Mumbai Food: mid-day reviews the new seafood store in Bandra

The day's fresh catch. Pics/Suresh Karkera

It's A warm, sticky afternoon, and we're out to buy fish. Except, instead of heading to the nearest fish market, we've landed up at Off the Hook, a seafood store that has just opened an outlet in Bandra.

The exteriors of the Bandra store

We have a confession to make: we're no experts at telling good fish from bad. This is why we have someone accompanying us on this fish-buying mission: Francis Fernandes, the owner of Mahim restaurant Fresh Catch, which is famed for its - no surprises here - seafood.

(Left to right) Off the Hook's Firdosh and Junaid Daruwalla talk fish with Francis Fernandes

Off the Hook, which already has an outlet in Breach Candy, is run by Junaid Daruwalla and his uncle Firdosh. The first thing you notice as you enter the Bandra outlet is the metal deli counter where fresh, colourful catch is on display, gleaming amid a bed of crushed ice; two freezers sit on either side, stocked with frozen fish fillets, squid rings and prawns. The store stocks not just local staples such as surmai, pomfret, and rawas, but also exotic fresh fish like snappers, halibut, yellowfin tuna and groupers, among others.

Filleted red snapper

Fernandes, who goes to Citylight fish market in Mahim for his daily supplies, is keen to knowing where the fish at Off the Hook comes from. "The salmon is vacuum-packed and flown in fresh from Norway once or twice a week, while the tuna and red snapper come from the Andaman Islands," says Junaid Daruwalla. Similarly, the Himalayan trout makes its way from Himachal Pradesh, while the crabmeat comes from blue swimmer crabs found off Kanyakumari.

Crabmeat

At a time when we're hearing about the rampant destruction of marine ecosystems, we admire that Off the Hook is committed to sustainability, ensuring that most of its fish is not simply caught by net, but using a fishing line.

At some point during our conversation, Daruwalla junior opens up a pack of pasteurised crabmeat and asks us to dig in. The meat is juicy and fresh, and while we're busy nibbling, Daruwalla senior starts dishing out advice on how to cook with crabmeat - this is when we learn that he used to be a chef with the Taj Group.

The family has been in the fish export business for nearly 30 years, making it possible to run two retail outlets without making the seafood unaffordable. For instance, a kilogram of rawas at Off the Hook would cost you '750 (cleaned weight), while the market price veers around '550.

Although the catch is not too exorbitantly priced, Fernandes believes a store like this one best serves expats or those without much knowledge about fish, and not seasoned fish-buyers like himself who can judge a fish's freshness by simply glancing at it. All said, it's a convenient option as between the two outlets, Off the Hook can carry out home deliveries right from Colaba to Andheri.

At: Shop No. 3, Sai Pooja Building, 16th Road, Bandra (W).
Timing: 10 am to 7 pm (Mon to Sat), 10 am to 2 pm (Sun)
Log on to: offthehook.in
Call: 65506555