If you’re an angler who looks forward to cooking your own catch, chances are that you’re familiar with gutting and cleaning your catch. If not, here’s a great YouTube video that we’ve watched on repeat to learn!
Once in a while though, very lucky anglers can face some interesting problems. Either too huge of a catch, or too much of a catch can be extremely challenging to handle by us amateurs!
Dream fish, but nightmare when it comes to cleaning!
So what’s our options when it comes to cleaning our catch? For those that don’t want to get their hands dirty, here’s where you can get your freshly caught fish gutted, cleaned and even fileted to your preferences.
The first time I caught my target 'Gas Tong', a 15kg grouper, my next immediate headache was 'how am I gonna clean this?'. Considering that the first time I cleaned a 3kg grouper already took me 3 hours, would a 15kg grouper take me 15 hours? Thankfully, I found a really friendly seafood shop that did me a massive massive favor by not just cleaning the fish, but even removing the treasured fish liver, stomach and other delectable organs for me. (For reference, each half of the grouper's head was close to the size of a bowling ball. No way this fish was fitting into my freezer whole.)
1. The Chapalang Shop 2
If you live nearby, I'm sure you can visit their shop in person and check their prices (not just for fish cleaning services, but they also offer some great fishes like Empurau and other wild-caught fishes too.).
The Chapalang Shop 2
Block 216 Bedok North Street 1, #01-168, S(460216)
Call +65 8899 6944 to check if they are able to handle your fish.
2. YYY Seafood
We've had this problem often enough that we're always on the lookout for somewhere offering cleaning and gutting of fishes. It was on a trip to Gills' Fishing Pond in SAF Yacht Club that we spotted this sign. Next time we had an overflow of fishes, we headed right down!
They did an amazing job, not just gutting and descaling the fishes, but even vacuum packed each individual fish so that they could stack easier in the freezer.
They'll even chop up fish heads so you can do a fish head steamboat! Highly recommended. You can even pick up some cod fish or scallops to accompany your seafood meal at the same location.
YYY Seafood
Located at 8A Admiralty Street, #05-32, Singapore 757437
Call +65 88380404 to check for opening hours
3. Your friendly neighborhood fishmonger
If you live near a wet market, there should be a fishmonger (stall that sells fish), that would be willing to help you gut, descale and clean your fish. It’s essential though that you either check ahead of time, or build up a friendly relationship with the stall owner. Don’t just turn up with a bag full of fish, or a 15kg grouper and expect them to get right to it. The stall owners are already busy with their normal work and your catch is a lower priority. Expect to wait for at least an hour or so, when the market gets less busy.
My usual routine is to drop off the fishes in the morning and go back to pick up the cleaned catch a few hours later. Different fishmongers will charge different prices, but the one at my nearby wet market charges $3 per kilogram of fish (uncleaned). *Don’t bring your live and wriggling catch to the wet market. Most fishmongers will NOT help you kill your catch, Be responsible and either bleed your fish first, or put them to sleep right after you take them out of the water.
4. D’Best Recreation, SaltWater Pay Pond
Located at Pasir Ris Town Park, D’Best Recreation Fishing Pond is Singapore’s largest salt water fishing park. With several different types of ponds and different fishes available to challenge anglers, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that D’Best Recreation comes with its very own fish cleaning station. Prices here range from $3.50 per kg for groupers and $2.50 for all other fishes. Understandable since groupers have much tinier scales and can be more time-consuming to clean.
D'Best Recreation Fishing Pond
90 Pasir Ris Central, Singapore 519635
Call +65 6583 9030
With these fish cleaning options available all over Singapore, we hope you wouldn't run into trouble with your fishes! We'll keep this list updated, so check back again.
