Bisi Bengaluru: Fish Factory, Citrus Fishetarians, this is worth the bait'!

Four dedicated chefs and their chef in charge hover over a customised flambé-spurting, charcoal infused seafood trolley, deep in concentration — their task — to get the catch of the day its rightful place in their halloed sauce trail. A fine dining seafood restaurant that offers classic French and European sauces — Nantua, Veloute, Red Wine glaze, Bechamel, Piri Piri, Wasabi Cream and many Indian marinades. Live seafood counters with a plethora of specials according to the catch of the day, this new chic fish restaurant offers a chance to tuck into calamari, lobster, seer fish, red mullet, red snapper, white snapper, mud crab, blue swimming crab, lady fish, white and black pomfret — seafood galore, with chef in charge Nachiket Vichare’s love for French and European intrinsic flavours evident in the sauce trail and the Coastal cuisine of freshest. In the constant din of Cunningham Road, is this surprisingly quiet haven in a brightly lit high ceiling outhouse, part glass-house, part-lunchroom, at the right of Citrus Hotel, it’s parent company.

Walled with potted plants, is a classic dining are a dressed in finery, at least the table setting is such. Ask Chef Kajal which knife and fork goes first, instead of sitting confused. The Fish Factory has a finesse and flair, as fruit de la mer do their best to coax the tastebuds! Also, it’s most tiny menu is great for those who hate pouring over large ones, simple, and a blackboard of the days catch, priced per gram, appetisers, sauces, beverages, as the chefs customise your seafood. “We offer catch for the day…. You can choose how want it cooked, what sauce, and we clean and marinate it. While you have a shot of soup, prawn crackers and a bread basket, once the mis en place is ready, we roll the customised trolley to your table to cook it as you like it,” explains Chef Kajal. Fishetarians and seafood lovers can rejoice.

Apart from Manglorean and Kerala places that offer seafood in curried flavour, it’s welcome to see a flurry of sauces, for those looking to dunk a flakey fillet, soft calamari or succulent scampi into the mother of all sauces. We started with a tester of house wine. Tawa fried surmai cooked in Indian spices, coriander and tang came first. The fish was flakey, with just the right spice tenets. We had butter garlic tiger prawns next, which the chefs trolleyed and cooked with a flair, tender beautifully butterflied in their shell with garlic shavings and butter, juicy, subtle in taste. More butter doused, more garlic wholesomeness with our squirt of lemon would have been nicer. Delicious, nonetheless. Meat eaters can order quail and duck, as chef Nachiket has deliberately stayed away from regular meats.

Our on-the-job-chefs Kajal, Thugeshwar, Rahul and Vishal started flambéing the main course. As Shivam our server brought us a bread basket and herbed butter. A scampi in Nantua sauce (phew) which depends on the crustacean you choose, the cream of which is then reduced in butter and cream to perfection. Oh-so-delectable, buttery yet herby. The scampi was fresh, and we ordered another portion of a Nantua boat to dip into. The Veloute was subtle, buttery, of course with a richness that was surprisingly light. The Frenchman on our table likened it to his mother’s Veloute back home. It was beautifully cooked, crispy at the ends, and the sauce accentuated the ordinary mullet. We had the Black Pomfret with samak harra sauce, an Arabian infused concasse of bell peppers, tomato and tang.

But the French sauces were our definite winners, most certainly. The idea of Fish Factory has its foundation in serving a large variety of seafood to a city populace who longs for fresh catch, though the city is not known for the freshest of seafood, as most supplies come from neighbouring coastal towns. However, the live counter is robust, with a selection of seafood, on a bed of ice. Those customised trolleys are interactive and we even heard a couple tried a hand at flambé, interesting and novel. The plating, cutlery and crockery read fine dine and class, and the informality of the extremely knowledgeable chefs grows on you.

The sauces we had were perfect, the seafood yummy, cooked beautifully. They also have South Indian curries, with quail and duck dishes, a duck with appams seemed interesting, though curries was NOT on our agenda. The fact that others want it, is all about how Indians prefer going the curry way, when in doubt! We asked Chef Nachiket Vichare how choosing sauces, seafood for the ordinary foodie might be laborious. He believes that people are slowly changing and adapting to new dining concepts. “While they love the fresh seafood with curries that comes from our main kitchen, we would like them to try our selection of seafood with different sauces.

The idea is about transparent and fresh catch of the day with authentic cooking,” Chef Nachiket says. The mangalore fish curry rice came in steaming hot in cutesy cylindrical glass containers like pickle jars - we loved the jars. The curry was spiced, undercooked, but tasty. We wished for appams with it though… Yes, when eating Indian, one must go the whole hog!
It would be a welcome sight to see diners opt for lesser known sauces… but in keeping with the trend, the chefs do offer more Indian, and curries that are popular. They were surprised we opted for Nantua and Veloute. You must have it, ample portions with grazed buttered veggies. If an option of mash, a spinach timbale can be offered, that would be swell. For dessert, it was crepe suzette — delicious, simplistic in orange glaze, we loved it.

The bubble waffles with chocolate sauce and icecream was interesting, not too sweet and delicious. The live cooking, flambé and general essence of a marketplace meet fine dining is welcome. It’s large and expansive, at ease in execution. Chef Nachiket recommends the Lobster Thermidore and the curries, of course. The seafood is charged per gram, which in terms of billing is unclear. This seafood hub comes with its wonderful sauce trail, is expensive yes, but with chefs cooking customised meals… it’s probably a relevant price point.

A set course, for the unadventurous might be good. A seafood lunch buffet starts soon… we are not sure how deep the Oorean pockets are to appreciate such an interesting and wonderful concept. We Nantuaed our appreciation, and went fishing for good health.

Fish Factory, Citrus Cunningham, 34, Cunningham Road
Call: 080-45390000
Must-have: The European sauce trail with the catch of the day and the Indian curries
Meal for two: Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,500