2023: (3.5 stars) While a return visit to Fich didn’t quite live up to my memories of the first time, it does remain a suburban fish’n’chips shop you’d probably be happy to call your local. With their attention split between takeaway and dine-in, staff can be a bit hard to catch, but when it lands, your Negroni ($15) will be strong and satisfying. Despite a set sharing menu ($60/head) we opted to construct our own meal of small plates plucked from both the chalkboard specials and the regular menu.

From the blackboard, scallop tostada ($7/each) teamed tiny scallops with celery leaf, tomato salsa and onion on corn-based crisps. More meaty Hervey Bay scallops ($7/each) sit like white eggs on birds’ nests of egg noodles with garlic, shallots and seaweed butter. While the blackboard’s last gasp of summer lettuce-wrapped prawn tacos ($10/each) with mango salsa were great, the menu’s raw tacos ($8/each) lost the salmon in a hectic mix of crunchy purple cabbage, crispy corn, lettuce and lashings of coriander dressing. I was also a little disappointed with muted bacalhau croquettes ($5/each) expecting more salt cod oomph from a place of Portuguese origin: Fich is owned by the same team as Sweet Belem and Luna’s Petersham. Their kingfish crudo ($24) on the other hand was both colourful and tasty with tart passionfruit, cucumber, bright red chilli, pickled onion and fat crisp corn kernels for texture.

2021: (4 stars) With a split business model that is perfect for the COVIDSafe milieu we find ourselves within, Fich at Petersham is your contemporary neighbourhood fish’n’chippie. It’s one part takeaway fish and chips shop, the other part smart casual seafood restaurant. Co-owned by Jose Silva, Fich is also somewhere where you can get your Sweet Belem Portuguese tart ($6) fix when his popular bakery up the road is closed.

The menu, supplemented by chalkboard specials, is divided into snacks, shares and grilled fish fillets. We kick off with Coffin Bay Oysters ($48/dozen) too quick and devoid of liquor to have been shucked to order, but tasty when lubricated with lemon & looking the part with the best oyster plating I’ve seen in ages! Continuing the drive to put potato back into potato scallops, the Fich potato scallop ($3/each) celebrates the Sebago encasing it in thin, crisp batter against tomato sauce. We upgraded to garlic sauce ($3) and had an improved experience.

Harvey Bay scallops ($6/each) served on the half-shell with vermicelli noodles and XO sauce wanted for some golden caramelisation. Fich popcorn ($16) was the piece of genius. Sriracha and maple sauce replicates Korean fried chicken treatments using battered nuggets of fish, finished with shallots and sesame seeds. While you’d think it would drink best with white sangria ($28/carafe) it was actually the offerings on the short but thoughtful wine list that delivered best: a French 2018 Clomarin Picpoul de Pinet ($9/glass) and an off-dry 2018 Thanisch Kabinett Riesling ($10/glass) as the sangria was a bit boring. We ended our meal with pan roasted calamari ($25). While the pale calamari was beautifully soft (rather than rubbery), the promised garlic and chilli was so muted it was lost when eaten against the accompanying charred flatbread.