Walking inside Fish & Co. in Mall of Asia you immediately notice a large fish hanging in the counter, the blue palette in the walls and trinkets that remind you of the ocean, a wry sense of humor lest you forget that the restaurant is facing Manila Bay.
I wasn’t expecting much from this restaurant, relegating it as one of the overrated and expensive seafood restaurants I’ve been to. But some surprises still awaited me as the several dishes we ordered for my husband’s birthday like the Baked oyster with spinach and cheese and the seafood platter were all surprisingly good.
For starters, my sister loved the Baked oyster with spinach and cheese. Well, what is not to love, just relish its creamy cheese topping delectably foiled by the mintiness of the spinach and combined well with succulent oysters. You can’t stop just eating one. We had to order extra to satiate my sister who had suddenly developed a fondness for baked oysters.
Aside from the oysters, I also love the prawns in the seafood platter. Noteworthy, yes, it is noteworthy at least for me, is how much thought they brought in presenting shrimps that can be enjoyed the best way possible, butterfly-style, cut in the middle. Yes, no messy hands for me. I usually don’t eat shrimps in restaurants because of the inconvenience that goes with it, so here, I was able to sample some and I wasn’t disappointed.
The prawns were seasoned well, not too salty and it wasn’t drowned in any sauce. Simple but tasty. The same goes with the calamari that accompanied the seafood platter. It was cooked just right and it wasn’t rubbery at all, they really know how to cook their seafood. And another thing I remember from this place is the seafood rice. It had an appetizingly orange color that was easy to dismiss as just another orange-colored rice but surprisingly it had a lot of flavor. It seemed to me that it may have been cooked in shrimp broth. It didn’t have a strong shrimp or fishy aftertaste, just a subtle taste that blends deliciously with the seafood platter we ordered.
We had another family gathering in another restaurant in Mall of Asia recently, the one where the ambiance was decadent and had a fantastic view of the ocean. Alas, the food was a great disappointment despite the volume of dishes we were served. And I remembered Fish & Co. again. I wish we went there instead since I have a 20% discount card they gave me when I last visited there. Though it was smaller than the other place, it sure had a lot of personality, not only in terms of its décor but also its food. Then again, there’s always a next time.
