The Fish People Cafe

Glasgow

WHO KNOWS exactly what age I was when I learned of the marvels of fish renaming. Young anyway, when the Old Man in our tiny kitchen tugging a stocking of skin from the tail of a fat-faced old monkfish chuckled at the raspy, sandpapery sullen-looking dogfish we had enthusiastically brought up from the beach.

You could sell that as rock salmon, in some restaurants anyway, he said. And this, he added pointing to the firm white Monkfish tail, as prawn.

He was a lover of all fish, was the old man, though we kids recoiled at the monsters of the deep that scuttled around the empty bath or were expertly filleted on the slab, but he wouldn’t have recognised the name stone bass. Simply because I don’t think the marketing people had invented it by then.

Shade fish, salmon-bass or even meagre, apparently not being glamorous enough anymore. But he would have approved of what the Fish People Cafe have done to it tonight. Seared at such intense heat the skin is crisped, the meat underneath running from an appetising golden to creamy and juicy white.

Debs has just said how much she is enjoying it and the deep, dark spinach it sits on. The fish I’m eating is from the actual genuine sea and not farmed – though fish have been farmed since pre-Roman times.

My John Dory was landed at Fraserburgh, two more juicy fillets, lightly browned, a sea of peas and a spiky, interesting masala spiced shrimp butter to fire it punchily into life. Flawless.

There were fat crumbed and deep fried batons of monkfish to start, more glamorous than prawn nowadays, then a smoky fishcake with paprika mayo, lime and caper berries.

Luca polished off a bowl of marinated anchovies, boosted I suppose by the Fish Cafe Kitchen, with the addition of chilli lemon and parsley. A very good and very confidently prepared meal.

I’ve reviewed this cafe before, squeezed in as it is beside the underground station on Scotland Street, all glass front, polished wood and on this chill November school night warmed by a glowing storage heater right under our table.

I think it's the same waiter too, calm, relaxed and friendly. He tipped us off as we came in not to park on the pavement outside the tube station or we’d get a ticket.

The restaurant gets its fish from its own fish shop which is also squeezed into this little stretch in the shadow of possibly the world’s most expensive (for short term evening parking anyway) multi-storey car park.

We’re here tonight simply because of the number of people who have said to me in recent months how much they enjoy coming to the Fish People Cafe, and that stone bass is usually mentioned in the same sentence. So that’s a double bonus really.

It’s very unusual in Scotland, even today, for any restaurant to maintain a buzz over the years and amidst the endless wave of kiss-me-quick new openings. It’s even more unusual in Scotland, where too many restaurants still seem to want to sell what everyone else does, for a restaurant to take a single dish and make it their own.

One thing that hasn’t really changed since the Old Man’s day and something he used to regularly marvel at is how few genuinely good fish restaurants there are.

Don’t get me wrong. At the Fish People Cafe they clearly know how good they are, and it’s reflected in the prices. Fish shop next door or not. That fish cake to start was £7.50, probably too much in my view, the monkfish batons a tenner and the John Dory £23.50. That’s top end pricing. In a cafe.

But as I like to repeat ad tedium: the correct price is the price people will pay and come back again. This place has managed to top that by not only getting customers to come back again but also having them rave to all and sundry in between about just how good it was. Impressive.

The Fish People Cafe

350a Scotland Street

Glasgow

0141 429 8787

Menu: It’s all about the fish; seared stone bass, John Dory from Fraserburgh, monkfish from Tarbert – a fish restaurant for grown-ups. 5/5

Service: One waiter smoothly, professionally and in a relaxed and unobtrusive manner running the whole front of house. Excellent. 5/5

Atmosphere: It’s a small place with a high bar, hard surfaces, lots of glass, wooden tables. It shouldn’t work but somehow there’s a glittery charm to it. 4/5

Price: The best fish restaurant in Glasgow can charge the top fish prices, easy to hit a tenner for a starter and nudge £20 for a main. But worth it. 3/5

Food: That seared stone bass is making a name for itself, faultless handling of the John Dory with a great masala spiced butter and peas. Excellent. 9/10

26/30