F.I.S.H. @ 313 Somerset

Had to go all the the way to Heeren to purchase a pair of sandals. I know I'm getting old when the idea of hitting town on Friday night scared the hell outta' me. I mean, gosh, all that crowd? Plus I haven't really ventured around Orchard Road since 2 years back!

And I only know of those new buildings that sprouted here from the media and the drawings I had to do at work (yes, we did some projects there). I'm sooo gonna be lost.

So I got my younger cousin to accompany me. And we got another cousin to accompany us and it unofficially became some girls-night-out. And what happens when girls meet up? Gossip, shopping (it was SALE! season) and why, eat of course!

I was in total awe as soon as I stepped out of Somerset MRT station and ended up in this wholly new zone for me (turns out to be 313 Somerset). When we walked back from Heeren (which also changed), I discovered a neighbouring building which I've never seen before (that will be Orchard Central). And, oh, look! H&M (no, we gave it a miss)!

I must have lived in another era. Never knew Orchard Road looks like this now! Goodness. To think I used to come by here almost every weekend. For fun.

Anyway, to the food. My cousin had a meal here the week before and she can't stop raving about it. So she insist we dine there. Did some read-up prior to coming here and I saw some compliments about their salad bar. Free-flow salad, you say? Gimme!

Turns out, there's some promo of-sorts and the access to free-flow salad from the bar came free with orders of any mains. Cool! We chose to order a plate of starters to occupy us while we wait for our mains.

Char-grill Peri-peri Squid

I would much prefer the grilled squid rings to appear like THIS, actually. But then again, I'm happy enough that my squid rings were tender and required minimal chewing. I lunged straight for those with charred bits.

If only the squid is marinated or at least coated with the Peri-peri sauce prior to grilling; instead of having the sauce to be simply served on the side like that.

Mojito

Mint, sugar, lime juice and soda. Sans rum of course. This is a halal-certified place so it's all mocktails.

This is such a refreshing drink, especially when one is having seafood for dinner.

Passion(fruit) tonic

Soda with passionfruit syrup. Another refreshing one. Sweet and tangy.

Double Yellow Line - Multi-Citrus soda
(pic courtesy of my cousin TimZahrah)

Another cousin's order. Citrus max. Good for her who loves her drinks sour.

Salad buffet - Plate 01

And now to my favourite food. SALAD. Free-flow. Wow.

Doesn't help that F.I.S.H has a decent array of salad at their salad bar. After placing our food orders, the server came by and hand us a small plate each. We gun for the salad bar.

I started with the nacho chips, topped with some sour cream and salsa. And later sprinkled with powdered parmesan cheese. Syiok!

To think that I almost ordered a plate of nacho chips for our starters. Thank goodness we settled for something else!

Salad buffet - Plate 01 (the other side)
(pic courtesy of my cousin TimZahrah)

Later on, I got intrigued by the Nicoise Salad which consist of baby spinach, thinly sliced onions and tuna. Been a long while since I last tasted baby spinach (this type of greens are considered pretty 'atas').

But all that tuna and onions… Dragon-breath alert!

The pasta on the right is something fusion: Spaghetti with 'Hae Bee Hiam' (spicy dried shrimps). It was mighty spicy! You can see bits of chilli seeds stuck on the strands of spaghetti . But it got pretty additive. You cant stop digging into this one!

To think that my cousin almost ordered this as her main dish (yes, it's on the menu)!

Salad buffet 02

One of my cousin and myself, we unofficially ordained ourselves as a goat & rabbit, given how much we LOVE our greens. So we jumped out of our seat as soon as we were given our small plate. Another cousin, she doesn't care much for her veggies so she's pretty contented with watching over our stuff at the table.

The both of us piled on our plates with the intention to share them greens between us. This plate here is courtesy of my cousin. She sure didn't hold back!

In the foreground is the Greek salad. There's red & green capsicums, cucumbers, olives and some cubes of feta cheese.

Salad buffet 02
(pic courtesy of my cousin TimZahrah)

I can't recall what the other 2 salads were but this one on the foreground looks like Shitake mushroom salad.

Another one looks like it had cucumbers and mango?? Sorry I really can't recall.

Oh, there's another one with some fusili pasta in it. I also can't recall what that was. My apologies.

Char-grilled Codfish Fillet w/ Cream Sauce
(pic courtesy of my cousin TimZahrah)

My cousin's order. There were some cubes of baked/grilled potatoes and tomatoes underneath those slabs of fish meat.

Char-grilled Codfish Fillet w/ Cream Sauce

I really wish that the fish meat gets more time on the grill. Not to the extent of the meat getting too dry but at least give it some charred edges and a bit of smoky taste. This one here doesn't live up to its 'char-grilled' name…

She also remarked that the sauce tasted a bit, 'meh'. You know, boring. Almost bland.

Baked Atlantic Cod w/ Teriyaki Sauce

This was a pleasant surprise, on my cousin's part. She had wanted to order one of those dishes with the king prawns but she was advised against it by the server (who was really friendly, btw). She was told that the prawns weren't THAT big, to start with. They really weren't worth the slightly hefty price tag.

My cousin got all flustered, since she hadn't made a choice for a backup order. She reluctantly ordered this, after much hemming and hawing.

When this arrived, she had a taste of the teriyaki sauce and her face immediately lit up. I had a taste too and I can see why. The sauce was pretty delish! And it sure didn't taste like your regular teriyaki sauce. Maybe it's their own rendition but to me, it taste a lot like the sauce for chili crabs, sans chili. Pretty much an oxymoron, I know but I hope you get what I mean.

Prawn Fettuccine in Basil Cream Sauce

I had been hankering for pasta for the whole week that time. So I was very much determined to order one that night.

I can't recall why I ordered this, though. I think this was the only one with cream sauce. I wasn't too keen on the Fettuccine though. Much too filling, imho.

There were so many pieces of plump, juicy prawns in this plate that there were more than enough to go around. Loads of garlic flavour. Nice!

Key Lime Pie

We were pretty full after our mains (and a 2nd round to the salad bar). But we insist on dessert. We also got too lazy to head elsewhere for it so we simply ordered off the dessert menu.

After all that cream, I'm definitely against most cream cakes. Even those chocolate ones. I recommend that we try the key lime pie to neutralise all the fishy aftertaste on our tongues.

When we ordered this, the server (yes, that same one) made a face and remarked, "Are you sure? It's VERY sour!"

We laughed it off, saying, "That's the whole point!"

When we dug in, all of us were like, "Wow!" The top layer was light cream. At the bottom was custard, both with pleasant lemon-lime accent. And that crunchy crust…

What a nice way to end our meal. Thanks for the company, gals. All because I need to purchase that sandals at Heeren...