The Bite team have all received their Get Out of Jail COVID cards and are back reviewing full throttle. Cocktails have been inhaled, glasses of wine downed and tasting plates gobbled up. Level zero we have got this.
A heady third outing in one week took me to Fin & Grape for Saturday lunch. Freewheeling towards Holy Corner I need only glance right to Colinton Road to spot the slightly steampunk fish logo. Bike parked, I head into the restaurant whose decor is as simple as the paper menu I am handed.
There are six small plate dishes, a couple of sides and desserts and a couple of chalked up specials. For an indecisive Libran, this is heaven although I still manage to order plates of Mackerel, Courgette and Isle of Wight Tomatoes only to change my mind completely. After selecting a glass of Croatian Riesling I decide that the special of Plaice, Jersey Royals, Samphire and Lobster Bisque is going to really complement the wine.
The first dish I taste, however, is the Mackerel which Liz has ordered. Saline-fresh fillet on sweet pickled fennel, horseradish creme fraiche with blobs of lemon gel and teeny crunches of toasted buckwheat nibs. It’s swoon-worthy. Next clear cuts of Coley ceviche are garnished with raw chilli and I feel like I have travelled from Galicia to Mexico. My fish is tender as a newborn, flesh met pan for a mere minute before being poached in a puddle of powerful bisque. Isle of Wight tomatoes taste of Southern sunshine and we (I?) decide we must have the salt cod mousse.
There is a deal of three sides plus a glass of house for £20 which would be plenty but fiscal good intentions dissolve because we want to taste more.
Desserts are praline, strawberries, nori and chocolate, raspberries, meadowsweet. Liz reckons the Grenat vin doux naturel de Caprices from the Languedoc is going to be just the ticket and who am I to argue. So, we finish our meal with silky creams and airy mousses, plump summer berries and dark fruits courtesy of the blackcurrant coloured wine.
“Ooh, that’s delicious “ accompanied first tastes and sips throughout our meal until we became a bit blasé. This happens around good food and talented chefs, you begin to think that fine food is a human right goddamit.
One thing is for sure, it certainly makes life more pleasurable and we all deserve a bit of that. So get yourselves along to Fin & Grape and see what all the fuss is about.
