[ Food Review – Fishop: From Marketplace to Table ] For the past couple of weeks, a certain someone and I have been excitedly eyeing this pretty large, soon-to-be-opened unit within Link@896. Besides having a – fresh and frozen – seafood selection, there is a dine-in area that does fish & chips, fish burgers, and… tze char-styled fishes?
While we were intrigued by the concept, we wondered how a limited sized kitchen and staff count could pull of that variety. But once we noticed the bass (geddit) bit – dining in a semi-restaurant whilst shelling out near-marketplace prices – we were set on trying it.
Fast forward to our visit, during which we decided to sample a bit of everything!
To start, we had a tasting plate of their salmon sashimi ($6.50/4pc) and the only cut of tuna I can stand, chuutoro ($9.50/4pc). For the price, I’m really not going to nitpick – the salmon was fresh, sweet and smooth (wish we’d gotten more); the chuutoro was a little too close to bone for my liking, but was defo fresher than I’d expected for the price.
The next item was more exciting – otah omelette ($5 for otah; $8 for cooking). An off-menu item suggested by the owner, who ordered the same item for his dinner, the otah had good body, and the omelette had good texture without being too oily. My only gripe? Wish the otah had a bit more flavour!
Our star of the night was the canto-styled hybrid grouper ($25 for the fish + $10 cooking)! A pretty hefty fish for two, this comes in significantly cheaper than most tze char places, let alone restaurants! Since we get to pick our fish from their live batch, we got to enjoy its natural sweetness and smoothness. While the sauce was pretty standard, the fish was still cooked decently. And honestly, the luxury of being able to enjoy a fresh catch at this price point really negated everything else!
A last min order, the English Fish Cake ($16) was larger than expected, and a surprise hit of the meal! Good golden crust, smooth fish filling, and punctuated with pops of potato – perfect for livening up any table. Likewise, just wish this had a little more flavour so we didn’t need to rely on the sauce!
And yes, whelk defo be going back!
