I was in the Woodlands area when a familiar name caught my eye: Yan Ji seafood soup.
Back in the day, my favourite seafood soup stall was at Old Airport Road Food Centre — and it was also called Yan Ji. So of course I had to stop. Same stall? Same soup? Would it taste the way I remembered?
Some dishes you eat for the ingredients. Seafood soup, for me, has always been about the soup. The prawns and fish are nice, sure, but what I really want is to tip the bowl back and drink that broth to the last drop. Let’s see if Yan Ji seafood soup at Marsiling still delivers on that.
Is This the Same Yan Ji from Old Airport Road?
Short answer: sort of. It’s a little complicated.
The Marsiling stall is the original. Yan Ji started out in the 1980s at the old Woodlands Centre food centre (the signboard proudly says “Since 1980’s, original in Singapore”) and moved into Marsiling Mall when the old centre made way for redevelopment. It’s now run by the second generation.
The Yan Ji I remember at Old Airport Road was a franchise of this Marsiling original. That stall later rebranded as O.A.R Seafood Soup — which explains why I could never find “Yan Ji” there again. Then in June 2023, Yan Ji opened its own new outlet at Old Airport Road.
So the bowl I loved back then and the bowl in front of me now share the same family recipe, even if they weren’t cooked by the same hands. And one sip in, I could tell — more on that below.
The Queue (Or Lack Of It)
I reached around 2:30pm on a Wednesday, expecting at least a short line for a stall with this much history.
Queue when I came was… no queue. Zero. I walked up, ordered and that was it.
To be fair, 2:30pm on a weekday is the dead zone between lunch and dinner, so I wouldn’t read too much into it. If you’re coming for a weekend lunch, your mileage may vary. But if you have flexible hours, mid-afternoon on a weekday seems like a safe bet.
What I Ordered
The menu is short and sweet:
- Premium Seafood Soup — S$33 / S$43
- Crayfish Seafood Soup — S$15 / S$17 / S$19
- Red Grouper Seafood Soup — S$14.50 / S$16.50 / S$18.50
- Seafood Soup — S$8.50 / S$10.50 / S$12.50
- Braised Pig’s Trotters — S$10
There’s also a combo of seafood soup with a trotter rice bowl from S$13.50.
I went with the basic Seafood Soup at S$8.50 (the smallest size) with a bowl of rice. In it:
- 2 reasonably sized prawns
- Lots of fish slices
- Some minced pork balls
- Tomato wedges
On paper, that’s a generous spread for S$8.50. Plenty of protein, nothing that felt like filler.
Yan Ji Seafood Soup: The Taste
The Broth
This is where Yan Ji earns its reputation.
The broth is rich and seafood-forward, with a tint of porkiness running underneath and a gentle tomato sourness that lifts the whole thing. It’s the kind of umami that punches you in the face and mouth, left right and centre — in a good way.
And it took me right back. Taste-wise, this is very, very similar to the Old Airport Road soup I used to love — same richness, same porky undertone, same tomato tang. Whatever the franchise story, the flavour profile is unmistakably Yan Ji.
It’s also very, very comforting. The sort of soup you want when you’re tired, a bit under the weather, or just want something warm that doesn’t feel heavy. I give the broth a high score, no hesitation.
The Ingredients
Prawns were decent-sized and the fish slices came in good numbers. The minced pork was a nice touch that you don’t always see in seafood soup, and it adds to that subtle porky depth in the broth.
Here’s my one reservation though: the bowl is small. The ingredients look like a lot, but I suspect part of that is because they’re trying to fit everything into a small bowl. Pack a small bowl full and anything looks generous.
The Condiments
Yan Ji gives you plenty to choose from:
- The typical cut red chilli in soya sauce
- Red chilli sauce
- Fermented soya bean (tau cheo) with cut red chilli
I went with the last one. It’s the very Teochew way of eating — dip your fish slice into the salty, funky soya beans with a bit of chilli heat, and it makes the seafood taste even sweeter. If you’ve never tried it this way, do it once.
The Problem: Not Enough Soup
Remember what I said at the start? I came for the soup.
And there just wasn’t enough of it. Because the bowl is small and stuffed with ingredients, the amount of actual broth is quite little. I was halfway through enjoying it before I realised I was already scraping the bottom.
For S$8.50, that was disappointing. It feels just a tad expensive for what I got — not because the quality isn’t there, but because the one thing I came for ran out too quickly.
And here’s the kicker: even with a bowl of rice, I was not full at all by the end of the meal. A hawker meal that leaves you looking around for a second stall. Damn.
In fairness, I ordered the smallest size. The S$10.50 and S$12.50 bowls presumably come with more soup — but that also pushes the price of a basic seafood soup well past what most hawker meals cost.
The Verdict: Is Yan Ji Seafood Soup Worth It?
Is Yan Ji seafood soup good? Yes, the broth is excellent, and it’s very close to the Old Airport Road bowl I remember so fondly. Is it good value? That depends entirely on what you’re after.
If you want a high-quality bowl of seafood soup that’s full of umami and genuinely comforting, Yan Ji delivers. If you want a filling meal for S$8.50, you’ll probably walk away hungry — rice or not.
My Rating
| Criteria | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Flavour | 4.5/5 | Rich seafood broth with porkiness and tomato sourness. Very comforting. |
| Ingredients | 4/5 | Prawns, lots of fish, minced pork. Generous for the bowl size. |
| Portion | 2.5/5 | Small bowl, too little soup. Not filling even with rice. |
| Condiments | 4.5/5 | Good range, including the Teochew-style soya bean option. |
| Wait time | 5/5 | No queue at 2:30pm on a Wednesday. |
| Overall | 4.1/5 |
My recommendation
- Come for: a bowl of seriously umami seafood broth when you want something comforting.
- Size up: if you’re hungry, skip the S$8.50 bowl and go for the S$10.50 or S$12.50, or get the trotter rice combo.
- Skip if: you’re looking for a big, filling meal at hawker prices.
Would I come back? Yes — but next time I’m sizing up, because the soup is too good to run out of.
Yan Ji Seafood Soup Address: 4 Woodlands Street 12, #01-26, Marsiling Mall Hawker Centre, Singapore 738620
Phone: 9798 5886
Hours: Tue–Sun, 11am–3pm and 5pm–8:30pm; closed Mondays
Google rating: 3.6/5 (539 reviews, as of 8 November 2026)
Taste is subjective. This is my honest experience on the day I visited — compare my palate with yours before making the trip up north.
