A while back, I noticed a sign outside this shop (34 Greenwood Ave, 6467-4950) boasting of Fish & Chips Takeaway, and outside, it looked like a simple fish market. So I thought it was a typical fish & chips shop, where they wrap some fish and chips in butcher paper and douse it in salt and vinegar. Instead, what I found was an actual restaurant tucked away behind the fish market, complete with linens and silverware. Whoa. OK, it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but the menu featured Western seafood, which was something I had not found in all the time I've been in Singapore. So I went ahead with one of my faves: steamed littleneck clams. It came with a decent buttery broth, so it wasn't off to a bad start, despite having what I felt was a mildly excessive amount of parsley.
Now, seeing that I was sitting down at a nice place, I wasn't exactly in the mood for fish and chips anymore. But I came all the way down here for this, so I still went ahead and got the House Fish & Chips. Interestingly, they offered it in a variety of non-battered styles, but of course I had to get the classic interpretation. And fortunately, it turned out well. It was piping hot without being excessively battery, and it had a pretty good taste. Nice job, despite the sweet Thai garlic chili sauce that was oddly provided with the tartar sauce.
Still, this place wasn't perfect. The portions were small, and I was a bit surprised to see an alfalfa sprout-topped salad on my plate with bell peppers - it's as if they were trying to make it look chichi (and I didn't care for the sweet dressing either). I also noticed that the to-go price for fish & chips was cheaper than the menu (maybe that's the butcher-paper kind that I was looking for? - hopefully sans salad too). When I asked for malt vinegar, they gave it to me in a spray bottle (not only did it take forever to drench my fish in vinegar that way, but the sweaty-sock-like smell of malt vinegar isn't exactly an aroma that one wants to be sprayed into the air). The place was a bit of a mess (food on the floor, fluids on the floor, tables with unchanged linens, etc). And interestingly, the servants were not allowed to take my order due to some management change just one week ago (the manager denied that there was any change when I asked him about this though).
Well, it doesn't matter. I'm just glad to find a place that serves seafood like they do back home (although I think this place is supposed to be modeled off of a Sydney-style place if I heard correctly). The food was better than I thought it would be, and it looks like they even have a Tuesday S$1 (US$0.60) Oyster Nite that could get interesting. I'll be coming back.
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