Do you have any fish jokes? It’s the last question we ask the Huang sisters, and the answer is no. The third generation in their family in the seafood business, Wenyi, 31, and Jiayi, 29, take their fish seriously.
Little Catch, their petite fishmonger shop set on a bustling strip of Wulumuqi Lu, has quickly become the place to get the freshest, highest-quality seafood in the city for the cooking enthusiast. The sisters began to develop the brand into more than just fishmongering with
the introduction of poke bowls – deconstructed sushi, essentially – a year ago.
Now, 18 months from their first Little Catch opening, the Huangs are expanding into a second, bigger location, with a menu to match.
Why China? Why fish?
Wenyi: We both came to China because… Well, we grew up in Hong Kong. We went to school in the States and after we graduated we didn’t feel like going back there. So we decided to come to China to explore. It was quite a fun time. I came here eight years ago, just on a whim, I didn’t think I would stay. And then [Jiayi was visiting me] for a few months. You end up really enjoying yourself and just stay.
In terms of seafood, we actually come from a family business that does seafood in Hong Kong. China was where they were exploring to set up a business. It’s much more of a wholesale and processing kind of business. My aunt asked us if we wanted to help out. That was about four years ago.
You know, when you grow up, it’s what your parents do, it’s what your family does so it’s not really… you’re like ‘no, I’m not going to do that; I’m going to do something else’. But you give it a go and it’s very, very interesting.
Do you prefer the term ‘fishmonger’ or ‘fishwife’?
Jiayi: ‘Fishmonger’ because ‘fishwife’ is like, ‘oh my husband went out to catch and now I’m cleaning the fish and trying to sell it’.
And what’s the Little Catch story?
WY: Shanghai is a big importer of seafood, but because of how the wholesale market works, a lot of that goes directly to restaurants. It doesn’t go to consumers. There’s quite a complicated process to be in a supermarket. There wasn’t really a place to buy restaurant-quality, imported seafood, so that’s why we decided to open Little Catch. We already knew the seafood was out there, it was just that a lot of people didn’t have access to it.
How will the new Taixing Lu space differ from the original?
WY: The first one was a small little thing. This one is really ‘go big or go home’.
JY: The first one was a closet, now it’s really a commitment. It’s poke still, but you can customise your poke more. We do get requests at Little Catch – it’s just that we’re too small so we can’t accommodate the customisation. But at this one, you can choose your base; you can choose your sauce, your protein, different kinds of add-ons like veggies and stuff, then toppings. Then you have your bowl. It’s more in-depth poke, I guess.
What’s it like working together as sisters?
WY: Generally, it’s really good.
JY: We also live together.
WY: We’re the two middle kids, so it was always okay. We had to share a room when we were growing up.
JY: Sometimes when we go to Hong Kong, we still have to share a room. Or when we travel, to save money sometimes, Wen will book one bed. It drives me nuts.
WY: I think working together is great because when you have siblings you don’t have passive aggressiveness, in a way.
JY: It’s just not political. We can completely trust each other. We know each other really well and we’ve travelled a lot together so we have similar frames of reference. That’s really important.
What’s your favourite fish?
WY: I like fish and Jiayi likes shellfish. That’s kind of our divide. She loves the oysters, the mussels, the clams.
JY: I like the stronger tasting stuff. Textures. She likes cod.
WY: Cod and salmon, sardines – although we both like sardines and mackerel.
JY: Everyone likes sardines.
The new branch of
Little Catch soft-opens on the second floor of 89 Taixing Lu, near Wujiang Lu, Jingan district on Friday 9 September.
