Sunday 18 July 2010

Restaurant Review: Fish & Co, Annandale


On Thursday night I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview of the new Annandale restaurant, Fish & Co. It's due to open on 26th July.  In the meantime locals are being kept in eager anticipation with newspaper stuck to the windows.

The restaurant styles itself as a 'sustainable fish' joint, and is a collaboration between Tom Kime and the owners of the Bronte Lounge. I wasn't quite sure what sustainable fish was before the evening. Farmed fish? Line caught fish? Neither, apparently (or at least in this interpretation). They are going to cook less common fish which still have plentiful stocks and have been accredited by either the Friends of the Sea or World Wildlife Fund.

During the evening we sampled nine dishes that will be served on the cafe menu. All the food was excellent and covered a range of styles. We had a Provencal fish stew, African charmoulah spiced tuna* and several Asian inspired dishes.


There were lots of highlights, but my favourite from the evening was the spicy Penang fish with ginger and chilli, served with lemongrass and black pepper dressing (above). The fish was flaky and not too spicy, with an amazing lemongrass paste sitting on top. The fish had a real freshness and balance of flavours that excited my palate.

There was still quite of lot of work to be done before the opening night and no menus for us to look at, so it was difficult to get an impression of what type of place it will turn out to be. There was talk of it being more cafe style than a restaurant. Based on the food we tasted, as long as the prices aren't too high Fish & Co will be a real neighbourhood gem.


*I would have thought tuna would have been one of the least sustainable fish going. The cafe uses albacore tuna, which unlike blue fin is apparently still in plentiful supply.

Fish & Co on Urbanspoon

7 comments:

  1. sounds like a very interesting restaurant. looking forward to hearing more about the place :-)

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  2. Lucky you, awesome review!

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  3. The provencal fish stew sounds delicious. Here's hoping they're well received by the locals!

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  4. i think it's a great idea that they're using fish that are more plentiful than the mainstream fish but i had to laugh at their use of tuna too!

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  5. Interesting! At least the food is up to scratch thus far.

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  6. As an Annandale local, I can attest to the fact that the area has been crying out for a quality fish joint. The cafe that Fish & Co replaces will not be missed. It was open for only a year and was run by Mr Grumpy. I hardly ever saw anyone in there. By contrast, Fish & Co seems to be doing a roaring trade everytime I pass by. Can't wait to try it myself!

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  7. The restaurant review given here is excellent and yo can know all about it

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