Charco's moving!

Okay, this blog entry kinda' jumped the queue because I had this meal only a few days back. BUT.. because I'm a fan of their food, I feel obliged to pass the message that they'll soon be moving out of their current premise at Blk 89 Marine Parade Central (multi-storey carpark) on 27th March.

Come 30th March, they will be serving their famous ribs at Blk 80, Marine Parade Central (near the Polyclinic).

I saw a notice at the counter when I was making the order. Didn't really verify it with their staff so pardon me if I made a mistake somewhere.

Anyway, when we came by for lunch that Tue afternoon, we were their ONLY customers there. Was taken aback. Maybe lunch was over? But it was 1+pm only! I believe the issue lies with its poor location, maybe that's why they are moving somewhere closer to the main road, with higher volume of human traffic? Or maybe it's the rental issue.

Well, I don't really know. All I want is for them to continue operating as I don't know where else I can get such tentalising Halal ribs, served with many varieties of salads.

And with that, I end the entry with pictures of my meal that day.

Rack of Lamb

My order almost everytime I'm here. The one time I ordered the Chicken Schitzel, I wish I had ordered these tender, fall-off-the-bone lamb ribs instead.

I'll only attempt to use the fork & knife for the 1st piece of ribs. By the 2nd piece, I'll sub-consciously pick it up with my fingers and relish every inch of it, down to licking the bone.

Not exactly a nice sight, I know.

3 Salads

(From top) Tuna salad, Greek salad & Caesar salad.

I always order the set where there's 1 main + 3 salads. Caesar is the one that I'll never miss ordering. Another favourite is the Chicken Avocado that has farfalle pasta.

That day, I felt a little guilty for eating the lamb so I tried to balance it with the much healthier Greek salad. Besides, its tangy vinaigrette might help clear out some of that greasy, lamb taste.

----------------------

... Come to think of it, I will miss their current location, where the outdoor dining area had us dining with a view of the nice green surroundings and the hum of fast-moving vehicles on the ECP nearby...

Sakinah's birthday treat @ Fish n Co

Remember Fatimah, my cousin whom I treated to the MFM's Lobster Buddy meal? Well, her baby sister's birthday came and gone before I realise that it'll be unfair to just leave her hanging.

So I decide that I owe her a birthday meal too.

That Saturday, the sisters came by my place before we decide on a trip to Changi Airport Terminal 2 (more dining options) in separate cars. Brought my parents and kiddo along.

Before we drove off, I did make a passing remark to my cousin, about the "Famous Swensen's Saturday-Night Queue". She simply brushed it aside, thinking it couldn't have been so bad. Well, just how long can the queue to an eating establishment be like, right?

WRONG.

My cousin actually parked near Burger King at T2 and looked down at Swensen's from the Departure Hall level. She supposedly didn't see any queue. I was surprised but we head down anyway. As we got nearer to where Swensen's was, it got pretty apparent that there was a line of people snaking from outside the restaurant. -___-

We even met hubby's grandma and aunt hanging out at the seating area while waiting to enter. The incredulous look on my dad's face made me decide to simply head to the viewing gallery level and check out either Breeks or Fish & Co. My dad ain't gonna wait & queue to enter a restaurant! No.....

While walking back up, I asked the birthday girl, what her choice will be. Breeks or Fish & Co. She remarked that since Fish & Co. recently got Halal-certified, she's curious about what the food is like.

The restaurant was slightly empty as some of the dinner crowd has just left. While we wait to be seated, the restaurant manager goofed around with my kiddo and soon came back out with a paper head-gear; in the shape of a shark and placed it on him.

Kid-friendly

Due to some constraints, the 5+1 of us squeezed ourselves into the booth seat. It wasn't long before my kiddo was climbing all-over the seat just so he can get a view of his favourite (very pretty) waitress as she moved about doing her job :P.

We soon request to occupy a bigger table that had just been vacated. In 5 mins, we were led to the other table, complete with a baby chair, this time. On the table, alongside our cutleries, was a small basket of colour pencils, and activity sheet (graphics for colouring, join-the-dots, quizzes etc) and a full-colour activity book for my kiddo.

