Why we dry-age our own fish — and fry it at exactly 170°C
Local Andaman catch, a dry-ageing cabinet in our kitchen and a side-by-side frying test. The story behind our fish & chips.
Most fish & chips starts with fish that went from the boat to the fryer as fast as possible. Ours takes a detour. At Moonstone we dry-age our fish ourselves, in our own kitchen on the second floor of Visit Panwa Pier, before it ever meets the batter.
Starting with the local catch
We work with locally sourced Thai fish from the Andaman sea. On our menu that means seabass and halibut for the fish & chips, and the same dry-aged fish goes into our Fish Benedict on sourdough. Using local catch keeps the fish fresh and the menu honest: what we cook is what the sea around Phuket gives us.
What dry-ageing does
Dry-ageing means resting the fish in a cold, airy cabinet so that moisture slowly leaves the flesh. Less water means the flavour gets more concentrated, and the texture firms up. When that fish goes into hot oil, there is less steam fighting the batter, so the coating stays crisp instead of turning soft.
It takes space and patience, which is why most kitchens skip it. We built our routine around it because the result is intensely flavourful fish that tastes like itself, not like the oil.
The frying test: 155, 170, 185 or 200°C?
Once the fish was right, we needed the right temperature. So we ran a simple test: the same dry-aged fish, the same beer batter, fried at four temperatures side by side — 155°C, 170°C, 185°C and 200°C.
- 155°C — the palest batter of the four.
- 170°C — golden, light and crisp outside, fluffy and moist inside.
- 185°C and 200°C — darker and browner, with a heavier crust.
170°C won. It is the temperature we use every day: crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.
How we serve it
Our fish & chips comes in a basket with beer-battered dry-aged fish, fresh-cut chips, lemon and our homemade tartar sauce. It pairs well with a cold beer from the Moon Bar, or — if it is still morning — an iced Calm Mood with a view of the bay.
สรุปภาษาไทย
ที่มูนสโตน เราดรายเอจปลาเองในครัว ใช้ปลาท้องถิ่นจากทะเลอันดามัน การดรายเอจช่วยดึงน้ำออกจากเนื้อปลา รสชาติจึงเข้มข้นขึ้นและเนื้อแน่นขึ้น จากนั้นเราทดลองทอดเทียบกัน 4 อุณหภูมิ คือ 155, 170, 185 และ 200°C ผลคือ 170°C ดีที่สุด ข้างนอกกรอบ ข้างในฟูนุ่ม มาลองฟิชแอนด์ชิปส์ปลาดรายเอจได้ที่ชั้น 2 Visit Panwa Pier แหลมพันวา
See the full food menu, read more about us, or find us at the pier.
