Category: fish

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Honi Ahi Poke

I was up in London for some afternoon meetings and had arrived just before lunchtime. I did initially think about getting something from Market Halls at Paddington, but wasn’t sure what to have, and I wasn’t exactly hungry. I did notice that Bao had closed and was being replaced with a Thai stall. I did have some nice bao buns from Bao back in the summer. So, I headed off on the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon.

As I walked to the office, I saw that Honi Poke had an offer on their Ahi poke bowl.

The Ahi poke bowl, a quintessential Hawaiian delicacy, epitomises the rich culinary traditions of the islands, blending fresh, raw Ahi tuna with a medley of dynamic flavours. This vibrant bowl is seasoned with sesame soy sauce, pickled cucumber, and green onions, served over a bed of rice, making it both nourishing and satisfying. Each bite of Ahi poke bowl offers a harmonious mix of textures and tastes, transporting you straight to the shores of Hawaii.

I had been meaning to try a poke bowl the next time I was in London, and this looked really nice. I added a side of crab salad to my bowl as well.

My bowl did not look like the picture, but then what fast food ever does?

I really enjoyed the bowl, the bed of warm sushi rice was a great base for the fresh raw Ahi tuna. The accompaniments added more flavours and textures to the eating experience. 

I was pleased to see that there is a branch of Honi Poke in Cabot Circus, so I can repeat the experience closer to home.

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Fish and Chips at the Inn

Fish and Chips at the Inn

Having just had an excellent tour of the Thatchers cider press and a fair number of tastings, we decided that we would get some lunch from the Thatchers owned Railway Inn. The Railway Inn is owned by the Thatchers cider company who are also based in the village of Sandford, which is on the A368 between Weston and Churchill.

I went for the (small) fish and chips from the bar menu. This was fish fried crisp in a cider batter, with chips, mashed peas and tartare sauce.

This was a lovely plate of fish and chips. The batter was nice and crisp; I loved the chips which were perfect. Overall, a tasty plate of food.

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Tacos from the Halls

trains

When arriving at Paddington and needing something for lunch, I have on the last few occasions headed to the Market Halls.

Having been impressed with the meal I had there, I had thought about repeating the steak and chips I had before. However, there is quite a choice of places to eat and I do like to try new things. I decided to try out one of the other stalls, so this time I headed upstairs and went to try out the tacos from Breddos Tacos.

I had their lunch deal, which was three tacos and some rice for £15. I went with three different tacos.

I did enjoy all three tacos, but in order of preference, my least favourite was the chicken taco. This was Yucatan grilled chicken, pico de gallo, habanero salsa, and avocado. I had anticipated a warm chicken taco, but this wasn’t to be the case. Don’t get me wrong it was really nice, but I was expecting hot grilled chicken.

The mushroom taco was full of flavour. This mushroom guisado taco was filled with braised mushroom, onion, jalapeño, and habanero salsa. I do like mushrooms, a and this was really tasty.

The fish taco was the best of the three. The Baja Fish taco had tempura cod, pico de Gallo, and habanero mayo. The taco looked great, the cod was hot and crunchy and the accompaniments were tasty.

Overall I really liked the three tacos and it was a nice meal, the rice in my opinion didn’t add much. I think next time I would forgo the rice and just go with the three tacos.

It’s interesting to compare this with the Wahaca lunch deal for one, which is available next door. I think the Wahaca meal is a better choice if you want tacos.

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Might be a little greedy to order a second bowl

I first visited Brighton in the 1980s when as a family we would sail over to France. Sometimes we would sail from Ramsgate to Calais (or Boulogne), but if we were on our way to Normandy, we would sail from Brighton, arriving in Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve. I also made a trip there for a JISC programmes meeting in July 2004. Then I had stayed at The Grand Hotel. I remember thinking it was a little too posh for me. I headed out for dinner finding a nice French place in The Lanes, it was probably Cafe Rouge. I think it closed down years later. I also visited Brighton in June 2005 when I was on holiday in Bognor Regis. Then we stayed mainly on the seafront, visiting the Pier and the Doctor Who Exhibition there. We returned to the holiday camp for dinner on that visit.

