Hooked with an Impression

Major pun intended there. So what's this post gonna be about? Doesn't take a genius to take a guess at 'food', hahaha. It seems to be the trend lately, won't you agree? *grin* So what's the catch for this weekend? Hooked!

Yup, that's the name of the place: Hooked. Located in The Curve (Damansara) opposite Vivo... somewhere above TGIF, though that's just my estimate. The quickest way to sum up the shop at a glance: Cheaper alternative to Manhattan's Fish Market (MFM). The menu seems slightly choicier at Hooked, but its been a while since I've been to MFM. Regardless, my friends and I entered this shop at random... and walked out oh-so-satisfied. Food was really good, and price was even better (to a point... I ain't picky about price, unless the food sucked :P).

Let's get some photos rolling, hehe.

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Ok, sorry 'bout this one. We didn't exactly know we were gonna enjoy the food here so much, so the cameras came out when this fella was almost gonna be done. Good news is, we managed to capture the rest with no casualties to gluttony :P

This tiny appetizer is actually shrimps in crumbs. Literally small shrimps wrapped in a crust of crumbs. Shrimps were pretty fresh and its probably the only appetizer worth sharing due to the number of shrimps. Not large and numerous, but enough for ppl to actually have seconds :P

Then there was appetizer, part deux! The yellow stuff... its young mango!! A true delight for ppl with a thing for sour stuff (hehe.. yay!!). There's a mild amount of cream in there though I can't identify what it was. Other stuff in there are the usual salad stuff with mushrooms and ... yup... one shrimp :P This was a lovely appetizer. *nyum nyum*

And then come the main courses. This is salmon with some spaghetti. The fish is good, the sauce is good... but the highlight of the dish is really the under-appreciated brocolli. Actually, it's brocolli covered in cheese!!! *mega-slurp* Those alone make the dish worth the while.

Next in line is dory topped with mashed potatoes and.. er.. forgot the sauce. Sorry :( Heck with it, all you need to know is... yup.. it was good, too :P The yellow stuff is not young mango as I initially assumed. It was cucumber! Don't know what dressing they used, but cucumbers never tasted so good, haha. The serving includes rice, btw. I don't know what they call it, but if you've been to Manhattan and ordered their dishes with rice... well, its the same type :) And it particularly goes well with the next jewel *grin*.

Here was what I ordered. One of the few dishes with a choice of fish: dory, salmon, or cod. I love cod, plus the other two dishes had dory and salmon. The salad... standard affair. The real gem of this dish is the combination of fish, gravy and rice. This is really smooth cod, served in creamy mushroom sauce and rice. The sauce was an excellent match to the mildly flavored cod and a flavor enhancer to the rice. I really love the cream + rice combo... loved it in Manhattan, loved it here.

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My only complaint about these (especially the cod *slurp*) was that its wasn't satisfying enough. Not in a bad sense, but its just soo good... you want more! Hahaha. The helpings are by no means small... just about nice for the average person. All the more reason to try out stuff while you're here coz you know one of these won't bog you down :)

Price-wise... on average the dishes were in the RM16-20 range. Appetizers were RM7-12. The priciest was the cod, of course. It raked it a hefty RM31 which is higher than the rest, but still cheap in terms of relative enjoyment factor. Just fyi, the same dish with dory was RM17 :) You are paying for the fish, in case you're wondering.

So would I go again? Hell yeah! And I'll probably bring along people who haven't been there yet. Spread the joy, I would say :P Oh, did I mention that Citibank card owners get a 30% discount on some of the main dishes? I don't have exact info on this coz I only found out when I got the receipt. Although it's not on the entire range, we got discounts for 2 out of 4 main dishes. Btw, there was a pasta dish that I don't have a photo of. So the photos above only showed 3 main courses and 2 appetizers. Half of the main courses were 30% off. Yippee! Delightful surprise, indeed.

Of course, taste is a personal thing. I'm just happy I had an enjoyable lunch at a place I had no idea existed, hence the complete lack of expectations. I do know that I enjoyed it just as much as, if not more, than a visit to MFM. Can't wait for a return visit, hehe.