Loch Fyne
There is something particularly satisfying about ‘physical’ eating. Getting down and dirty, digging your fingers in and absentmindedly splashing the finger bowl all over your table, and using equipment that looks like it has come from a dentist’s surgery. This is the epitome of Loch Fyne, fish as it ought to be: fresh, shell on and perhaps still quivering.
Of course this is not for everyone, and before I start sounding like a puffed up fisherman’s wife there are a number of more refined dishes to choose from such as lobster with ginger and lime dressing and smoked haddock risotto with poached egg. However, since the restaurant chain started as an unglamorous, humble fish stall at Loch Fyne I think it is justified that we get stuck in.
Since we ordered the king of dishes, the shellfish platter with crab, we decided to have more modest starters. Smoked salmon ashet, and chilli and garlic prawns were light but piquant and palate tingling, perfect to balance the fresh, salty taste of unadulterated shellfish in the next course.
Nothing can bring home the taste of the sea more than oysters. Either you love them as natural aphrodisiacs or disguise them in as much tabasco or shallot vinegar possible, either way one cannot deny the elegance of eating oysters – even if you do look like you’re hacking back a bogey. This is certainly not for the faint hearted: crushing shells, tearing heads off unsuspecting prawns and sucking out their eggs. If this doesn’t sound like your kind of thing, go for the risotto.
We have a sweet glass of prosecco with cassis to bring out the pink, meaty flavours of the seafood and a delicate white afterwards. I’m not sure I’ve ever dined so lightly but greedily, so there was not one ounce of guilt when ordering the very British sticky toffee pudding and the chocolate cheesecake, not even when I waddled home with a decidedly looser belt.
By Gabriella Patterson
2–4 Catherine Street, WC2B 5JS 020 7240 4999 www.lochfyne.com
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