Filet-O-Fish

Filet-O-Fish is the earliest McDonald’s sandwich I remember tasting. Everyone’s favourite food is their mama’s and, in a sense, Filet-O-Fish touches on an even deeper level. The fluffy soft bun perfectly complements the deep-fried fish fillet generously smeared with some tartar sauce. Pickles in the sauce is an essential addition, giving the sandwich a much-needed tangy taste.

People often criticise McDonald’s for putting only a half-slice of cheese in the sandwich but I believe it really is as they said: more cheese overwhelms the taste. Fish has always been quite a delicate ingredient. To subject it to deep-frying is to ruin the ingredient. Surprisingly, the flaky texture of the fish fillet half mimics England’s famous fish and chips. The scent of fresh fish is also unmistakable, which I assume is a product of McDonald’s’ meticulously designed supply chain.

Filet-O-Fish was my go to order when I was small. I remember how, when I was a wee lad in my early primary school days, that we would often go to the McDonald’s beside the metro station with my mum. I had a lot more functioning taste buds than I do now, and that is perhaps why I was first attracted to the Filet-O-Fish. I doubt the McDonald’s franchise owner who first came up with the recipe could have tasted all the complexities of this truly delicate culinary masterpiece.

I remember one time the McDonald’s lady came up to me and offered me a mini ice-cream. That ice-cream tasted nice, as ice-creams do, before they really cut back on some of the nicer ingredients. Maybe its just my taste buds dying all over again. She invited me to a tour of the this McDonald’s kitchen. Ha, of course I’m going.

Somehow I didn’t realise that it was for a lot of kids all at once. When I arrived, tons of kids were there. She asked us which McDonald’s sandwich or burger do we like the most. Being the total lover for the best sandwich in the world, of course I belted out with full grandiosity the glorious cry of FILET-O-FISH. My excitement soon turned into disappointment and gradually morphed into horror as other kids were shouting ‘Big Mac’, ‘Double Cheeseburger’, ‘Spicy McChicken’ and other inferior items that clearly represented their lack of sophistication. They probably made poor choices later on in life to become a low-end code monkey. She replied them with ‘ah yes haha because it’s so big’, ‘there is a lot of cheese in it innit’, ‘I like spicy stuff too’. How horrible! I kept shouting FILET-O-FISH, and she finally replied me with ‘ah because it had pickles right’. I stopped and thought about it. Indeed, why did I like the Filet-O-Fish?

I had never pondered upon that question before. What was it in the Filet-O-Fish that was especially attractive? Now, I have associated with my love for the sandwich with the pickles, and I do in fact like pickles. I think pickles taste good independently of her comments. But was that really the reason? Probably not.

Filet-O-Fish is quite light, but then it’s got the tartar sauce and all its oily tang. I thought perhaps the crispy exterior of the fish patty is quite nice, but this is McDonald’s, with far more crisp than I can take. The texture and taste was good, it had what fish is supposed to taste like, but then it’s McDonald’s, how could it outcompete a more properly cooked fish.

Perhaps… Filet-O-Fish was magnificent because it achieved the impossible. Perhaps the genius combination made each of the features stand out more than whatever else you are going to receive in fast food and fine dining. History says that it was invented to cater to Jews and Muslims on Saturday when they were not able to have meat. This kind gesture by the franchise owner to allow them to enjoy the joy of McDonald’s even on Saturdays (and to milk some cash out of them) clearly attracted the attention of the God, and Jehovah with Allah did not only bless the hands that made it, but the sandwich itself. Filet-O-Fish, the Abrahamic-God-approved-sandwich, I rate you nine out of ten.

Epilogue

Filet-O-Fish was also my first experience with mcdonalds sandwich in Hong Kong. (My first item in general was crisscut fries I think.) This, was less glorious. The once magnificient now lies soft small and lame in my hands. It was just sad and tiny, a not too unkind reflection of the city itself. After my long-term settlement in Hong Kong, I did not choose Filet-O-Fish as much, but rather chose beef burgers, like the Big Mac and the double cheese sandwich, much like the barbarians I crossed paths with years ago.

I think what eventually drew me back was the price. For 13 dollars you can get a Filet-O-Fish and is a great addition to carbohydrate-lacking meals such as the McNuggets. Who would have thought that an unspoken goodbye would have turned into years of separation? Yet here we are, and now we meet again. The soft spongy moist bun was even better than I had remembered. With my advancing age and knowledge, something must be given up. In this case, that was the ability to taste all the subtleties of this sandwich. All the components were there: it was just, in a strange way, not as wonderful as its previous self.