NO LONGER IN BUSINESS - Deadfish Cafe & Lounge

Deadfish Café & Lounge
167 Osborne St
204-477-6609
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deadfish-Cafe-Lounge/125666440846951



July, 2011

I loved Tomato Pie Co. I loved the food, the atmosphere and the people, so I was very saddened to see them close. When I saw the Deadfish sign go up, I was not taken by the name (still am not) but I hoped that they would come close to meeting Tomato’s wonderful food. Then when I saw the menu, I thought that the food was all over the place and lacked focus. Restaurants that usually try to be jacks-of-all trades, end up being…you know the rest of the saying.

Then I looked closer at the menu and realised that it’s not as dispersed as I first thought. The prime rib refers to a sandwich; the Big Taco and the Bacon Double Cheeseburger refer to pizza topping combos, and the Return of the Mac—well, that still refers to macaroni and cheese. Reading the details, you find that the menu has a definite Caribbean lean to it, although you’d never guess from the restaurant’s name.

The Aloo Pie is a Trinidadian version of a pirogue (almost every culture has a version) stuffed with a potato filling. The pastry’s a little dry and the stuffing lacks some flavour. This is not a bad intro, but considering what’s to come, this might be one you skip.

Don’t skip the Doubles though. For a mere $8, you get two burger-sized doubles, filled with deliciously seasoned chickpeas. Eat the doubles first as you might not have room to finish the mound of tamarind chutney on the side. Although our Trini friend tells us that the seasonings are not quite authentic, the fritters still taste delicious.

The shrimp appetiser comes with plump shrimps, perfectly pan-fried. The herbed butter enhances the juicy tails but the chilli garlic explodes with flavour. A hint of citrus and spice rounds this dish out perfectly.

As easy as it is to overcook shrimps, restaurants more often overcook mussels—and nothing is sadder. Overcooked mussels shrivel and shrink into dense pods that taste dry, not unlike the texture of overcooked liver. You won’t find a single overcooked mussel here, and after you finish devouring the plump mussel meat, you’ll lick up the leftover curry sauce.

If you want something a little lighter for an intro, the Lettuce Wraps come with a delightful medley of vegetables but the pungent chunks of crab will make you forget all about the veggies. I love crab and I love spiciness but I would rarely mix the two. People with little tolerance to heat will find that it overwhelms the delicate nature of shellfish. However, as a chilli-head, I find this powerfully spicy crab an ideal stuffing for the fresh lettuce leaves.

The Return of the Mac comes with perfectly cooked asparagus as a vegetable distraction. The main attraction comes from the smoky sauce and the noodles that are covered in crunchily fried breadcrumbs. This definitely isn’t the mac and cheese that you eat out of a box.

If you’re a fan of seafood at all, the paella tastes absolutely divine. Paella normally features a rice backbone that soaks up all the wonderful liquids of its main ingredients. Fish’s paella has so much seafood that there’s barely any room left on the plate for rice. Chunks of salmon swim through this dish, in between the bountiful mussels and plump (even larger than the appetiser version) shrimps. A skilfully seared scallop sits on the stack of seafood. If I had one comment to make, I would ask for more scallops.

Specials today include a ridiculously thick slab of halibut that’s poached to perfection, and linguine in a rich rose sauce with moist chicken breast pieces. Everything we touch tastes wonderful but you can’t help but get great food when the server openly tells you what’s “terrible [and] don’t order this.” Honesty from the staff inspires confidence and trust.

I’m not a big dessert person and I usually have a motto where “if I have enough room for dessert, I’ll have another appetiser.” Today, I have no room for dessert, no room for another appetiser, and yet I can’t stop eating the deep and moist banana bread pudding.

Sitting beside the piano, we found the live music a little loud, but it’s nothing that the expertly made mojito can’t drown out. Everything here is done well. I’m not sure I’m ready to like it more than its former iteration, but I definitely like the Deadfish.

**** /5

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