Fishy lunch
It was one of those set lunch menus at the Chop House where you choose two courses. I felt like an all fish meal, so went for the potted salmon to start with. I’d expected a paté with toast, but instead was given a small shaped mound of seafood with green leaf accompaniment. There were salmon and prawns in there, and a whole lot besides. It was filling, despite looking quite small, and I ate half of it, plus some of the very good fresh bread and butter it came with. For the main course I picked the fish of the day which turned out to be fish stew. It was a tomato-based one with lots of good shellfish including mussels and squid as well as pieces of fish. It was intensely flavoured and very satisfying. To my surprise I ate all of it. The wine I picked was an Australian marsanne which was completely new to me, and which I found rather too sweet for my tastes, though I’m sure most people would have called it medium.