Fried Spanish Mackerel @ Seng Steam Fish Restaurant

Before you step into Seng Steam Fish Restaurant, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a sauna masquerading as a restaurant. With water vapours rising from the signage itself, it becomes a foreboding statement for those who dislike heat or steaming hot restaurants to which you indulge your lunch. Yes, it's only open for lunch and closes right after. 

What makes this place unique is that it is open air and yes, it gets really warm during the afternoons but the real reason why they only open during the heat of the day is because their food runs out quite quickly. Seng is famous for all things fish. And the menu is behind the signage, plastered with badly taken photos of dishes that has made them famous. So famous that they don't really care to open a full day. 

They have two signature dishes, the deep fried sea bass tail and the most unholy spanish mackerel. Personally I like the fried mackerel seen below, which I bet you will ask me about. This is a whole fish, with the meat removed and then reconstituted to make up a whole fish again, bones removed of course, fried and sliced up. This unholy union of fish is really quite splendid. The taste isn't overwhelming and the fish taste fresh even though the meat has been turned into a fish cake of sorts. The light drizzle of think soy sauce makes it very palatable. 

There are two places in the world which for me has stood out for fish dishes, one is in Hanoi, Vietnam at Cha Ca Street, famous for the Cha Ca fish and noodle dish. Something you'd die for. And the second one is this fried spanish mackerel. The fish meat is flayed from the bones and skin, and the skin is reused to house the whole fish before it goes into the deep fryer. The taste isn't strong or fishy, which is why I think it bodes well for people who dislike fishy tasting fish. 

Seng also has fried clams and pork, no crabs or shrimp. They also serve up a mean selection of seasonal steam fish but I will leave that for another day. 

Fried Spanish Mackerel @ Seng Steam Fish Restaurant
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