2016 Jun 17
by Anuki Premachandra
A fishy tale!
The Manhattan Fish Market draws its inspiration from the Fulton Fish market, reputed for its iconic presence below the Brooklyn Bridge. Globally, the Manhattan Fish market is known to house a diverse collection of the freshest catch of the day, catering to seafood fin-atics, far and wide. The Manhattan Fish Market prides themselves in serving up a wide variety of American seafood choices here in Lanka. As a franchise in over 67 restaurants in Asia and the Middle East, including Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Oman, India, Bangladesh and Qatar., it was awarded by TripAdvisor, one of the world’s largest travel sites awarded popular restaurant chain the Certificate Of Excellence in 2014.
It disguises itself as a mid-range diner and the dishes are definitely worth the price they charge for them. Although, in all honesty, we thought that some of the dishes were waaay too good for the price we paid for them. Since it’s a diner, they are open all day long and close at 11 pm. It’s casual dining, a great place to chill with your friends or to go on a fun and playful date.
MFM isn’t that hard to locate, its right down Duplication road, and stands between the recently opened Tender Fresh and Bars Cafe. Their other branch in Rajagiriya is just passing the Rajagiriya junction and around the vicinity and the same side of the road as Shangdong.
Ambience
Like said earlier, they’ve mastered the ‘chilled environment’ concept of the whole thing. You can either choose inverted booths where you have comfy couch like chairs or you can sit on their tables with metal chairs that play on the colourful and rustic decor the place has.
The staff is ridiculously friendly, I’m not even joking. I have never been to a place where the staff has been this nice to me, ever. When you walk in, one of them yells ‘Guest in’ followed by the rest of them and then when you walk out, they all yell ‘Guest Leaving’. They literally make you feel so comfortable from the minute you walk into the place. And the service is pretty top notch for a franchise. You’re food is on the table a couple of minutes after you order it. That’s definitely a plus point there!
Food and Drinks
This is a place that your wallet is going to be thankful for. Given that you order smart and is not tempted by their insane menu, so graphical and so vivid. If you do manage to resist the temptations, you’re a lucky guy, but if you’re like me, you’d go ahead and order nearly everything on the menu. First impressions, their menu is vast but it’s so well marketed with tons of pictures and tons of delightful captions that water your mouth just looking at it. It’s a temptation that’s so hard to resist.
We wanted to beat the heat with their Blue Lagoon float at Rs.390. It definitely looked as good as it did in the photo in the menu and tasted almost better than what is was described and supposed to taste.
So for starters, we went with the Cream of Mushroom soup that costs Rs.290. If you’re a lover of this type of soup like I am, this is definitely a go-to place to have it. Honestly, if i had to compare it with other places in Colombo that offer Cream of Mushroom, including the hotels and the fine dining places, MHM tops my list. It’s so very creamy and flavoursome. We also chose Cheese Fries that were a Rs.390. So the best cheese fries I’ve had were in Singapore and the cheese fries here really did match up to my expectations. Crispy fries topped with melted cheddar. Gooey goodness in your mouth.
They have starters for singles starting at a range of Rs.500- 1000. From fried Calamari to Mussels either tossed in herbs or spices, MFM has it all. They have starters for sharing, for about a group of 4 and their star dish is the Quad Delight, beauty on a plate with calamari, shrimp and scallop topped off with some fresh Coleslaw, only for Rs.1390.
So there’s 5 ways to choose from in terms of how your mains are made: Flamed – Poached – Grilled – Baked – Fried. So, the common perception is that MFM only offers fish, and even though that’s what the name suggests, that’s not entirely the case. If you are a fish person, you can even choose your fish and decide how its made and what it’s topped with.
The chocolate ice cream on top topped with yummy coconut cream didn’t all that as well. I’ve heard that their dory fish dishes are really good (No, you won’t have to find dory or nemo, MFM got that covered for you). Their fish and chips at Rs.990 is a star. It really is. Super succulent and soft with the right amount of texture on the fried batter.
We also tried the Fishy Chicky Bang Bang at Rs.1190, a bang bang in your mouth it was! It was a match made in cheddar heaven like its caption suggests, it’s a fish patty and a chicken patty on top of one another with a cheddar layer in between. It also comes with a sunny side up and fried. So good man, so good!
We also tried out their Creamy Mushroom Penne going in at Rs.890. Well, it wasn’t as ‘star’ as the other dishes we tasted that night, but it was definitely not a let down either. So very creamy with loads of mushroom in it. It had the taste of a cheesy alfredo pasta with mushroom goodness. The reason why it wasn’t a show stopper for me was because the taste of the mushroom soup we had earlier that night and the pasta tasted pretty similar. So for my palate, it was like having the same thing twice. But if I didn’t have the soup earlier on, the pasta would have also been a show stopper. For a more balanced meal, they offer Hot Veggies or a House Salad going at only Rs.190 each.
So for dessert we tried the Sizzling Banana Fritters with Ice-cream and their signature Manhattan Mud Pie. The latter costs Rs.490 and the former Rs.590. Like the caption on the menu, their banana fritters were hot and super crispy. It wasn’t too too oily or too clumsy and did not soak up the fritters either. Next, we batted the Manhattan Mud Pie away, it sounds like a chocoholics dream dessert and it definitely was! It was a madly delicious gooey chocolate ice cream on top of an oreo chocolate crust. The chocolate syrup was also the right consistency, not too thick or runny.
All in all, the MFM is definitely a place I’d go over and over again. I loved the dishes and the true-to American flavours it incorporated. A great place, with very friendly staff and amazing food.
