Portuguese grilled fish is a bit like chicken Maryland. If you head to wikipedia and search for Portuguese cuisine, there won’t be any dish described in there that is remotely close to what we are familiar with as Portuguese grilled fish. Similarly, I’ve been to Maryland a few times without ever encountering our version of this Western food chicken dish.
Nevertheless, along with such terms like Balinese cats that aren’t from Bali, we know what we’re getting into when we order Portuguese grilled fish, and we don’t expect it to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s favorite dish.
this stall has been around for decades
My very first experience with this version of grilled fish was actually at this famous stall at Petaling Street probably some 15 years ago when I was studying at Subang Jaya, and it wasn’t just a few weeks ago that I finally pay a return visit after all these while.
15 years ago, Petaling Street had no roof, the stall operators were mostly locals selling counterfeit products, and the Portuguese grill fish operation was a stall next to Hong Leong bank.
Today, the street has a shiny roof, stalls are manned by Banglas & Nepalis selling the same counterfeit products, and nothing has changed to the Portuguese grill fish stall.
medium portion with squid, lala, and sting ray
A portion of grilled fish starts at RM 5 (kembung) & RM 7 (stingray, tilapia, chicken fish) and comes with one serving of rice. The version we ordered had string ray, lala, and squid in medium portion and cost an affordable RM 15.
Other than fish, you can order prawns, squid, bamboo shoots, and chicken wings, and the combination of them.
The preparation method seems fairly straight forward – the ingredients are chucked into aluminum foil, and then cooked over charcoal fire. Waiting time is usually at least 25-35 minutes because everything is cooked from its raw form.
still as good as when I had it for the first time more than 10 yrs ago
While the rice we had that day was a little too wet, the grilled seafood was a blast. Their super spicy sambal is still as addictive as I remember, and there was just no way one could realistically finish the paste without suffering permanent damage to the stomach lining, but we couldn’t stopped ourselves from having just one. more. spoon.
It was another good meal, the old fashion way, and next time, I’m gonna order them with petai. 
Address:
Ikan Panggang Portugis Istimewa
by Hong Leong Bank, Petaling Street
50000 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.144501, 101.697725
Tel: 019 315 9448
On the second day at Melbourne, Mellissa and I went to the very busy Centre Place during lunch hours for some good old fashion quick meal at a fish and chips place called BluFish. The restaurant is located between Flinders Lane and Collins in a quirky small lane packed with lunch crowd.
BluFish, serving fish, scallops, prawns, and calamari
The menu at BluFish is pretty simple, grilled fish, calamari, prawns, scallops, salmon, chips, salad, soup, and a few choices of burgers. Seats are pretty limited with only a handful of tables, a place designed for express meals or take-away, nothing more.
scallop pack and grilled fish salad
We met up with Singz and Greame, two of Mellissa’s friends at Melbourne. Singz, of course, is the daughter of Mama Wong who cooked excellent prawn mee and laksa for us in KL just a month plus ago.
For lunch, the others ordered grilled fish salad ($9.80 alternatively, with chips), while I just couldn’t resist myself with the scallop pack ($13.50).
look at the big fresh scallop!
I can’t really identify the fish used but the grilled fillet was pretty tasty and goes especially well with their special white sauce that is slightly sourish (not tartar sauce though). The potato salad and coleslaw too were quite good.
Scallop pack came with plenty of thick chips with 5 very good size deep fried scallops. The seafood were very juicy and fresh, with the sweetness of scallop sealed in the batter despite the rather straight forward method of cooking. Again, the white sauce fits perfectly. I had no complains.
BluFish is only open for lunch, close on Sundays.
Address:
BluFish
16, Centre Pl,
Melbourne VIC 3000,
Australia
GPS: -37.816624,144.96578
Tel: 03-9663 0738
