Me and this plate of Fish & Chips go back a long way.
Long enough to say that it's been over a decade? :)
Long enough to say that I've got an inkling of where some of my favorite outlets are, and where some of them used to be?
Long enough to say that there was an outlet once at Bugis Junction facing Victoria Street and which has moved across the road to Bugis+, and there was once an outlet at the Glass House of Penang Road and which isn't there any more, and that there didn't use to be an outlet at Vivo or NEX nor at Ang Mo Kio because the malls weren't yet built?
They haven't changed much over the years.
There's still the same cheerful, vibrant, boisterous vibe in their restaurants that immerse you deep in the liveliness of seafood shacks and seafood diners that we find scattered along many a promenade of a dockside.
There's still the same Best Fish & Chips with its familiar batter, familiar sized chips, and familiar lemon butter sitting in its little blue cup. :)
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| They got Sweet Potato Fries Now |
The lemon butter is a draw.
Always has been, always, I think, will be.
You could do lemon butter with a whole lot of other seafood. Lobster, crab, prawn, but there's a sense of familiarity, a sense of nostalgia having lemon butter with the Best Fish & Chips.
It's tangy. It's creamy. It's lightly citrusy.
And I love it so much with the well-battered fish served tender and soft and crunchy and crispy all at the same time that the other orders don't quite matter as much as this filet of fish does.
Not that I haven't tried the other offerings on the menu.
Someone introduced me to the joys of the seafood platter, laden with mussels, prawns, grilled fish, grilled calamari and rice, I fell in love with the grilled calamari, really so chewy with that burnt burnt taste, and I love it still.
Then, another introduced me to the rather barbaric looking pyramid of swordfish collar once. Scared me a lil, this huge chunk of fish bone sitting at the center of the table, made me wonder where the fish meat actually was, but after a couple bites of the tenderer still meat, I fell in love with the aiyerrr-how-to-eat-nice-meh swordfish collar anyways.
And I still eat it from time to time.
More so these days, because now they've loaded swordfish collar onto their top-up offerings, so there's the choice of a smaller-sized swordfish collar to be gained at half the main price.
They've loaded fried salmon skin too, accompanied with Thai chili sauce, and it makes for a great appetizer snack before the mains come. Fried, yes indeed, but so tasty and crunchy that when served to the table still bearing the heat from the flame, you easily reach out for a piece, and end up quickly nibbling your way through.
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| Salmon Skin |
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| And.. salmon skin! |
They've loaded other things on the top-ups too. Offhand, I can't recall what they are- you'll just have to see it for yourself. :)
I'm reassured every time I'm at one of their outlets. Brings me back along a road of the years that have swung by, each one, with individual memories of sorts. There's one that reminds me of a first date. There's one that reminds me of a dinner I had with a great friend. There's one that I had a very late, late dinner and was tired and had to content with the live music band. There's one was where I had a birthday dinner. And there's one that reminds me of the beach and Universal Studios.
I only wish they would bring back that after-dinner chewy mint sweet from South Africa. :)