One night My friend and I were walking down the stretch of shophouses along Upper Thomson road, searching for a good makan place. I could hardly contain my joy when I saw a new Hooked! outlet here – right next to Nam Kee chicken rice.

I checked out the menu … yes, it is the same Hooked! that I visited at Rail Mall sometime ago. As I still had fond memories of the previous visit, I decided to enter the restaurant.

Décor wise, they still pretty much keep to the same theme – the distinctive fish motif is still there, lining the wall faithfully. But the mood here came across as more cozy and chic.

I was told Citibank cardholders enjoy a complimentary brownie dessert for purchase above $40. Good! I ordered grilled scallops and tuna-salmon tapas for appetizer and maincourse wise, I had a poached king salmon and my friend roasted garoupa with salted eggyolk butter.

Grilled scallops – excellent! Just as good as the one I had at Rail Mall. Succulent, fresh and flavourful.

Tuna-salmon tapas – melts in the mouth treat… thinly sliced rolls of salmon matched so well with the creamy sauce. How I wished there are more on the plate. Btw, there are 3 per serving.

Poached king salmon – so tender…so juicy and still pink in the middle. The salmon is so fresh with no fishy taste at all. One can really savour the oily nature of this fish and again the pairing of the sauce with this fish is superb, well done!

Roasted garoupa – smells really good …the salted eggyolk butter, I guessed. My friend said it tasted good as well, yummy! I pinched a small chunk…well, not bad! My friend lamented the side broccoli portion a bit small.

In the end the service crew needs a few promptings to bring on the complimentary dessert. But that’s just a slight blemish, not a big deal. They were otherwise friendly and attentive. Overall we had a good time.

Decided to come to this place with my colleagues after work after reading about their reviews and write-up.

Ambience was good, simple and cozy decor sets one at ease. Lighting was subtle.

We ordered the following:

Crab pie. This is good. Crusty top layer of cheese and breadcrumb give way to crab meat and thin slices of hard-boiled egg. The crab meat was fresh, well-seasoned to provide a depth of flavour and goes well with the top crust. At $8.50, portion is quite reasonable.

Salmon sashimi. Fresh! Very fresh is all I can say. This is definitely worth a try!

Salmon mousse with roe. Comes in 3. The mousse is very well made. By the time it melts in the mouth, the full flavour of salmon with a tinge of wine and other spices came through, ending with the taste of the succulent wild salmon roe which is excellent.

Pan-grilled seabass. I enjoyed this, agreed with previous reviewer this is good. Only blemish - the side of pan-fried linguine a little too spicy for me.

Poached king salmon. Well-poached, still a little pink in the middle which is what I liked. I particularly like the sauce which goes very well with the fish, I thought.

There was one other main course which I forgot the name. As I did not try that, I could not comment.

The wait staff is very friendly and warm. Refilling my glass of ice water constantly without having to ask for it. That rounds off an enjoyable evening for me and my friends.

After reading the reviews on this place, we decided to try it out. The place looked causal and comfortable. Maybe because it was a weekday, the place was rather quiet.

The staff (actually there was just a single waitress) was very friendly and inviting. Desipte being the only one serving, she manage to attend to all (4) tables needs and requests. Readily taking our orders and topping up our glasses.

Everything on the menu looks interesting. We wanted to order it all! (and maybe we did over order a bit) Despite the good looks, it kindda failed in the taste department for me. Most of the dishes were very average. Some i felt was a little fishy to taste.

Surprisingly for a seafood restaurant, i enjoyed their Mushroom soup the most! It was really good soup and probably the biggest reason why i will return back.

I would give the waffles a miss though. Again it looked good but lacking in taste. Just didn't have that waffles aroma

Overall it was a decent meal. But i will really think twice about going back there.

Foreword:

I'm not a supporter of chains.

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As a bumpkin to sophisticatedly prepared dishes, the food’s appearance didn’t have a good start with me. Sure, the carrots broccolis and pasta were well arranged but the tuna sauce spread on the salmon was a turn off to me. It’s grayish and muddy it reminds me of the cement we used to play with sometime ago.

Being a rebellious youngster to my own opinions, my first scoop went to the sauce itself. Tuna as I recalled usually carried this fish odour that courts repulsion in those who dislike seafood; this however was very much different.

The sauce itself was prepared using different spices; the most prominent one being the mint. It blankets the fish odour entirely (though I’m sure being fresh helps too) but retains the sweetness of the tuna demanding your very attention to the fish, not seasonings. Just the sauce alone proved me wrong about its appearance.

Out of curiosity, I went for the salmon next. Well roasted, fresh and succulent meat; nothing more can be used to describe this. Salmon, from the best of my limited knowledge, doesn’t contain any strong flavours to begin with thus the tuna sauce became its perfect companion.

Or so I expected.

First mouthful left me speechless, however the second and third started to show its flaws. I’m not a gourmet thus I don’t understand how this dish should taste the ‘right’ way but since I ordered roasted Salmon, I thought it should be the star of this plate. Instead of the tuna sauce companying the Salmon, it was the total opposite. The strong, alluring flavour threw the poor Salmon all the way backwards, charging head on with its minty sweet and perhaps slightly bitter taste. This left the fish no choice but to be left out of this perfect combination.

Not a complete fusion perhaps but still a good partnership between those two. The sauce fills up what the Salmon was lacking in taste while the Salmon supports the sauce with its own unique flavour and juicy meat. These two stood out as separate individuals while complimenting each other’s flaws and for a mere 18++ it was well worth every cent.

As I woke up from this beautiful dream about swimming with Tunas and Salmons, I realised there left the skin, pasta and vegetables.

I’m a fan of Salmon skins; they’re tasty and healthy but come with a pricy tag. The skin was well done; being pan roasted I expected nothing less. Crispy with a hint of char, smeared with juices that oozed from the meat; it was good enough just to be ate alone.

Next came the pasta with olive oil. Olive oil was the only ingredient I could pick out; the rest were alien to me. However, having Bolognese on my pasta most of the time, this was a pleasant change to what I usually eat. Light on its flavour yet bringing out a smooth taste of the dough, it dresses the pasta thinly that reveals its inner beauty. This is a good fusion of taste.

Having used to vegetables, NS style, the carrots and broccolis changed the way I look at them ever again. Spread with a thin layer olive oil (again), these vegetables were as fresh as they could be and juicy in every corner. Though still carrying a minor bitterness of greens, the sweetness promotes harmony within those who feel strongly against bitter greens.

It was my bday and as per usual practice, a bday treat from my colleagues was the order of the day. Since we had not patronized this place before, it was decided to have the bday celebration here.

On a weekday afternoon, at around 1230pm, I stepped into a quiet and empty restaurant. Really, we were the ONLY customers that afternoon. Perhaps the evenings would be more crowded, I guess. Decor wise, cheery blue and yellow walls adorned with some fish decorations. One of my colleagues commented that her kids would like the place.

As I laid my eyes on the ever so colourful menu, I was a little intimidated by the extensive menu. In fact, not just me, my colleagues too. Comments that went round the table were :"Wah! So many choices ah?" "Erm..dunno choose what, too many choices." "Aiyoh, think I just stick to the set lunches." All of us spent a good half an hour poring through the menu. Finally, orders were made as follows: