Fish & Meat, Wyndham Street, Central

Fish & Meat (32 Wyndham St, Central, tel : +852 2565 6788) operates on a concept that has been picking up steam over the globe in recent years on the basis of fresh and seasonal produce, sustainable catches and probably some of that farm to table approach that trendy restaurants or their wannabes are doing. There is focus on the awareness of the ingredients that are being used. Nothing wrong with being that. 

bread

marinated sustainable blue fin tuna / compressed watermelon / soy sauce / basil vinaigrette / quail egg

This watermelon and blue fin tuna was appetisingly delicious. Until I hit the bits of cilantro and I started eating more slowly, enjoying it less as I had to scrap off the bits of the herb before I carefully popped them into my mouth. Otherwise, this was refreshing.

whole fresh Burrata / grilled peaches / basil vinaigrette / heirloom tomatoes

I thought this would be good but there were a couple of things that did not agree with me. The heirloom tomatoes were a little dry. And those peaches that they used weren't juicy or sweet. In fact they were sour. Does that make sense?  No, I thought it absolutely didn't. I would have expected something like white peaches which were juicier and possibly much sweeter. Why bother to grill a sour peach that was still sour after that?

For a restaurant that focuses on the quality of ingredients, some work on the choice of ingredient is still needed.

sustainable Canadian sea urchin toast / salmon roe / cauliflower cream / cress

Damn. This. Was. Bloody. Good.

So good that I've decided to put up another picture of it. Haha! What the ingredient on the menu did not to mention was lardo and the infusion of cumin(?) in the cauliflower cream. And then ikura. I haven't been impressed like this in a while. This was not just the regular party in your mouth. There was more elegance to the amalgamation of flavours. The toppings felt well thought out. I'd eat this again if I come back.

By the way, this would be on record - the most expensive toast I've ever eaten in my life. Bar none.

soft duck egg raviolo / ricotta cream / burnt sage butter / pecorino cheese

I had thought that the duck egg raviolo would be nice-r. Sure it was rich as it had been intended, but somewhere along the flavour train, salt was too little. Will not bother with this again.

But here I still reserve, a gratuitous molten yolk spillage. 

O’Connor Farm grass-fed 100% natural beef tartare / pickled jalapeño / duck yolk / Parmesan

The beef tartare from Fish & Meat was a beast of their own making. A Frankenstein if you're a purist, or boldly flavoured and textured if you're more open and experimental. This wasn't just hand chopped beef. It was probably hand cubed and that made a whole lot of difference in texture. It was also loud. A lot more sour and heat from the pickled jalapeño. And too little Parmesan to matter. Admittedly, this is also my first time having beef tartare with rockets. 

It's different and I will never order this again. I liked the French-y one from La Cabane much much better.

homemade Sicilian lemonade / blueberry jam / thyme

I don't generally do much cocktails (exceptions disclaimed here) or mocktails, but for some reasons, I felt like one today. This was a passable lemonade. That's all. The blueberry jam didn't do shit and the thyme couldn't get through as much as I tried to crush it into the drink. I need to learn to avoid this things as nice as they tend to sound.