I had planned to stop there last year on my way to Newhaven on a driving holiday to the continent, but ran out of time and stopped at Horsham instead for something to eat. This time I was attending a conference all week and it was nice to see Brighton once more. We also had a fun conference dinner on the Brighton Palace Pier. While I was in Brighton I went out to eat a few times.

Having really enjoyed the cassoulet on a previous evening at Petit Pois, and I liked the look of other stuff on the menu, I headed out back to Petit Pois for dinner.

Despite it being a Monday evening, it was busy, but I was able to get a table. Inside is a French style bistro, lots of wooden tables and chairs. There is an air of informality about the place, also an eclectic decoration on the walls.

They had a really interesting looking menu and it was quite challenging to work out what to have. The previous evening I was stuck between the Bouillabaisse and the cassoulet. That time I had gone with the cassoulet, this time I went with the Bouillabaisse. This was described on the menu as bouillabaisse of local fish & shellfish, squid, prawn, potato, samphire, rouille, grilled bread.

I have to say I was impressed when the dish arrived, it looked fantastic. The bowl was brimming with shellfish and fish. There was grilled fish portions, prawn, scallop, squid, clams and mussels. You couldn’t have really asked for any more fish in that bowl. All the fish was perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious, full of flavour. I loved the addition of the samphire and this really added to the flavours and texture of the dish. I could have done with more bread, though most meals I could do with more bread. Having finished the bowl of tasty seafood, I was left wanting more. I made the decision it might be a little greedy to order a second bowl.

I remember having a Breton Fish Stew at Côte a couple of years back, which isn’t too surprising as that was a chain. This fish dish was on a whole different level, even though it was similarly priced.

As with my previous visit, the service was warm, friendly and efficient. Overall a lovely experience.

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Pan-fried Hake

Last year in October I was over in Dublin for a meeting. I was staying at The Mayson Dublin.

The hotel has two restaurants, Ryleigh’s Rooftop Steakhouse. The Elephant & Castle is on the ground floor. Ryleigh’s had a focus on high end steak (as you might guess) and a price to match. The Elephant & Castle was (slightly) cheaper. After looking at the menu online, decided I would head to the Elephant and Castle. They were busy, so I waited at the bar for a table. I had a pint of Guinness.

I was a little disappointed to find that the calamari and chicken I was going to choose were not on the menu, though they had been on the online version of the menu.

I went with the pan-fried hake, red atlantic prawns, mussels, tenderstem broccoli, chorizo & baby potato.

I was pleased with the plate of food, it looked great and it was delicious. The fish was cooked well and was tasty. I liked the potato and chorizo as well. The sauce brought it all together. Overall one lovely plate of food.

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Belgian Fish and Chips

I have visited Belgium quite a few times over the years, we went to Ostend a lot when I was a child.  When I did some college trips to Amsterdam in the 1990s we obviously travelled by coach through Belgium, we also stopped at Bruges, which I am planning to visit again in the future.  Last year on the way back from Germany we stopped for a flying visit to Ghent. We had thought about visiting Brussels, but time was against us.

This week I was in Brussels for a couple of in-person meetings. I had caught the Eurostar from St Pancras, having travelled up to London from Weston to Paddington. I find it quite amazing that the train from London to Brussels takes just two hours. Having made my way across Brussels using the metro I checked into my hotel, the Marriott Courtyard EU.

My plan was to walk into the centre of Brussels, find a bistro and have a nice meal. The reality was that it was pouring with rain and I didn’t really want to get soaked for the sake of a meal. So, that was why I ended up in the hotel restaurant. There isn’t a huge choice on the menu, but I think that’s a good thing, for me it meant that the food was freshly prepared and cooked to order.

I did consider the steak, but at €39 was a little on the expensive side. I did consider the octopus dish, but wasn’t really in the mood for it. So, I went with the fish and chips. I know I can hear you saying, but you were in Brussels and you went with that English staple of fish and chips. Well, the menu did say Belgian fries, so maybe something different.

