Vs Clear Broth Vs Curry

Most of the spots below let you choose your soup base, and the choice matters more than the fish. Milky (奶水) broth is the default at places like Woo Pin, Moon Kee and Fish & Noodle House — a KL-Cantonese invention using evaporated milk to round out the fish stock. Mr Fish adds curry laksa and tom yam bases into the mix for diners who want more punch, while Choy Kei and Alison keep things closer to the old-school clear-soup, salted-vegetable style found in neighbourhood kopitiams. Sin Hiap Kee is the outlier on this list — a Chinese-run stall in Pudu serving an Indian-style fish head curry so good it's been drawing queues from both communities for years.

Fried Fish Head Vs Fish Paste — What To Order If You Don't Want Bones

Every shop on this list offers a boneless option for diners who don't want to work around a fish head — usually fish paste (鱼滑) balls or fried fish fillet slices swapped into the same broth. If you do want the head, ask whether it comes fried (crispier, holds up better in milky soup) or poached (softer, usually the move for clear broth or curry). Chef Loh XO's whole appeal is built on the fried version — a deep-fried grouper head or fillet dunked into a soup finished with rice wine at the table.

Petaling Street's Rivalry Streets

Two pairings on this list are genuinely walkable from each other, which tells you something about how this dish clusters. Mr Fish and Fish & Noodle House both trade on the same stretch of Jalan SS20/10-11 in Damansara Kim, a street that's been quietly fought over by fish head noodle stalls since the 1990s. Meanwhile Choy Kei and the Mun Kee-style zi char stalls along Old Klang Road's Happy Garden strip do the same for the steamed and bee hoon side of the dish. If you're doing a proper crawl, either street is worth doing back-to-back.

What We Left Out

We dropped a few once-famous names we couldn't verify are still trading under their original ownership this year, and skipped anywhere we couldn't confirm current hours or an active social page. If a shop you love isn't here, it's more likely an oversight than a snub — Klang Valley's fish head trade runs on dozens of one-shophouse operators that rarely update their online presence.

Fish Head Noodle & Curry Spots at a Glance

Spot	Area	Known For
Sin Hiap Kee	Pudu, KL	Chinese-run Indian-style fish head curry, noon-3pm only
Woo Pin 45 Kamunting	Bukit Bintang, KL	Heritage shophouse, classic milky broth
Restoran Alison	Sri Petaling, KL	1973 kopitiam, fried fish fillet in milky soup
Choy Kei	Happy Garden / Old Klang Road, KL	Neighbourhood corner-shop fish head noodle stall
Moon Kee	Section 19, PJ	KL-style milky and Teochew clear-broth options
Mr Fish FishHead Noodle	Damansara Kim + malls, PJ	Four soup bases incl. curry laksa and tom yam
Chef Loh XO	Taman Paramount, PJ	XO fried grouper noodles, hours-long broth
Fish & Noodle House	Damansara Kim, PJ	Pork-free, salmon option, decades on the same street

Sin Hiap Kee — Pudu, KL

A Chinese-run coffee shop in Pudu that's built its name on an Indian-style fish head curry — a thick, buttery, homemade-masala gravy served on banana leaf alongside mutton rendang and squid sambal. Curry fish head is only served from noon to 3pm daily, and whole heads (mackerel or red snapper) are usually ordered for sharing. It's the rare spot where Chinese and Indian regulars queue for the same pot.

Woo Pin 45 Kamunting — Bukit Bintang, KL

A heritage shophouse operation on Jalan Kamunting serving time-honoured milky fish head noodle soup, thickened with fish bones, sour vegetables, evaporated milk and a dash of Chinese wine. Diners choose between fish head, boneless fish paste, or pork with their noodles. The old wooden-panel shophouse setting is part of the draw as much as the soup itself.

Restoran Alison (Alison Kopitiam) — Sri Petaling, KL

A long-running Sri Petaling kopitiam since 1973 that's better known citywide for its fish head noodle stall than for anything else on its sprawling menu. The deep-fried fish fillets in creamy milky broth and the clear-soup fish paste version (cooked with cabbage and tomatoes) both have a loyal following, alongside its equally famous hakka mee.

Choy Kei — Happy Garden, Old Klang Road, KL

A Jalan Lazat corner coffee shop where the in-house fish head noodle stall has kept a steady stream of regulars for over a decade, alongside the shop's equally well-known pork noodles. Expect a straightforward, well-seasoned bowl rather than fireworks — this is neighbourhood comfort food, and the stall's operator is usually the busiest cook in the shop.

Moon Kee Fish Head Noodles — Section 19, PJ

Now based on Jalan 19/3 after moving from its original Section 17 site, Moon Kee has been a PJ mainstay for nearly a decade, offering both KL-style milky soup (with tomato and preserved vegetables) and a Teochew-style clear broth with seaweed. It draws a steady lunch and dinner crowd, with two rest days a month announced on its Facebook page.

Mr Fish FishHead Noodle — Damansara Kim & malls, PJ

Started from a mother-in-law's Teochew village recipe, Mr Fish has grown from its Damansara Kim shop into mall outlets at The Starling and Sunway Pyramid. It's the most soup-flexible option on this list, with four bases to pick from — milky, curry laksa, clear soup and tom yam — plus grouper fillet, fish maw and homemade fish balls, and no pork or MSG on the menu.

Chef Loh XO Fried Fish Head Noodles — Taman Paramount, PJ

Founded in 2018 in Taman Paramount, this Cantonese-style specialist built its name on the XO fried grouper noodles — a soup boiled for hours from chicken and fish bones, finished with rice wine, then poured over deep-fried fish fillet or fish head, rice noodles, salted vegetables and tomato. Portions are generous and it's usually closed on Mondays.

Fish & Noodle House — Damansara Kim, PJ

A pork-free Damansara Kim veteran that's been trading fish head noodles on Jalan SS20/11 since well before its street became a food destination, with fried or poached fish, fish paste or freshwater prawn options alongside the usual fish head and fillet. It's also known for offering salmon as an alternative to the standard grouper.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between fish head noodle soup and fish head curry?

Fish head noodle soup is a Chinese dish, usually served with rice noodles or bee hoon in either a milky (evaporated milk-based) or clear broth. Fish head curry is a thicker, spiced coconut-and-masala gravy with South Indian roots, typically eaten with rice or bread rather than noodles — Sin Hiap Kee on this list is unusual for being a Chinese-run shop serving the curry version.

Should I order fish head or fish paste if I don't want to deal with bones?

Every shop on this list offers fish paste balls or sliced fish fillet as a boneless swap in the same broth. It's a completely normal order — you won't get a strange look for skipping the head, and it's often the faster option since there's no picking through bones.

What time should I go to avoid these places selling out?

Most fish head noodle shops on this list open for breakfast and close by mid-afternoon (roughly 3-4pm), since the fish stock and fresh fish head supply run out. Go before 1pm on weekends especially — Sin Hiap Kee only serves its curry fish head from noon to 3pm, so timing there is non-negotiable.

Is fish head noodle in KL and PJ generally halal?

Most of the Chinese-run shops on this list are not halal-certified and typically serve pork-based options alongside fish (Fish & Noodle House is a pork-free exception, though not necessarily halal-certified). If halal certification is essential, always confirm directly with the shop rather than assuming from a "no pork" menu.

#fish head noodle#fish head curry#kl food#pj food#malaysian food#fish head bee hoon#klang valley

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