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Singapore Fish Head Curry - West C'oz Cafe

http://the-dewi.blogspot.sg/2015/11/singapore-fish-head-curry-west-coz-cafe.html

I may have said I'm not really into fish, but, sometimes when you come across something amazing, you know you just have to make an exception, ......or excuse.

I'm not much of a fish eater, but I have always been passionate about the head. There's just something about eating the collagen filled skin, and cheek, and....eye balls, that gets me all excited and...hungry, even when I am really not.
In Indonesia, there are several restaurants that serve this delicate fare, that have become my personal favorite. But, in Singapore, West C'oz Cafe is the only place I'd look for fish head curry.

A bit different from Indonesian style fish head curry-where the fish head is served by itself, making you feel like you're going to eat something very special- in Singapore, fish head curry is served together with deep fried tofu, fried tofu skin, eggplant, okra, cabbage and sometimes carrots.

I welcome the change since those are all my favorite things to eat (what I don't eat consist of a very short list, by the way).

So, the other day I went to one of their branches in Yew Tee Point, obviously I choose this branch because it's conveniently close to my house :), which is at the far side of Singapore, or Singapore coret as we like to say in Bahasa. I wasn't feeling very well that day, but you know how sometimes you crave for something strong and spicy when you're not feeling well, and you feel like that's the only thing you're willing to eat. No? Okay fine, maybe that's just me.
So, no extra spicy soup cravings when you're down with a fever? Really? It's just me? Okay, cool.

West C'oz Cafe at Yew Tee Point
Anyway, we deliberately rushed over to the cafe before it's even time for dinner (the sun was still up!), because this place is usually packed by then. It's a quite popular eatery, so plan your schedule accordingly if you're wanting to visit.

Once seated, as usual, I pretended to browse through the menu, but I already know what I wanted. Almost right away, we ordered the fish head curry and sambal kang kong to share between my husband and me. This was the first time for us to try the sambal kang kong, before we always ordered other veggie dishes like broccoli (awesome) and kai lan (yumm).
For Naylla, we ordered an individual portion of chicken fried rice (this one was awesome! I had a taste when she was not looking, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind).



The curry fish head came in a claypot, steaming hot. The fried bean curd was placed on top last before it was served, so I dipped the whole thing to absorb the curry sauce. From the looks of it ,the fish head was not cooked together with the sauce. Instead, it was cooked till tender separately, and then the sauce was poured on top along with the vegetables and all. So, I let the fish sit for 5 minutes in the curry sauce before I let myself for the first helping.


The first bite is always amazing, when your mouth is getting acquainted to the wonderful taste of curry, the subtle spicy-ness that was starting to build up and the soft, tender fish meat, that makes me wonder 'Why don't I like fish that much again?'
My favorite first bite consists of a little bit of eggplant, with a similar size cut of bean curd skin and fish meat, burying the tiny portion of rice. Yumm. The sauce was so yummy, I felt like drinking the whole thing with a straw.

The sauce definitely makes the dish. It's not too greasy or oily, the spices aren't too strong, so you can still slurp it down without gagging, or sneezing, or both. A little bit of warning, the spicy-ness level really crept up on you. You'd feel just a small tiny heat coming through, and then before you know it, by the seventh or eight bite, it was in full force and burns through your ears like lava. But, it was a delicious and pleasant experience nevertheless. However, I personally needed time out half way through my meal to compose myself, to soothe my throbbing tongue, and to fan the steam that came out of my ears.

The wonderful thing about eating curry fish head with my husband is, he doesn't eat the actual head! He just eats the meat below the head (shoulder meat?), so I always have the entire head all to myself! Yippiee*doing cartwheels. He doesn't know what he's missing!

Intimidating, don't you think?
I always start with the cheeks, it's like a ritual for me to start with the cheek. After that, I eat everything else, like the skin on the forehead (?), meats inside the crevices of the head, the brain (muahahaa), and I leave the fish eye ball for last. This is the normal order of things. But, for the video that I made (link below), I went in quite differently. It was still good though, I was happy, and I felt healthy again.


I also tried the sambal kang kong, but as you can see from the expression on my face (in the video), it was not fantastic. It was okay, but I would try ordering something else next time.


More information about West C'oz Cafe:

http://p2e.com.sg/west-coz-cafe/visit-west-coz

21 Choa Chu Kang North 6 #01-28
Yew Tee Point
Singapore 689578
Tel: 6762 0180

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