And now for some user generated content - Fr in Nasese

Posting this drivel month in month out gets to be a drag. We have to go from filthy greasy spoon to disgusting dive, spending our own money and risking our own stomach linings. So its a relief when someone writes in and gives us content, as our friend Bill did last week. To whit:

If you haven't been to Fr (don't understand the stupid name) in the old "Point After" building down from Suva Grammar on Queen Elizabeth Drive, you're missing out. I don't know why that man (the owner of the former Cakodrove) has the magic recipe for fish & chips, but he does. I recommend the cod ($10), although they might recommend something else when you visit. Apparently they opened a couple weeks ago. I just hope they can overcome the curse on that building and build a good business. Don't think I could handle the emotional hit of having them close again. There's a lot of healthier food available for lunch in Suva, but none tastier.

Best regards, Bill

Thanks to Bill. Of course none of the Lunch in Suva team have actually been there so we can't stand by a word of the above - but who needs verification when you have someone doing your work for you.

Jody's @ MHCC

Closed ... as predicted by Kania Tiko. On the bright side, the location is just too good to go to waste ... so there'll eventually be another eatery here for us to scrutinise.

The MHCC complex has added a fast food place on the ground floor (on the Renwick Rd side) which the LiS team is duty bound to find out more about.
The interior looks like a typical fast food chain, obviously they've looked at the Macca's of the world and tried to copy what works. I can say that the ordering process is efficient and well thought out, however one doesn't always understand what the attendant is saying - the dude rattles off the options at a rate of knots in a language believed to be English.
There are a selection of toasted sandwiches, this is the pick of the bunch - egg with Jody's fire sauce (which seems to be some sort of Tamarind and chilli mix), but after eating one can't help but think that one could do a better job at home. Scramble some eggs, toast some bread, put on some tamarind chutney and tabasco, and you have a quick tasty breakfast. Kudos to Jody's for giving me the idea, but it's unlikely I'll be going back there for this one.

This the menu, it has far too many things on it.
This is a chicken burger - the smallest one that they offer as you can see from the $0.50 piece provided for scale. Its also one of the most boring burgers that we've ever eaten, not actually bad, just completely uninteresting.
This is their grilled fish with coleslaw. An utterly revolting meal - nothing short of a vile, disgusting abomination - in fact worth purchasing just to marvel with ones own senses at how bad cooking can get.
This the CSI pizza, and CSI does not refer to the forensic team that should be investigating the crime against food that the Grilled Fish is. CSI apparently means "Community Sourced Ingredients" which in this case are pumpkin, baigan, and tomato. This actually isn't a bad pizza, which is a good thing as their other pizza options are pretty horrible. This is the only thing I ate that I'd actually go back for.

A note about the price - this place is expensive! All the food above cost $28, and the two grown men eating it were not satiated at all and ended up taking the escalator to eat some noodles at Joji's.

I really have no idea what this place is trying to do, maybe it wants to be Indo-Fijian McDonald's, which might be a worthy goal if they could pull off more than one dish. Perhaps if they cut the menu in half and concentrate on a few winners (fried chicken, Indo-Fijian style pizza, funky roti parcels with some sort of original twist) they could make this work.

Judging by the empty tables we don't expect Jody's to be long for this world. It will not be missed.

In Summary

Jody's

Bottom Floor, MHCC, Renwick Rd Side

Opening Hours:

0900 - 2100 - 7 days a week

Spend:

$15 per person

Rating:

Thumbs-down

Dan's Fish & Chips

Whilst hardly Suva's first fish and chip shop, Dan's can probably take the credit for starting a renaissance of dedicated chippies in Suva.

Well-placed to take advantage of USP and the surrounding public sporting venues (Stadium, New Gym, Aquatic Centre, etc). This place has a steady stream of customers most of the time ... and is packed during sporting events.


This is not one of those 'pick-your-fish' places, there's one sort of fish, no one knows what it is but that's just fine. Dan's signature $5.50 Fish and chips has 3 or 4 pieces of crisply battered fish, a lemon wedge and as many chillies as the counter staff think you can handle.

70 cents more will get you a can of soft drink as part of a 'combo pack'. Thankfully, they've put a stop to the earlier nonsense where a combo pack could only include a can of Coke (and not any of the other soft drinks).


The $4.50 Fish burger is also worth a mention: it's not the world's most brilliant burger, but it's a worthy way to put down some fried fish and salad. $6.50 with chips, $7.50 with chips and a drink.

Dan's has wandered beyond the fish options: a rotisserie graces the back wall and a great many chickens pass through it on their way to birdie heaven.

The chicken options start off at $4 for a sandwich, and then jump up to $6 for the obligatory quarter chicken and chips. Various other fractions of the chicken may also be procured, or you can take a whole bird back to the office for $12 (a good Fiji-style put-in lunch if ever there was one).

