The Autumn & Winter Menu 2014 @ Loch Fyne [Covent Garden]

Rating

In A Word

Honest

Appeals To

Salmon enthusiasts (particularly smoked salmon enthusiasts) Scots expats with a taste for oily fish and grass fed steak (though don’t expect any Haggis or Irn-Bru). Despite the menu, this place could only really be described as moderately Scottish.

Pre/post theatre visitors round the West End / Covent Garden Area looking for something with plenty of meat and competitive prices. Surf and turfers (I’m pretty sure these guys were doing this before people started calling it surf and turf). Tuna and beef as a combination? Another first for me.

People who want something that’s most likely reliable (as in ‘proven’), non pretentious, non ‘gastro’ and not too adventurous.

Fyne Dining (someone has probably already used this headline)

In this writer’s opinion, Scottish food is fkn awesome. There are worlds of possibility in smoked salmon, single malts and haggis.

Loch Fyne is one of the few restaurants I knew of, long before becoming a food writer. It passes the ‘Has Your Mum Ever Eaten There Test’ – I remember Madre telling me about visiting the one in Sevenoaks(?) ages ago.

Actually, they’ve been around for a few deacdes and have over over 40 (I think?) locations, as I find out later from the waiter (‘Later With The Water’…could be a late night food themed talk show)

I theorise that any restaurant chain that’s survived 20+ years in the cutthroat world of restaurants has demonstrated some kind of valuable longevity –  and so even if they’re well known, they’re probably still worth a visit.

Like most places, LF’s menu gets a bi-annual or quarterly update, and as far as I know, everything we try here is part of this new menu.

Arrival

So yeah, your first impression upon entry might be ‘oh, this place does fish then?’ – the smell hints at the product just as strongly as the smell of baking bread by a Subway, or coffee at a Starbucks. I am very OK with this.

Upon our arrival, the restaurant is currently ‘being a victim of its own success’ (or maybe needing a little more staff/capacity/ planning). There’s an almost consistent que from when we arrive until about 9ish.

At 7, it’s busy, at 8 it’s REALLY busy and at 9 it’s starting to calm down a bit. I think this may be tied to theatre timings but am not entirely sure.

The Decor

The venue feels very ‘West End’…for a start you can see various theatres (is that Evita?) through the window – the buzz of the area leaks off the street and into the venue. So if you like the feeling of The West End, by default, you’re going to like how Loch Fyne’s windows let it all in. Well…most of it.

(Maybe not that pre show bit where every square foot of the street feels like phalanx warfare and you’re like OUTTA THE WAY GOT IMPORTANT SHIT TO DO)

The design of this Loch Fyne is hard to… de-Fyne (*avoids a projectile*). the marble surfaces, metal railings and those kinda ‘industrial’ lights that remind me of my local Victorian era fishmonger, long knocked down. Or of my primary school (now modified beyond recognition but built in the late 1800s). Oh boy I love shooting from the hip when it comes to interior design descriptions.

The decor doesn’t convey “are you ready to go bankrupt ordering wine here?” but is quite distinct from a lot of restaurants I’ve seen the inside of.

I suppose the operation feels like a chain. As in ‘well thought out quirkyness’ No bonnie Scottish wait staff in Covent Garden, but a fair few friendly Asian guys with strong opinions on dessert.

On that note – our waiter is one such supremely patient Asian chap, enduring what appears to be much agro from the late middle aged clientele for one issue or the other.

The guy is truly one of those unsung legends of public service, able to deliver what felt like genuine enthusiasm and a non-concocted smile, despite the busy state of things and ocassional bit of chaos around him. Well done sir.

Food and Drink

Loch Fyne possess a rather small but well thought out drinks menu that seems to focus a little more on whiskeys. Whilst waiting for a seat to appear, we perched at the bar and absorbed a little Laphroaig 10, which makes waiting very easy indeed. On the self are 2-3 malts I don’t recognise, a promising good sign.

