When fresh is bland – why some restaurants are dry-ageing their fish

SINGAPORE – Walk into steakhouses or meat-centric restaurants and you might see a dry-ageing cabinet right there in the dining room, with slabs of beef, ducks or game birds getting more flavourful as they age. At other restaurants here, you might see ageing cabinets with whole fish hanging in it.

Sushi chefs have long known that ageing fish intensifies its flavour. Now, non-Japanese restaurants are getting in on the act. Among those in Singapore that dry-age fish are Bedrock Origin, Greenwood Fish Market, Marguerite, Path and Willow. Bleu, a seafood shop in Joo Chiat, sells dry-aged fish for customers to cook at home, and makes takeaway meals with the fish too.