Salt, pepper, and vinegar (hallelujah!) are available at the counter for no extra cost. No tomato sauce is included, but there are 2 types of sachets that can be had for a bit extra. A little tub of coleslaw can be added for $1.80; and for the sweeth toothed among us, a small selection of 'desserts' from $2 - $3 (including something claiming to be a trifle).

The proprietors have done a good job of setting up the place, considering it's proximity to the service station. Clever use of some potted palms and rocks gives the outside eating area a bit of space for itself.


While we're talking about the proprietors, on one of his visits Kania Tiko noticed a poster up behind the counter proclaiming "God bless Management". Being office drones ourselves, this is a prayer we've often offered up (particularly now that Management is worried about The Recession); but we've never seen it quite so prominently displayed before, and regret not having photographed it. The shop is closed on Sundays, presumably so that staff can dedicate more time to offering up this supplication.

Parking can be tiresome ... there are enough cars trying to drive through a petrol station without you trying to park your car there; and the coming of Nando's has meant even more competition for space.

For breathing life into Suva's stale, brown-paper-bag-packed, oily-fish industry, for being clean, and for allowing us to choose Fanta with our combo pack, we give Dan's Fish and Chips a thumbs-up.

In Summary

Dan's Fish & Chips

Laucala Bay Road

Opening Hours:

10am - 6pm Monday to Saturday

Spend

$4 - $7.50 per person

The Daily Catch

Closed ... just like their predecessors. Kania Tiko believes there is a curse on the building: every business operating from this location seems to go under.

After being distinctly unimpressed with The Daily Catch in the first instance, many people suggested that they've pulled up their socks, are back in the game, and didn't deserve the panning they got in the first review.

So here we are again.

The concept remains the same: you pick the fish and they fry it up on the spot with a parcel of chips. The fish options range from $5 to $10. Mussels and other extras sometimes show up as well.


The serves are generous: 3 or 4 pieces of fish and slightly more chips than one person wants to eat. The fish in batter is good. The chips are soggy. A lemon wedge was included with each serve, but no tomato sauce: you can buy that separately. There were no chillies included in the serve or on offer at the counter.

Each meal was dropped into a white paper bag (no cardboard tray) that was soon damp, translucent from the oil, and broke open. Given that every other serious fish and chip shop in town has a takeaway box (which works well), there's no reason to disadvantage your customers with poor packaging.

Coke and Pepsi fridges in the shop offer the usual range of canned acid to wash down the oily remnants of your lunch.

On the day I visited there were several other things that stood out, none of them particularly worrying by themselves, but adding up to a negative impression.

The display fridge had condensation problems preventing a good viewing of the fish on offer. Understandable when you have a display fridge in a non-air-conditioned environment, but still annoying and unsightly.

The fryer vent hood was not working that day, so they had a desk fan blowing across the top of the fryers ... ensuring each new visitor to the shop got hit with the smell of hot oil as they came through the door.

Whilst I don't approve of aquariums in fish and chip shops (it seems rude to stare at the little fellows while you wait for their bigger cousins to get fried up for lunch) they don't bother me ... but this fish tank featured a couple of tough little fellows swimming in water that was vomit green.

Add to that the blaring serenade of a Christian radio station being piped into a room with bare concrete walls ... and I don't ever want to go back.

No matter what your opinion of The Daily Catch, you can't help but miss the old Cakaudrove Fish.

In Summary

The Daily Catch

11 Bureta St, Samabula

Opening Hours:

Monday - Saturday: Lunch

Spend

$5 - $10 per person

Verdict:

Thumbs-down

The Joli Fryer

The Joli Fryer styles itself thusly: "Tasty Fish & Chix"



Located in a little cluster of shops on Rewa street, this out-of-the-way chippie focuses on the basics. You can pick what fraction of a chicken you want with your chips, or how many pieces of fish to include with your meal, but not much more. If you're after a more gourmet 'pick your fish' experience then this is not the place for you.



The serves are well priced, fairly generous (particularly the chicken) and generally live up to the claim on the box of being tasty. All frying is done to order, so freshness is not a problem.



The shop is clean, with a few homely touches. It is however, quite small. Eating in is not recommended.

Kania Tiko sums up his impression of this place as follows: "It's fish and chips ... what else can you say?"

My own feelings are somewhat stronger. The last time I went there neither of the 2 ladies behind the counter wanted to take my order. They skulked around the back of the shop filling a backlog of orders and ignoring the shop front. After 20 minutes of standing at the counter I left in disgust, without placing an order. I have not been back since.



This (hopefully isolated) experience earns The Joli Fryer a thumbs-down until the weight of public opinion proves otherwise.

In Summary

The Joli Fryer

Rewa Street, Flagstaff

Opening Hours:

?

Spend:

$5 - $9 per person

Verdict:

Thumbs-down

Roma's Hook and Chook

Closed seems like the old owners have sold out and there is a new establishment at the City location on the corner of Gordon St and Joske St which we will investigate soon enough.

