Fish & Co

WE ARE A FAMILY THAT WON’T pass up a chance to try the fish and chips offering of any new restaurant we visit. But we’ve been disappointed a lot in the past so when the Fish & Co. menu says “Get hooked on the best fish and chips in town,” it whets our appetites, sure, but we know better than to expect much. Lucky for us, Fish & Co. happens to be a Singapore-based chain, and Singapore having a very English background, it is not surprising that their fish and chips offerings are excellent. Their classic fried breaded fish is served with lemon butter sauce. We love it and for us it’s the next best thing to eating it with vinegar, the way they served it at a small shop called London Fish and Chips back in Sacramento, California. All right, Sacramento isn’t London but the cook at the fish place swore to us once that their recipe was a genuine London fish and chips recipe. And you want to know something? When we were in London and ordered fish and chips there, we realizedthe real McCoy wasn’t nearly as delicious as the Sacramento version. So who cares if it’s London authentic or not, right? What counts is the taste. The taste mostly depends, of course, on the kind of fish used—its freshness, the balance between lightness and meatiness. The breading is important, too. We prefer crunchy over “doughy” breading. The Fish & Co. version wins on all those points. We are told the restaurant imports the fish it serves with the chips, even the fish that it stuffs with Parmesan cheese (the New York Fish & Chips), the dory that it serves sweet and sour style, the baked salmon with citrus crust, the fish that it serves grilled or Cajun, the black pepper mahi-mahi and the barramundi fillet. Fish & Co. imports its seafood ingredients to maintain the chain’s standards, but they are studying the possibility of sourcing locally because, hey, these are 7,100 islands right here and if there’s anything we have a lot of, it’s fish. As for quality, our sea harvest should be even superior to our neighbors’ produce. Before diving into the fish and chips basket, we treat ourselves to the Pasta & Shrimp Salad, a departure from the boring greens we usually order; the Grilled Calamari, a surprisingly tender and tasty alternative to the usual fried calamari; and the Prawn Trellis, a delicious starter of prawns and vermicelli all wrapped up and deep-fried like lumpia. Among the pasta dishes, we fall for the Prawns Fettucini with Creamy Mushroom Sauce. Quite obviously, we’re a family that loves shrimps and prawns, too, but go ahead and try the Mussels Penne with either garlic cream sauce or citrus cream sauce, or the Seafood Spaghetti Marinara. Another crowd favorite at Fish & Co. is the Portuguese Chili Crab topped with sweet and spicy sauce and served with a baguette. Their other specialties are grilled main courses: Chicken Peri-Peri, Mediterranean Tenderloin and Porkchop Basilico. The seafood platter of mussels, fish, tiger prawns and calamari on a bed of rice is big enough for a family or a barkada to share. It is also wonderful that their Jungle Freeze drinks come in one-liter mugs, again for sharing. Everyone gets to have a bite as well of the Warm Chocolate Fudge Cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert since it’s better for us to stay away from temptation. But Fish & Co. has other sweet baits too hard to resist: the walang kamatayang Crème Brûlée, Sweetlips Empress (peanut butter with hazelnut ice cream) and Peach Melba (vanilla ice cream with peaches topped with raspberry coulis). Fish & Co. is owned by the Bistro Group of Restaurants, a company with an impressive track record in the food retail business, having managed such successes as Italianni’s, Fridays and Outback. The latest franchise acquisition, Fish & Co. opened its flagship restaurant at Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City, only two months after the opening of the first Fish & Co. at Greenbelt 3 in Makati City. Just to show you how much we like fish and chips, we’ve been to both places. Food Suggestion : New York Fish & Chips (Php.495), huge chunk of fish fillet with melted Parmesan cheese inside, enveloped in a yummy crispy batter with a side of seasoned fries. Like all Bistro Company restaurants, their portions are huge. They also had a fabulous shrimp appetizer (Php.300+) with a creamy tartar dip and a refreshing tuna salad. Fish and Co Address : 3/F Greenbelt 3 Rating : 4 star Value for Money : 3 star