Fat Fish 肥鱼 in Taman Melodies Johor Bahru

I've seen seafood heaps served in large trays of bubbling hot broth in China and so was eager to try out Fat Fish in Taman Melodies (near KSL Mall) which brought this dining concept to JB.



I was floored by the charming decor inside Fat Fish. It's more like a hipster cafe than a Chinese restaurant, even a modern one - indeed, it would be among JB's hippest cafes, if it is one.

There seemed to be a touch of Melbourne cafe DNA in Fat Fish 😄



Lots of earthly tones and shades of grey. The brushed cement wall exults a rugged elegance. 



Copper, wood, clay, red bricks, leather, orange glow from warm hanging lights. It felted homely, down to earth, yet classy with understated finesse.



The large windows welcome light into the dining space. (Maybe more suitable for Melbourne than Malaysia 😛 )



Maybe you have heard feedback that the service at Fat Fish is very prompt. How do they do it?

This is their little "secret weapon".

On every table, there is a small pager - it's like a dice with each side indicating an instruction like "Order", "Bill", "Flame Up" etc.

Each waiter wears a wrist band. When the customer places the "dice" to request, for example, "Flame up", all the waiters will get a buzz on their wrist bands indicating the table number and customer's request.

The customers get the waiters' attention instantly and are attended to quickly. "Like that win already lor" as they say in Singapore.

Our order settled, it's time to eat 😄



For fish, there is barramundi (sea bass), red snapper and golden pomfret. For soups, there is a choice of Sichuan (hot & spicy mala 麻辣), seafood and mushroom, sour and spicy, and tomato. For the spicy soups, you can choose your preferred level of spiciness.

We chose golden pomfret in seafood and mushroom soup.



The golden pomfret was baked and then served half submerged in a tray of seafood and mushroom soup kept bubbling hot with a small wax flame below.



I like the seafood and mushroom soup because of it's gentle savoury sweet flavour. I can taste a bit of mushroom in the soup. But, the tender golden pomfret had a slight earthy (muddy) taste which the mild tasting soup could not mask.

Next time, I will change the soup or the fish. Red snapper with seafood and mushroom soup. Or, golden pomfret with Sichuan soup.



Our mixed seafood pot in medium spicy Sichuan soup.



Customers choose their own seafood which are sold according to weight. Bamboo clams at RM10.90+ for 200-250 grams.



Flower crab RM13.90+ each.



Big head prawn RM15.90+ each.



Fresh prawns RM14.90+ for 200-250 grams. These sea prawns are nice - the flesh have a tender crunch and briny sweet crustacean flavour.



Fat Fish serves both fresh and frozen seafood. It's really redundant to say that fresh is best. Next time, I shall have mostly fresh squid (RM15.90+ 200-250 grams), fresh prawns, and live mud crabs in my tray (skipping the frozen stuff) 😄



The Christmas Platter for RM258+.



In the Christmas Platter, there's two lobsters, two mud crabs, la la clams, abalone clams, bamboo clams, fish slices, etc. We had sour and spicy soup for the Christmas Platter.



Fat Fish specially brought in the lobsters for this special seasonal Christmas Platter (spiny lobsters are not normally on the menu).



I love these live mud crabs.



They are not very big but I like the natural briny sweetness of the juices and tender meat in the live mud crabs.



I enjoyed the flower teas at Fat Fish. They are fragrant and subtly sweet, which is easy on the palate.



The flower teas are said to be good for blood circulation and digestion, and detox our body - I need all the help I can find there 😂

Disclosure: Please note that this was an invited tasting.



Restaurant name: Fat Fish 肥鱼



Address: 97, Jalan Beringin, Taman Melodies, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°29'24.6"N 103°45'47.1"E | 1.490160, 103.763083
Tel: +607 330 9420
Hours: 12:00 noon - 3:00pm | 5:00pm - 12:00 midnight (close at 1:00am on Fri, Sat & Sun) Monday off

Date visited: 7 Dec 2017

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