We've been forced to reopen the books on where to get good fish and chips in Suva, and barring any new discoveries, Roma's Hook and Chook is currently filling that gap in our lives.

The first shop in Samabula was the basis for this review, but Hook & Chook has just opened shop number 2 in the centre of Suva, on Gordon Street, right next door to a certain curry house.

The Samabula shop offers an express lane for pre-cooked, kept-in-the-warmer chicken, chips and anonymous fish ... and the 'Student pack'

All else is pick & point: cooked on demand; starting from $5.50 for the fish cakes, and climbing up through the various fillets to Ulavi, somewhere around the $10 mark. The choice of regular or spicy batter is a nice touch in our chilli-mad nation.


I was excited when I first saw scallops on ice, but my enthusiasm has been somewhat dampened. Scallops should not be dipped in batter and deep fried. They should be seared ... or if you really must fry them, then roll them in breadcrumbs.

That aside, the other bitsy seafood packages live up to their calling: calamari, mussels, and the cheap anonymous seafood equivalent of sausage: 'seafood sticks'

The "chook" part of this eatery's name deserves but a brief mention: there is little anyone can do to make chicken and chips sexy ... and Roma's doesn't try. And in any case, if chicken and chips is your thing, then you need a serious injection of culinary verve.

Also on offer: salads. These appear to come from an MH deli (convenient, okay, but sometimes on the trailing edge of fresh).

Extra tomato and tartare sauce sachets are available if the included condiments don't meet your requirements.

In addition to the standard range of soft drinks, there is an espresso menu.

Both shops are small and rather cramped with seating at a premium - plan to eat takeaway.

It heartens me greatly that the serving staff were able to tell me how fresh the different fish options were ... even more heartening was that most of it had come in that morning.

For good fish & chips, and a choice of venues, Lunch in Suva gives Roma's Hook & Chook a thumbs-up.

In Summary

Roma's Hook and Chook

Waimanu Road, Samabula

Gordon Street, Suva

Opening Hours:

?

Spend:

$5.50 - $12 per person

The Daily Catch AKA Cakaudrove Fish & Chips redux

New review of The Daily Catch is now up. Head on over and give us your feedback.

Cakaudrove Fish has opened again, at their original location, but under new management, and with a new name. Whilst the concept seem to have survived, the fish and chip business is but a poor reflection of what it used to be.

Prices have gone up; the fish: soggy and oily; the batter is wanting. The chips are passable, but certainly not special enough to make up for the disappointing fish.

Their fry-on-demand approach keeps them a cut above the vast majority of brown-bag chip shops, but the original Cakaudrove Fish & Chippie has moved on, and so have we.

We'll give the new owners a few months to get their groove on, but until then, they get the thumbs down.

Cakaudrove Fish & Chips

Re-opened after some time-out; new management, new name... Despite inheriting the location and reputation, the new management are doing things differently, so we've given them a fresh review. This review will remain here, for old-times sake.

Cakaudrove Fish has been supplying good seafood to the denizens of Suva for many years, so it makes sense to me that they would expand their little empire to include fish & chips. And they do it right!

For a start you can pick your fish: raw fillets on display in the ice box, and then get both the fish and the chips cooked up for you right then and there. Gone are the days of lining up at the local chippy and hoping the contents of the warmer were actually cooked today.

The fish options range in price from $6.50 per serving for the nondescript stuff, to $9.50 for top-of-the-line cuts. I usually settle on something from the $7.50 pile - wahoo is nice. Whilst they have some nice cuts in the upper price ranges, I'm not sure that deep-frying does the more expensive fish justice - at the end of the day fish & chips will still be fish & chips.


Your money will get you a very generous serve of fish and a rather large amount of chips: I usually have difficulty finishing the chips before they reach the too-cold-to-eat point. Sharing one serve between two people often works out well.

They can also whip up prawn fritters, seafood sticks, mussels, and potato scallops ... depending on what's available on the day.

The whole deal is served up in a nice cardboard tray with a good-sized lemon wedge and a little plastic container of tomato sauce. Tartar sauce is also available for a bit extra.

The usual range of soft drinks is available in-store.

My only real gripe is that the amount of tomato sauce supplied struggles to provide adequate coverage for the chips. If they got a little more generous with that, and perhaps used seasoned salt on the chips, I would happily give them 10 out of 10.

The shop itself is a dinghy building behind Kunda Singh's Supermarket. But don't let the exterior put you off.

You are however, going to want to take your meal somewhere else to eat it. There is very little in the way of eat-in furniture, and what there is, is not attractive. Getting your meal from the shop to your chosen eating spot before it cools down too much is the least of your worries.

In Summary

Cakaudrove Fish & Chips

11 Bureta St, Samabula

Opening Hours:

8:30am - 6pm Monday to Thursday, 8:30am - 6:30pm on Friday, 7am - 6:30pm on Saturday, 8am - 1:30pm on Sunday

Spend

$6 - $10 per person

Verdict

Thumbs-up