A Fishy Week

Saturday, May 04th , 2019

This was a rather fishy week as I try two seafood restaurants, old and new. Angler at the South Place Hotel in east London has had a Michelin star for some time, and has retained it through a chef transition. The dining room has a good view out over the rooftops of the capital, and the cooking of Gary Foulkes is consistently good. Ingredient quality is high, such as turbot from a large 7 kg fish being paired with a fine langoustine tail. Throughout a long tasting menu the standard of cooking was generally high until the dessert section of the meal. Service is classy and only the stiff wine mark-ups leave a sour taste in the mouth. 

Cornerstone in Hackney (pictured) has a more hipster vibe, with no shortage of tattoos and nose-rings amongst the staff. The seafood cookery here was quite good, though interestingly the prices here are scarcely lower than the much smarter Angler, and wine mark-ups were just as high though from a small and eccentric list. This was a pleasant enough experience but felt quite expensive to me. All those small plates add up quickly on the bill.

The next blog will be later than usual.