It’s easy to scan a menu for the name of a fish and stop there. But yellowfin tuna served raw with yuzu and ginger is a completely different lunch from a bream off the grill, and both are different again from a pot of mussels. So we’ve gone through the fish and seafood on the current à la carte, dish by dish.
Starters: raw, cured, and on the half shell
Native oysters come by the half dozen or the dozen, with a mignonette and an Asian-style dressing. We call Picpoul de Pinet the Solent oyster wine, and it’s the house answer by the glass. Muscadet or Champagne will do the job too.
The yellowfin tuna sashimi comes with aged soy, yuzu, carrot and ginger, finished with hot sesame oil. The spicy Chalkstream trout tartare has mango, coriander, yuzu, chilli and crispy plantain. Both are bright, sharp starters.
In the snacks there’s cockle popcorn with malt vinegar, and a house taramasalata with cuttlefish ink crackers, both good with a drink while you make up your mind.
The mussels
St Austell Bay mussels, from Cornwall, with fries. You choose between a classic marinière and a Thai-style broth with coconut, lime, chilli, lemongrass and ginger, and it’s worth deciding before you look at the wine list, because it changes what you’ll want to drink. Our wine guide suggests Chablis for the richer, buttery end of things and Albariño for the lighter. We’d put the marinière in the first camp and the Thai broth in the second.
From the grill
There are two fish on the grill at the moment: a butterflied gilt head bream, and a baby monkfish tail cooked on the bone. If someone at the table would rather have beef, the steaks come off the same grill. Sides and sauces are ordered separately, so you build the plate yourself. New potatoes and fine beans with salsa verde, say, with a lemon and caper butter.
Monkfish on the bone takes a little more work at the table than a fillet. The menu also says, fairly, that small bones and bits of shell can turn up in fish and shellfish however careful the kitchen is.
Is it local?
Some of it. Eating beside the Solent doesn’t mean everything on the plate came out of it, and the menu names where the mussels come from: St Austell Bay, in Cornwall. If where a fish was caught matters to you, ask on the day and we’ll tell you what we know. Our Isle of Wight Larder guide covers what the Island itself produces.
Allergies
If you have a fish or shellfish allergy, tell us when you book and again when you order, and we’ll go through the ingredients with you. Our kitchen uses all the major allergens, so we can’t guarantee that any dish is completely free of them.
The full menu is here, and you can book a table for lunch from noon to 3pm or dinner from 5.30pm to 8.45pm, Thursday to Saturday from September to May. Sundays are the Sunday roast, with last orders at 3.30pm.
Questions we get asked
Is the fish local?+
Some is, some isn’t. The mussels are from St Austell Bay in Cornwall. Ask on the day about anything else.
Do you serve oysters?+
Native oysters, by the half dozen or dozen, when they’re on the menu.
What wine goes with the mussels?+
We’d match Chablis to the marinière and Albariño to the Thai broth.
