It has to be said that eating in a restaurant with no other guests feels rather odd – it makes for a deathly quiet experience. That is what happened to me when I visited The Fish Place as a guest of the restaurant recently. It opened in the middle of November, and is situated in a rather obscure spot, right near the heliport in Battersea overlooking the Thames. It’s pretty tricky to find, and the best way seems to be to look for the Hotel Verta and head to the left of it (you’ll get what I mean if you ever decide to go and look for the restaurant). I imagine not being on some major thoroughfare, its newness, and the fact that it was bitterly cold when I went were the reasons behind the zilch guest list.

But let’s talk about the food. As you probably guessed, this is a seafood restaurant. For the first amuse bouche, we had the fish veloute with pernod and parsley cream which is also listed as a starter on the menu. Thick and creamy, this was really lovely and nicely reduced to produce a good strong flavour of seafood.

Fish veloute

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Sydney Fish Markets

Today I met with some friends for lunch at the Sydney Fish Markets. A true Sydney institution, it ranks as the second largest fish markets in terms of variety in the world, thereby reflecting Australia’s status as a leading seafood nation. The largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world is the fish market in Tokyo, the Tsukiji.

Lobster, salmon & tuna fillets

I love the Sydney Fish Markets. It was an integral part of my childhood as my father was quite strict about eating only fresh seafood. No fish was ever eaten from being refrigerated overnight, only if purchased fresh on the day. So as we ate fish about three to four times a week, this would entail quite regular visits to the Sydney Fish Markets. Especially popular in my household were those occasions when we would buy live mud crabs which my father would then stir-fry with chilli, ginger, garlic, spring onions and all things nice.

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On route back to London, we decide to detour through Brussels, Belgium, to catch up with some friends who have now made this city their home. What would a road trip be without spontaneity? At the suggestion of the friends, we headed to Restaurant Brasseries Georges. If you are looking for some oysters in Brussels then perhaps this is perhaps the restaurant to try. On the day we visited there were some 20 different varieties on the menu, including local, French, Dutch and English (Colchester) offerings and which ranged in price up to about €30 for nine. There was also a selection of different types of seafood if you have an aversion to oysters: fish, clams, langoustines, whelks, sea urchins, prawns, lobster and of course mussels!

If this appears to be a tremendous amount of choice, then you may wish to settle for one of the seafood platters to give you a little taste of everything. Some eight different types of platters were available, for one or two persons, and all starting from about €20. For the meat eaters, options were also plentiful. And for every palate, a promise of the “best french fries in the world” cooked in goose fat.

Belgian croquettes with Ostend shrimp

Tempting as the fries were, we decided to start with croquettes and the calamari and octopus salad. Famously, croquettes are Friday night drinking food in Holland with various different types of fillings. Much like how we might purchase the odd kebab from Maroush in London, the Dutch buy their croquettes from a Dutch fast food chain called Febo. Typically theirs contain mash potato, but our Belgian croquettes today were instead filled with a hearty, deliciously thick creamy sauce filled with Ostend shrimp that ran a dreamy line along the inside of my mouth. The salad was well proportioned, but erred more on the side of just calamari rather then any octopus or salad, but so tender that I would’ve had no qualms feeding it to grandpa even without his dentures.

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