FISH DISHES, FISHING & FISH

Even though we aren’t opening the Albatross fish bar tucked below the apartment just yet, we still have plenty of ideas swimming around (boom-boom!) and are obviously using our radically sustainable suppliers to channel our favourite fish recipes in the interim!

Feast your eyes on this plate of red mullet in a curried brown crab sauce, new potatoes, radishes and peas …

With mackerel, sea bass to sea bream, we’ve been so lucky to have some of the best by-catch come in from our sustainable suppliers, served up in magical ways by our kitchen crew.

This catch of red mullet, was caught by a collective of small day boats from Helford, Coverack and Cadgwith on the Lizard Peninsula as part of the family run business Kernowsashimi. The boats only use line caught fishing methods and static nets with large meshes - this ensures practices are kind to the sea habitat and catch mature fish, allowing time for growth and breeding. Their catches are dependent on weather, seasons and what the boats catch at different times of year with some of our favourites fishes include lemon sole, mackerel and red mullet. As pioneers of the radically ethical and sustainable fishing suppliers, we are are lucky to work with 100% traceability of every fish from boat to customer … then onto your plate!

We also use radically ethical Sole of Discretion, another collective of small scale fishing boats, but this time fishing out of Plymouth Harbour. Their fishing policies follow a manifesto of ten crucial sustainable rules, focusing around traceability, fishing methods and causing as little damage to the seabed as possible. The manifesto of this community owned business is well worth a read!

In our recent delivery from Sole of Discretion, we had lots of immature soles delivered which are perfect for us to serve up as small plates but usually this isn’t the case for small fish in the hospitality industry. Since the EU ban, they are often used in fishmeal production or biofuel as they are usually considered as too young and laborious for the filleting process, even though on average nearly around 72% of soles caught around Plymouth are under 350g. For every unwanted 11 small lemon landed, only 1 of the desirable larger ones are caught … leading to a lot of waste!

Sole of Discretion are working with the Soil Association to produce a standard that differentiates the small-scale fishing boats, which have more selective and lower impact fishing gear. They still catch small fish, but pledge to use them, with a goal to introduce legislation around larger net mesh sizes to let the younger fish free and closing fishing areas to allow for ageing.

Above, we have one of these beautiful portions of sole plated up with brown butter and capers. We’ve even recently had clams on the menu, served with chilli, garlic, corn and toast to tuck in to for a lunch time treat! Some of our favourite creations coming out of the kitchen at the mo include small plates of seabass ceviche, pickled samphire and pangritatta or flame torched sea bream with pickled cucumber, lime and basil. Yum!