Aged Fish Isn't My Thing

I wasn’t too sure about dining at One Prawn & Co at New Bahru since it’s a lot shellfish, and uhhh prawns. Lunch is impossible for me since it’s ramen with prawn broth mostly, along with a few sides and snacks. The dinner menu was wider with more options. 

However, it’s not a restaurant I’d return in a jiffy. They call themselves 'Modern Asian Seafood Grill'. I’m not quite sure of their kitchen’s direction. Their flavors are a tad confusing. There’s nothing inedible or gross. I’m just not hot about its dishes. They’re either lacking in bite, or too overwhelming in trying to be innovative and give diners every flavor out there. This New Bahru outlet officially opens the weekend of 23 November. 

They also put a lot of caviar on the menu, and luckily that's an optional add-on. A crab coquette with sweet mayo and chives at S$16 gives you an optional add-on of 10g of caviar at $48. You might as well just buy a whole tin of caviar at $188. Nope, I don't know what caviar it is. I didn't bother asking. I'm not a fan of caviar and while I used to not mind eating it, over the years, I have ditched it. Now, I wouldn't eat it even it's placed in front of me for free. It's the same reason why I wouldn't touch shark and shark's fin.

Tonight, the kitchen had run out of things we wanted — the spiny lobster poached rice, monkfish skewer and furikake, and monkfish and cashew curry. They also ran out of XO Scottish scallop and vermicelli (one piece at S$28). All are OOS at 7.15pm. Okaaaaay. 

They had the ankimo mousse with pink peppercorn that came stuffed and rolled up in a crispy love letter. We had the beef bulgogi with uni, which was middling. The dry-aged hamachi with kimchi and puffed rice was fine, but the fish was cured way too dry and it took away all the natural flavors of hamachi. Ugh. The cabbage, plum and bonito wasn't great. I dunno, they used red cabbage. I had a different expectation of this dish if you put cabbage and bonito and plum in the same sentence — perhaps a more Japanese interpretation rather than this Asian slaw thing. The squid noodles and ink was okay I guess, but I'm not a big fan of squid.

Their fish is mostly cured. And this is my biggest issue with the restaurant. The 14-day dry-aged kingfish came as a 150-gram portion sliced up with pickled papaya slaw. For now, it's $30 per 100g of aged kingfish fillet. As a main, I found it really weird. It's all sour and sour and more sour. If you have an aged fish as a main, the side shouldn't be a papaya slaw. Eiooooow. I think the kitchen really needs to differentiate their textures and flavors better. It's not astute. The aging of fish has no finesse. The entire dish is really not to my taste. I like my fish fresh and grilled. Not cured and not as ceviche. 

I was a tad curious about the kingfish head with doenjang and ssam. But now, I'm not keen to try it at all. I suppose I could settle for a haddock burger. Ugh. Maybe the next time I come here, I would do that. Stick to conservative things. The restaurant's menu is creative, but its creations aren't suited to my preferred flavors, and definitely doesn't tickle my tastebuds in the right spots. 

This is the 14-day dry-aged kingfish with pickled papaya slaw.