Fine fish to warm your cockles

This review was first published in December 2001.

Let's talk about fish knives. They're in my list of top three eating out hates, along with waiters hovering over you with giant pepper mills before you've even tasted your food and chefs who cover everything in rocket, presumably because farmers pay them to take the weed off their land.

Fish knives are designed to let you fillet a fish, so why should you be given one for fish cakes, for example? I do believe some waiters would give you one if you ordered a tuna pizza. It doesn't help if you're left-handed either. So I was delighted to find Fish hoek - an offshoot of the notable Springbok grill - does nothing but fish and has no fish knives at all. It can be done. You just have to source fresh fish and cook it perfectly. Simple, really...

The fish here is a wide choice of Britain's best and some treats from Southern and East Africa. If you've never had Mozambican prawns, for example, cooked in a fiery peri-peri sauce, I'd suggest you get down there now. The menu is a straight list of some 22 dishes, of every fish you've ever heard of and a few you maybe haven't (kobeljou, snoek), cooked in a multitude of permutations. Most of these are available as half portions, either as starters or as a chance to sample several different plates.

We started with a Devon mackerel, roasted and served with paw paw, lime and mint salsa and mash, and a smoked haddock with poached egg and peppadew mayonnaise (peppadew is a small, wild, South African pepper). The lime salsa neutralised the mackerel's oiliness but the paw paw was irrelevant (with 22 fish, there must be a temptation to be over-imaginative) though tolerable. The haddock was a beautiful piece of fish, grilled just so. The skin was charred to that perfect point where it made a tasty offset to the flesh. My companion, who said she usually never ate the skin, finished it all.

Our main courses were even better - perhaps because we had more of them. My grilled Namibian sole proved the point about fish knives: it fell off its bones in firm chunks of white flesh with very little prompting. I have never had a better fish. A few plum tomatoes and a quiet dressing of lemongrass and herbs was all it needed. This chef had nothing to hide. A simply grilled John Dory was another wonderful piece of fish.

Fish hoek is converted from a terraced home in a quiet side street and betrays its cramped origins inside. Seated in one of the bay windows, we were so intimate with our two neighbours I'll be upset if I don't get a Christmas card from them. The rest of the room might as well be eating at one long table, so we had a bit more privacy than most.

Perhaps in an attempt to remedy this, the background music is over-loud world music. This pressure on space also meant our wine was kept on ice around the corner and we needed a passing waiter to top up our glasses. The last of it, frustratingly, was poured along with our tea.

Dessert was a shared mealie meal (maize) chocolate cake, which was heavenly light, and some South African teas. A perfect meal. As we left, our waiter suggested next time we come we book as, although only just opened, they are already turning people away.

Restaurant Michael Nadra
Elliott Road, London, W4 1PE