The Fishmarket
Newhaven
TO the seaside then and a clean fried fillet of lemon sole in a crisp bread-crumby almost battery type of dressing that I cannot fault. There are crab claws too, shelled to the tip, dipped in a light batter and sweet and succulent.
Outside Newhaven Harbour laps away in the afternoon sun while somewhere up that hill out there the Edinburgh Festival is getting into all its crazy, congested and slightly mad swing.
“That’s a long way to go for a fish supper,” my old mate the professor had said when I suggested he accompany me here. Not that far, I replied. It being a tiny country after all.
Not that small though, because I make my way from the west on my lone-io; briefly taking the air on the seafront, well the Firth of Forth front, while wondering why the esplanade benches turn their back to the sea and make you face instead the tenements that line this harbour’s edge. Strange.
Anyway, the reason for this jaunt is that Ondine, one of Edinburgh’s classier fish restaurants, is involved in this relatively new venture. And it’s a kind of stylish place, all neat small white ceramic tiles, clean hard surfaces and panoramic plate glass windows gazing out on the boats. Though maybe a little bit cold and clinical feeling on this quiet early Monday evening.
At one end, of course, there’s a full fat chip-shop range. And a few people wander in to take cardboard boxes of haddock and chips outside to the open air area to sit in the evening sun.
I will forget later to check if the Fishmarket here has gone for full blown authenticity and installed an old school Preston & Thomas range but that’s unlikely considering the Dutch – ironically, given their chips taste nothing like ours and they prefer to fry in round pans – are big chip shop fryer players nowadays. Though there is, of course, much nearer to home, Fife’s respected ScotRange with 55 years on the clock.
The big thing in chip shops nowadays seems to be simply closing them down, victims of the kebab, burger, pizza, chicken pincer movement no doubt. And opening instead upmarket places like these where sustainability and sourcing – fish here supplied by restaurant partners Welch Fishmongers – are the buzz words.
I’ve got to say I’m a little bit underwhelmed by the choice today. There’s crab and oyster, squid and monkfish, but nothing that’s really pushing any envelopes. A bit of coley or pollok, some squat lobster perhaps? Sadly not today, and do they need a few less well-known varieties. Are we kind of stuck in a rut with our seafood choices these days? Answers on a postcard, please.
Those crab claws, a tenner for a fair-sized portion, did come with a Vietnamese dipping sauce but as that was served in a plastic tub with a sticky label on it, it wasn’t the most exotic experience.
I also ordered out of curiosity something called a fish dog. It sounded interesting. Turns out to be two breaded cod fillets in a roll, or a bap or a bun, with chips on the side. I would call it a fish burger, but that word is possibly taboo in certain quarters these days.
True, every bit of fish I eat here is very fresh, nicely fried and crisp and clean. Is it worth the trip? Yes, except for one thing. And that’s actually a problem for many of these new posh chip shops. I don’t like the chips.
OK, they’re never going to be the classic chip shop single fry – at times gooey, at times crispy, deliciously drowned in salt ’n’ vinegar.
Few restaurants can replicate that. And these do look quite good being alternatively bubbled on the surface, lightly browned in patches but they just don’t taste very special. They don’t actually taste of very much. They’re hard rather than crisp. And moistly yellow inside rather than crumbly white. Disappointing. But then I suppose some things are not that easy to replicate.
The Fishmarket
23A Pier Place
Newhaven
Edinburgh
0131 552 8262
Menu: Top Edinburgh fish restaurant Ondine is involved and there’s haddock, sole, cod and crab, but it’s a posh fish 'n’chip shop with pretty much exactly what you would expect nowadays. 3/5
Service: Pleasant and friendly on a very early Monday evening. No complaints from me. 4/5
Atmosphere: Pier-side restaurant with harbour views through panoramic windows, maybe a little cold and clinical inside with all those shiny surfaces. 4/5
Price: I paid £12 for the lemon sole and chips, a tenner for the crab claws and £12 for the fish dog. Reasonable. 4/5
Food: Hard to fault the fish which was fresh, crisp and cleanly fried – there could maybe be a bit more adventurous choice. Very ordinary chips. 6/10
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