The fresh catch experience

Bengaluru

Fresh Catch Seafood Restaurant & Fish Market, as the name clearly announces, is both a specialised seafood restaurant and a retail fish outlet, side by side. Customers can purchase fish from the retail outlet to cook at home, or take their purchase to the restaurant and get it made to order. Additionally, you could choose from a fish trolley wheeled to your table and have it prepared the way you like. Of course, you can also take the regular route of selecting dishes straight from the menu.

These various options make your fish-eating experience novel. After a successful debut in Mysuru’s Gokulam, the Fresh Catch Seafood Restaurant & Fish Market has opened an outlet in Kothanur, Bengaluru. On entering Fresh Catch Seafood Restaurant, you cannot miss the wafting aromas and the attractively plated dishes on the tables. The restaurant is spacious, airy and cheerful, promising a new dining  experience to Bengalurians. Now, from the ambience to the substance – the food.

Your visit here is incomplete if you don’t try Kanthhari prawns, a much-celebrated dish on their menu. It is a clash of the fiery and the creamy: the strong chilli hit of the first bite is soothed by a pleasant coconutty aftertaste. If you want something to nibble, you have tiny silver fish that are mildly spicy and crispy – fun to dip in mayo. And for those who want novelty, there is corn fish, a texture experience – a crunchy outer layer of corn with a soft, fleshy centre. Coming to fries, your options are green tawa fry, red tawa fry, or barbecue style.

The dish of barbecued tiger prawns is worth a dig. The huge, firm, shiny shells give way to succulent meat that is subtly sweet with a hint of the salty sea. And in fish, the white pomfret red tawa fry’s brilliant colour matches its taste – vibrantly spicy with a mild smoky flavour. Now we move on to the gravies. What cannot be ignored is their unbeatable mango curry. The dish balances sweet and sharp flavours – hitting tangy, spicy and fruity notes in a thick creamy sauce. The Malabar fish curry looks and tastes completely different.

It alternates between spicy and tangy, touching various savoury notes. Pairing the curries with the restaurant’s signature nizami rice is a culinary delight. You could also go for the Nizami fish biryani per se – a blast of flavours and aromas. For guests who don’t want to go à la carte but want to sample a bit of everything, there is the thali, which has an assortment of fish. The menu offers traditional recipes with a creative flair, served fresh and plated with care. A must-visit destination for fish aficionados.