Chef Ria Montes builds this dish around rockfish, the state fish of Maryland, swapping it in for the beef or chicken a massaman curry is usually made with. She makes the curry paste from scratch, toasting the dry warm spices that set massaman apart from fresher Thai curries, then sautéing Fresno chilies, shallots, garlic, and Makrut lime leaves before blending everything smooth. The paste is caramelized in butter with delicata squash, simmered with coconut milk, tamarind, palm sugar, and fish sauce for 45 minutes to an hour, and the seasoned rockfish is poached in the finished sauce and served with house-made roti and an herb salad.
Washington DC
Fish Shop
Rockfish Massaman Curry
cloves / star anise / cinnamon / coriander / Fresno chilies / shallots / garlic / Makrut lime leaves / salt / shrimp paste / mace powder / butter / delicata squash / coconut milk / tamarind puree / palm sugar / fish sauce / carrots / potatoes / rockfish
Signature Dish
From Prep to Plate
Fish Shop DC brings the flavors of the Philippines to Washington's Wharf, led by Chef Ria Montes, who was born in Calamba, Laguna, and grew up cooking in an immigrant household in Queens. On Signature Dish, host Seth Tillman visits Fish Shop, the first US outpost of the acclaimed Fish Shop Ballater in Scotland, to see how local sourcing meets global technique. Chef Montes prepares a rockfish massaman curry, swapping the traditional beef or chicken for Maryland's state fish and building the dish with warm, dry spices like cloves, star anise, and cinnamon. She also plates kinilaw, a Filipino-style ceviche of tilefish cured in coconut milk with cucumber, lemon puree, and Fresno chilies, served in lettuce cups.
The menu echoes their sister spot in Scotland with a clear focus on fish, though here it's given a Mid-Atlantic update. The Maryland crab crumpet perfectly illustrates that across-the-pond connection and is a perfect opener. The fish is sourced from the Chesapeake region and from a D.C. farming operation, and the menu presents plenty of interesting items, like sugar toads, or northern puffer fish, served whole and crispy fried.
Michelin Guide
