Seafood restaurants in the British Isles: fresh fish anyone?

Seafood Paradise

The British Isles
by Chris Delahunt
FOR as long as I can remember I have loved seafood, Clockwise from top: Inverness, Weymouth, Padstow, Porthgain, Kinsale

Clockwise from top: Inverness, Weymouth, Padstow, Porthgain, Kinsale

and wherever I travel I try to sample as much of the local catch as possible, whether it be huge spiny lobsters in Zanzibar or fresh oysters from the fish sheds in Whitstable, Kent. I could recommend restaurants from Stockholm to Sydney but given the wealth of excellent restaurants you can find around the coast of the British Isles, I would like to introduce Kinsale, Inverness, Porthgain, Padstow and Weymouth - and, of course, their excellent seafood restaurants.

Kinsale (County Cork, Ireland)

Kinsale is well known for its seafood and is host to an annual gourmet festival. Positioned on the south coast of Ireland, it is a pretty, working fishing port with a busy marina. It couldn't be better placed as far as my appetite is concerned, and I was chuffed to find that the seafood really is in a league of its own. I ate in Jim Edwards' eponymous restaurant, which pop singer Tori Amos recently named as one of her ten favourite. The oysters and black sole were perfect and have to be eaten with really cold white wine.

Recommendations
Jim Edwards, Market Quay, Kinsale, Co. Cork
T: +353 (0)21 772541 Fax: +353 (0)21 772541
View a sample menu.

Man Friday, Scilly, Kinsale, Co. Cork
T: +353 (0)21 772260, F: +353 (0)21 772262
View a sample menu.

I also visited Man Friday, where again the oysters come highly recommended and the monkfish was great. The views of the harbour are stunning, particularly after dark, so we were pretty happy with our table by the huge window. Kinsale caters for the enthusiastic American gourmet, so my advice is book out of season. The restaurants aren't cheap (£15-£17 main course) but they're are as good as it gets. If you have trouble working up the appetite, then the walk to the Old Head of Kinsale and back (about 16 km) should do the trick.

There is no doubt that Kinsale is packaged for the visitors but it retains its Irishness without resorting to cliché. I really hammered the Guinness on one night in the Spaniard pub across the harbour, which is a marvelous place, and from there it’s downhill all the way back into town.

Inverness (Highlands & Islands, Scotland)

First things first, if you would rather be off your head in a super club then avoid Inverness. It is a pretty quiet and unprepossessing place.

Recommendation
The Riverhouse, 1 Greig St, Inverness, T: +44 (0)1463 222033

Nor, I confess, is it exactly a coastal city, but it does have one magic restaurant. The Riverhouse is not all seafood, but the fish is really fresh. Family-run, it is an intimate little place right next to the river. The wine list is very good for those who, like me, enjoy drinking. Strictly speaking, Fort William at the other end of the Great Glen is better known for its seafood, but The Riverhouse should be visited. It also serves excellent game.

Inverness, of course, is at one end of Loch Ness and, in an attempt to catch a bigger fish (of sorts), we went to the loch with a huge group of Koreans. When we arrived, they began trying to beckon Nessie out of the depths, chanting "monster, monster" in ghostly voices and making odd "come hither" movements with their hands. Needless to say it didn't work. The Loch Ness Monster industry really is as hilarious as it is tragic.

Porthgain (Dyfed, Wales)

Head across Scotland and down the west coast to Porthgain in Pembrokeshire, south Wales.

Cooking Crabs
Crabs are marvelously easy to cook but do consult a book before trying because the "fingers" that can be found under the flap on the crab's underside need to be removed before eating. Then simply boil the crab whole. Crabs don't change colour like lobsters but they only need 15-20 minutes to cook through. Then go to work with pliers to crack the shell and reveal the glorious light and dark meat within. Serve with salad and a slice of lemon. Brilliant.

The coastal walks here offer some of the most breathtaking scenery in Britain. I love this little fishing port for two reasons. The first is that I went out very early one morning to help a local lobster fisherman pull up his pots. It was the day after the village fair and the captain and his son had both hit the local grog really hard. Suffice to say that they both looked permanently on the brink of being sick, but I loved it and was given a cock and a hen crab to cook at home when we got back to port.

Recommendation
The Sloop, Portgain, Haverfordwest Dyfed
T: +44 (0)1348 831449, W: The Sloop

The second reason why I love Porthgain is that it is home to The Sloop. This is just a great place, it's a pub and restaurant in equal measure. The food is unfussy and inexpensive and it is the perfect place to have a few drinks after a walk on the cliffs.

Padstow (Cornwall, England)

Padstow was made famous by TV chef Rick Stein, and is completely overrun by tourists in the summer months. I recommend a visit in April, when the weather is changeable but the village is much quieter. I have been going to Padstow on and off for 20 or more years. I have caught mackerel off Rock - the village accross the estuary favoured by the rich kid set (think Princes William and Harry) - and small plaice and dabs off Daymer Bay at Trebetherick, where John Betjeman, erstwhile Poet Laureate, is buried.

If you have time, go round to the left of Padstow quay to the fish sheds where local fisherman have put together a remarkable and elaborate series of pools with all manner of fish life in them. The entrance fee is low. Fresh fish is also available to buy. Rick Stein's popularity ensures that his restaurant is impossible to get into, and indeed we failed. But the pub on the quay has a great restaurant upstairs.

Daymer Bay around the headland is stunning and less busy. If you continue around the coast you reach Polzeath, which has a great, cheap caravan park - £60 a week for a 26ft caravan with bedroom, showeroom and kitchen/living room. Four miles up the coast from Polzeath is Port Isaac, which has a small fish market during the week.

Weymouth (Dorset, England)

Finally, a very quick mention of Weymouth because I want to rave briefly about the Sea Cow, where I had perfect pan-fried skate with samphire. Again this is a brilliantly intimate place; it's totally unpretentious and the food is superb.

Recommendation
The Sea Cow, 7 Custom House Quay, Weymouth, Dorset
T: +44 (0)1305 783524, F: +44 (0)1305 767730, W: Sea Cow

Weymouth is also best enjoyed out of season as it is a firm family favourite in the summer months. I may have been in Weymouth only briefly, but the Sea Cow sticks in the mind as one of the best seafood restaurants that I have ever eaten in.

Ethics

I hope that I have conveyed my passion for the British coastline. The fishing industry in places like Padstow is slowly but surely dying away and it is difficult to know whether you should be eating fish from the trawlers or not, given the terrible state of the fish stocks. Obviously some species are in greater difficulties than others and I will tend to avoid cod for example. I would prefer to be catching and cooking the fish myself, but I feel that if you are buying species like mackerel - still reasonably plentiful - straight from the fish sheds and cooking at home, or eating fresh fish in a local restaurant, this is better than paying through the nose for an emaciated farmed bass in a swanky London restaurant.