Smoked Marlin and broccoli chowder @ Tutmak

The health kick continues...

This was the first of two dishes I saw in Ubud using smoked marlin.  Is smoked marlin generally an Indonesian specialty?  I have no idea.  But any smoked fish does it for me.  And teamed with the words “chowder” and “broccoli”, I could not resist. 

The soup came out in a medium-sized bowl (I would have preferred bigger, given it was the only thing I was going to eat).  The fish was flaked and its pinkie-smokiness made it somewhat meaty – in a good way.  The soup itself was rich in flavour and smooth in texture, although a little salty.  The broccoli – my favourite vegetable, alas, not available in Oecusse - was nourishing, and its little flowers burst in my mouth with more of the soup flavour that was hiding amongst them.   I think I would have preferred a little less crunch to the broccoli stems, but that was only a minor issue.

A major issue was the measly couple of bits of crouton served with the bread.  Come on, Tutmak!  Fill me up with a few more, please.  Those two bits of crouton tasted heavenly though, spread generously with the slightly-salted butter and then dipped into the soup to make little balls of fat float on the surface and the butter on the toast shine like melted yellow pearls.  Mmmm.