Fishmonger’s delicious fish dishes

FISH is a healthy eating choice and I love it. But with concerns about the longer-term sustainability of fishing and the health of our oceans, it’s not always easy to know what to choose.  There’s nothing like fresh caught ocean fish — preferably as close to the sea as possible —  and one of the treats of holidays at the coast is buying from local fisherman — small scale, sustainable and usually inexpensive.

Frozen fish is readily available now in Harare — but prawns for example can come from as far afield as India and Thailand.  Mostly I tend to avoid the foods with huge air-miles and as tempting as New Zealand oysters might be — I would rather not. I do find prawns hard to resist though but try to go for the neighbouring Mozambican variety.

Sustainable ocean fisheries target plentiful species, including those smaller and lower on the food chain, because they can reproduce quickly to sustain their populations. They also mandate environmental safeguards like curbing by-catch and reducing dredging and other destructive fishing practices.

Closer to home, the most sustainable fish is farmed tilapia but local menus hardly ever feature more than one tilapia dish and delicious local trout is even more rare. Local restaurant experiences often have me swearing off eating fish when dining out in Harare as par for the course is often overcooked. Luckily Fishmonger is one of the exceptions, and clearly, they have a very good supplier.

Interestingly, on the evening we dined there, the most successful main was the night’s special — delicious lamb kleftiko (US$23) slow cooked in foil, beautifully flavoured with rosemary and absolutely melting.

My son decided there must be a Greek chef as the baklava for dessert was also pretty authentic — though I never like the tendency to serve it with cream or icecream.  I discovered later on the website that March was Greek special month  with a $30 menu featuring grilled calamari or Greek meze to start, the lamb kleftiko or king prawns for main and baklava for dessert.

A good deal but unfortunately not revealed to us on the night we dined there. Although otherwise excellent, and therefore almost always well patronized, Fishmonger needs to pay more attention to service which felt stressed on a busy mid-week night and more than once we felt we had been forgotten. We were a largish group — out to celebrate a birthday.

Our booking had been confused and they had apparently expected us the evening before (though no-one contacted me to ask why we hadn’t turned up).  So some scurrying was done to find us a table — on the verandah behind the meet and greet counter.

Took a while for the first beer to arrive  — most of us were drinking wine and we weren’t charged corkage although I had been told on the phone it was US$4 after the first bottle. However the food made the wait worthwhile and all meals were delicious.  King prawns are now US$4,50 a piece (up from $4 mid last year) — and were really good — large and succulent, butterflied, juicy, well marinaded and perfectly grilled.

My mother had Sole a-la-meuniere (US$19) —www classically cooked in butter and parsley with a lovely delicate flavour, offset with a piquant squeeze of lemon.
Espetada (US$16) a slowly grilled skewer filled with prawns, linefish, calamari, peppers and onions went down very well.

My red prawn curry (US$16) was delicious — nicely spiced — though advertised side sambals didn’t materialise.  Birthday grandpa was treated to a special dessert and a song from the staff and all in all in we enjoyed a good night out with lovely food. 

g.jeke@yahoo.com