Seafood perfection
The offerings at Mr Fish are definitely worth crossing oceans for, writes Ewe Paik Leong
STEPPING into Mr Fish makes me feel like I’m entering a Japanese restaurant with the archetypical blond wooden chairs and benches. One of the foreign waiters greets and leads me to a table. This elbows-on-the-table restaurant has space utilised to the max, making it more suitable for a fast-and-casual meal rather than a date night.
The 30 over items on the menu are broken into three sections: Traditional milky soup, clear soup, curry laksa and porridge. Under the first heading there is seafood mix, prawn, grouper fillet, grouper head, fish maw and grouper fillet, fish paste, Norway salmon head and fish ball and fish paste.
These items are repeated under the other three categories. Then there’s a short list of sides. The beverage section lacks ambition as it is dominated by variations of local kopi-o and teh-o. Thank goodness, there’re also pandan lemon grass, lime juice and soya bean to liven things up.
My culinary joy starts with grouper fish fillet in milky soup. Several tranches of fillet, flash-fried until the skin is crisp, lies submerged in a lake of milky broth, its surface topped with a sprinkle of scallions.
A piece of fillet crumbles under the slightest pressure from my teeth to give way to white flaky meat that oozes marine sweetness. Next, a slurp of the broth brings a trio of mild milky sweetness, tangy punch of plums and gentle ginger heat to slap my cheeks with umami! The firm noodles add texture to the dish.
Up next is curry laksa fish fillet. Vermicelli is partnered with cockles, long beans and tofu puffs wading in a bowl of beautiful broth with a shade of rust.
This is a challenging dish as the role of the broth is to allow the spices to play without overwhelming the integrity of the fish. I pop a curry-drenched fillet into my mouth.
The citrusy twang of lemongrass, the floral nuttiness of coriander and the zing of fresh chilli break in ripples upon my tongue and amidst the gentle swirl of flavours, the fillet fights successfully to maintain the sweet-richness of its pearly flesh. This bowl presses all the right buttons in the pleasure zone.
To cover the menu thoroughly, I return the next day for fish maw and grouper fillet porridge. The spongey fish maw brings the seashore to my nostrils and the fillet furthers the pleasure. Nevertheless, this dish stumbles slightly as the broth is too watery and the rice grains have spent insufficient time in the pot.
My second order of grouper fillet with clear soup is presented with a carpet of parsley, scallions and another veggie which I can’t identify. A spoonful of the clear soup and veggies arrives in my mouth whimpering with flavour but vivid with the brightness of the parsley and scallions.
The tranches of fillet have been treated with care — the outer surface fried to perfect crisp. Had the soup been more flavourful, I’d be singing from the roof.
Tom yam seafood mix bangs the opening gong of my third visit. All my seafood dreams are realised in this bowl containing fish prawns, fish maw, fish balls and fillet wading in orange-coloured soup with a scrim of chilli oil on the surface.
A slurp of the soup unfurls its flavours as a bash of chilli heat and tang, of the ethereal gusts of kafir lime, of the citrusy whack of lemongrass, and the bellow of fish which brings the essence of the ocean to my nostrils. The el dente noodles give texture and solidity to this awesome dish. My last dish, grouper fillet rice, roars with umami.