Seafood in a Pan

 Fish & Co opens new flagship store

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

Singaporean seafood-in-a-pan label, Fish & Co, introduced several new dishes from their expanded menu at the newly-opened Shangri-La Plaza Mall flagship store. The Shang branch opening is part of the mall's latest expansion project. The resto's casual, rustic chic, and cozy ambiance is the perfect setting for family and friends to dine together.

Fish & Co is famous for its fish-and-chips; having been touted as 'the best in town.' They are handcrafted, dipped in the restaurant's famed batter mixture, and fried to perfection. The result is golden brown fillets that are crispy on the outside, yet tender and moist on the inside.

During our food tasting spree, we sampled three variations of the fish-and-chips dish. There's the Nori version that's cooked in crispy batter with Japanese sauce and nori sheets. Next came two versions with varying degrees of zest and zing. The Sambal plate came with the spicy Indon-inspired sauce, while the Bombay version came with an Indian sauce dip.

In whatever order you partake of your food choices, their offerings consist of a starter, salad, as well as fish and seafood fare.

For starters, we went with the Shrimp Pasta Salad; a delectable noodle dish with spaghetti, shrimps, red frisee, cilantro, crabsticks, and cherry tomatoes with white/black sesame dressing and Japanese mayo in a bed of iceberg lettuce.

The pasta dish went well with the Mixed Seafood in Creamy Garlic Sauce. This merry melange brought together the tasteful medley of mussels, baby squid rings, shrimps, and clams with corn, potato, and carrots drenched in garlic lemon butter sauce!

Pescatarians who love smoothies would delight in two of its delicious beverages. There's the Healthy Hearty Squeeze, which is a happy blend of carrots, mango, and melon. And the other is Jungle Freeze, which is a tasty blend of rambutan and pineapple. While these beverages are served in sizeable drinking vessels, one may not be enough!

Our gustatory onslaught continued with New Orleans Chicken & Seafood. This mouthwatering plate of fowl and shellfish threw in together morsels of chicken meat, shrimp, clams, mussels, dory fillet, andoville sausage cutlets, and corn in a stew. Won't blame you if you asked for some rice to go with it.

The seafood delights continued with Lapu-Lapu Fillet in Curry Sauce, a fish dish with potato and carrots cooked in coco milk, curry leaf, all-purpose cream, and curry spice. While a majority of the food options are seafood, there are several dishes for meat lovers as well.

Fish & Co is one of the many dining concepts under the Bistro Group. While the label is Singaporean, it offers Mediterranean style cuisine with new food options using white sauces. Aside from its flagship store in Shangri-La Plaza Mall, their other branches are located at Uptown Mall, McKinley, Alabang Town Center, My South Hall, Robinsons Magnolia, UP Town Center, and Trinoma.