Wow, I'm mighty impressed…! There's really nothing like keeping a toddler occupied as the adults try to dine in peace. Then again, given their short attention span, the peace will last for all of 15 mins or so. Well, better than nothing!

Double Yellow Line

Ordered this for my dad. I was keen to get him the Mojito, my favourite drink but they ran out of it.

So I chose the next drink that he may prefer.

When I asked his opinion about this choice, he gave the thumb-up, saying that the large portion of deep-fried fish he had made him kinda' nauseous and this drink helped a lot, to alleviate that.

Kola Tonic

There's a promotion where we top-up only $5.90 (I think so) to have the soup-of-the-day and a drink. Aside from the soft drinks, the drink that's part of the promo was the Kola Tonic and Passion Soda (carbonated Passionfruit drink).

I chose the former while the 2 sisters had the latter.

Cream of Mushroom soup

My mum requested for the soup so I took the drink while she have the soup. The sisters shared 1 bowl and the other one goes to... the hungry kiddo.

A boy and his soup

(pic courtesy of Fatimah)

Garden Salad

As requested by my health-conscious mum.

"...Mesclun mix tossed with sweet teriyaki balsamic vinaigrette dressing and served with cherry tomatoes and Japanese cucumber. Topped with fried garlic and anchovies and garnished with Japanese mayonnaise..."

They tweak the ingredients to localise the taste and we love it! My mum gave it her thumbs-up.

Nachos

Very plain dish. Quite a downer actually. Could simply have given this a miss. Would appreciate more cheese and some sour cream with the nacho chips. But oh, the salsa's good! I paired it with some seafood like the mussels & prawns. Goes well together!

Fried calamari

Fish & Co serves one of the best fried calamari, imho. Thick cuts of calamari, with thin yet sufficient coating of crispy batter. Batter that's not overly-seasoned till' it overpower the mild taste of the calamari.

A must-order everytime I'm here!

Italian Fish & Chips

My dad's order from the 'Fish & Chips from Around the World' section of the menu. Where there're supposedly varieties that range from Danish, Swiss, Japanese, New York etc...

Kinda' gimmicky actually. They basically have either different cheeses or an ingredient that can be associated with that country...

Prawn Fettuccini with Chilli Cream

Prawns that are initially sautéed before being tossed into the chilli cream sauce together with some fettuccini. Similar to the one I had at F.I.S.H F.I.S.H, which is a subsidiary of Fish & Co, btw.

She was initially trying to choose between this and the 'Spicy Prawn Miso Spaghetti', where the sauteed prawns and pasta is cooked spicy miso broth. I forgot to warn her about how filling fettuccine can be. She ended up feeling really stuffed.

Her sister, meanwhile, had the 'Poached Cod with Spicy Teriyaki Sauce', which was very much similar to the one she had at F.I.S.H, previously. She just can't get enough of that Teriyaki sauce!

Seafood Platter for 2

I don't know what came over me. To actually order THIS when almost everyone had their own mains???

Needless to say, yes, I've over-ordered. Even though I plan to share this with my mum, she can't really eat much nowadays so I'm left with like, 3/4 of this platter! Even prawn-lover Fatimah complained that she can't finish too many of those! But then, I won't get the mussels if I ordered the platter meant for 1 instead...

The fluffy, fragrant rice was very reminiscent of paella. And amongst all the seafood, the calamari really reign supreme in my books. Even the grilled version was oh-so-tender, despite being pretty thick.

A gripe about the mussels though. They weren't properly cleaned. Thankfully, it was my mum who had the 1st mussel and she pointed out that the 'beard' (byssal threads) wasn't removed. It's was said that consumption of the 'beard' may cause some giddiness (verification needed). Better be safe.

So there. Yet another birthday meal. We left the restaurant feeling really stuffed, so we totally ignored any notions of desserts, whatsoever.

And my apologies to the staff & dinners, if they felt disturbed by my kiddo's boisterous antics that night. I admit that I'm no French parent… :P