The Manhattan Fish Market is not for everyone. If your preference is for healthy, veggie-based cooking, you may leave feeling bloated and nauseous. However, if watching Super Size Me boosted, instead of curbing, your appetite for deep-fried, fatty, oily food, The Manhattan Fish Market won’t disappoint. Unlike the name suggests, this franchise seafood restaurant is in fact from Singapore. The majority of diners are office workers that come straight from their cubicles, clad in button-down shirts or yellow polo shirts. It’s not a very young crowd, possibly because the eatery doesn’t take credit cards, yet. Considering its many competitors on the same floor, at CentralWorld, the Fish Market is doing very well, even on slow days, giving off a nice busy vibe. The secret to its success is simplicity and generosity. The menu is brief and straightforward, featuring salads and seafood, which are simply deep-fried or grilled and served with your choice or garlic rice, chips and salads. There is also a small selection named “Siam Classic Choices” offering dishes such as baked fish in green curry and three-flavored deep-fried grouper. But the ultimate hits are the platters. Portions are huge. The menu says the platters are for two to share, but the serving is enough to feed four. Order the Grilled Gala Platter and you’ll be gorging on succulent grilled fish fillet, juicy mussels, squid and grilled prawns that the staff blowtorch at your table until they are golden brown. You also have mounds of chunky fries and fragrant garlic rice to stuff yourself with. Or opt for the deep-fried combo, the Manhattan Seafood Platter. Another comforting dish is the Manhattan Fish and Chips. The big fillet of fish was coated with batter, deep-fried to a crisp, and served with yummy tartar sauce—addictive! They also allow you to choose two more sides from garlic rice, salad and fried veggies. However, the Fish Market can sometimes be as inconsistent as the sea. The Manhattan Caesar salad was sabotaged by stale croutons and pedestrian dressing. Also, service is only passable as the servers sometimes forget about tables in the corners. Still, food is good and prices are very reasonable. We will definitely come back for more…wearing looser pants.