I was a little surprised, but pleased to be presented with a complimentary starter of a potato rosti topped with salmon.

I also was provided with a bread roll and butter. The plate arrived and I thought it was very cleverly presented.

An open paper parcel was filled with chips, three pieces of battered fish, peas, and a scattering of deep fried herbs. On the side was a portion of tartare sauce.

The chips was nice, crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy inside. The batter on the fish was crisp, and the fish was cooked just right. I really enjoyed the dish and it was all very tasty. It would have been probably more interesting to go with the octopus or one of the other dishes, but in the end I was pleased with my choice and it was all rather tasty.

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Goan Monkfish Curry

Out with friends in Birmingham we went to Dishoom. This is an Indian cafe that sells some amazing Indian street food. It was quite dark inside and as result I did have some issues reading the menu. There was lots of choice, and I wasn’t quite sure what to have. 

In the end I went with the Goan Monkfish Curry, described as choicest monkfish simmered in creamy coconut, tamarind, tomatoes and kokum. Strewn with fragrant curry leaves. 

This was a delicious curry which I really enjoyed. The sauce was aromatic, and the monkfish was cooked well. Alongside I had rice and a naan bread.

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Fish and Chips from the Morrisons Cafe

The last time I had fish and chips from Morrisons I was not impressed. So, when I was in Minehead the other day I was never intending to go to Morrisons, however my plan to revisit The Cod Shop was scuppered as they were closed.

I needed to go to the supermarket anyhow and time was against me, so I thought I would give the fish and chips another try.

Fish and Chips

This time the fish and chips were much better. The large portion of fish was nice and fresh, the batter was deliciously crisp. I also like the chips. The only downside were the mushy peas which were not nice. They looked dried out and were quite solid and underneath were grey. I did not eat them.

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Time to visit the Pelican State

When visiting London earlier this year I had gone for a walk around Bloomsbury before heading back to my hotel for steak and chips. On that walk I had noticed the brand of Pelican State and added it to places I thought I might like to try.

So on a more recent visit to London I decided I would head to the Pelican State and try out their food. I went with the Crispy Seafood Lunch Deal. This was prawns, green-lipped mussels, squid rings, red potatoes, large portion of fish and a sauce of my choice. I went with the aioli. 

It was served very quickly.

plate of crispy seafood

It was quite a substantial plate of food. I found the crispy coating more crunchy than crispy. It was a nice selection of seafood. I liked the prawns and squid, the mussels could have been better, as the crunchy coating made the mussels difficult to shell and eat. There was a large portion of fish. I think I should have had a side of coleslaw with it.

Overall I did enjoy the dish. They also do a Prawn Boil lunch deal, but I did think that it might be a bit messy to eat.

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Haddock Goujons

It was a grey Wednesday in Bristol, so I headed off to the Finzel Reach street food market to get some lunch. It wasn’t as busy as it can be, so the queues were shorter.

Across the Bristol street food market, one stall stands out as being slightly different and that is King Fin, which sells freshly cooked seafood.

street food stall

Over my many visits to King Fin I have enjoyed many different kinds of fish dishes. My usual and my favourite has to be the calamari. I also enjoyed the monkfish tempura when I had that last year. The soft shell crab burger was a great concept, but I do feel it lacked the intense crab flavour I would like from it. I was though less impressed with the fritto misto I had back in 2022.

One of their offerings I have never tried is their fish wrap with fries. This week it was haddock goujons with pea puree, tartare sauce, lettuce, in a wrap with double cooked fries and house sauce. Other times they have had cod goujons on the board.

As they messed up someone else’s order (who didn’t want tartare sauce) I got my food quite quickly.

wrap and chips

As the fish was wrapped the photographs doesn’t really do the food justice. The haddock was cooked well, and I liked the crispy coating. The pea puree was quite rough, but I liked that it added texture and taste. The double cooked fries were a little limp, with double cooking fries, I like them to be crisp on the outside and fluffy in the inside.

Overall though it was a delicious dish, which I really enjoyed,  and would certainly have again.