We’re then seated at a table by door/bar and so there’s a semi continual line of people watching over our shit and doing the usual ‘why does that guy have an SLR?’ thing with their eyes

You’d think they’d be used to it with the tourists by now.

Prices here are generally middle of the road – they don’t stock any stupidly expensive spirits or wines, with most of the food is average central London price. The exceptions to the rule are the super premium ‘Lobster Fruit Of The Loch’ (£60.50). Portions also are average size – a starter plus side and main were quite enough for me.

There is also a menu of the day, which changes… daily! (HAHA! REDUNDANCY! YES! MORE REDUNDANCY!)

Food shows up pretty speedily once you’ve ordered it, but it takes a while to see a waiter, as is the recurring theme today..

A woman with blue shirt and a really strong Eastern European accent delivers some of our food – she explains all the delicious looking courses in detail.And I feel like a dick but I have no idea what the hell she’s talking about.

Despite my lack of comprehension, the food is still delicious :3

Loch Fyne Oyster (£2.45 for one)

Three seperate people suggest that I should eat some oysters and write about it, so we order one each and get to it.

We neck the oyster, as is the fashion – and the Oyster taste is nothing more than a subtle salty taste of seawater that gets a little more distinct about 10 seconds after swallowing. It’s been a while since I had one and I’ve got to say, I still don’t see what the big deal is.

Joe’s take on it: “…it tastes like what you’d imagine the seaside to taste like plus condiments.” After about 5 minutes he decides that he likes oysters now and that’s that. Well done, Loch Fyne, you have a new convert.

We are later given the shell as a little keepsake to take home in a box. I don’t know if this is a regular thing but it’s kinda whimsical and a nice touch

Smokehouse Ashet £10.50

Joe gets this one but it smells so good that I have to participate as well. The smoked salmon comes in smokey… test tube type kinda thing and must be eaten right to left for full effect. The capers may remind you of ultra condensed Walkers crisps. Fucking fantastic dish. Can I say fucking? OK. Fucking.

Spicy Chorizo And Seafood Couscous £8.25

I forget what I have ordered for a starter (which is a first) and then this arrives. I still can’t identify it for about 5 minutes but once I run into some submerged chorizo EVERYTHING CLICKS INTO PLACE

It’s almost like they made a Valencian Paella but swapped out the bomba rice for bulgur wheat. MASSIVE bits of it. It’s kinda hard to eat though – the mussel shells do that thing where they get in the way of other stuff. And the chorizo is…gratifying *eyes glaze over*

Pan-Fried Samphire £3.50

This is a side, and possesses a legendary butter and garlic taste. Said taste is strong like Hercules but still not too intense. Why isn’t samphire more popular? Is there someone in the food and drink industry who can fix this?

Courgette Fritters £3.50

Like fish and chips flavoured courgette. I usually reseve a kind of mildly xenophobic disdain for battered things but these were not too bad. I wouldn’t order them again, however.

Line-Caught Tuna Loin £19.50

Which may remind you of slightly more cooked sashimi, which is great ‘cos sashimi is delicious. They don’t ask you how you’d like it done – though it comes out very nicely all the same.

There’s a rich, ‘humuslike’ sauce underneath. Glad I ordered a side else this would basically just been lean meat.

Rib-Eye Surf And Turf £23.50

Joe’s main. I try a little – once again, his is better than mine. The prawns are cooked in a buttery, spicy sauce. The beef is fantastically cooked, with the marbling done to the point of ‘melt in the mouth’. There’s a piece of bone marrow on the top. Perfect! One of the best steaks I’ve tried in a while.

Dessert

Walk In The Glen £6.95

Is ‘structural’ a word you can use to describe dessert? If so, I’d like to use this word please…

Supposedly inspired by a photograph in the downstairs area and introduced recently by the new executive chef, the chocolate portion is legendary creamy chocolate multiple mouthgasms.

I can’t taste the whiskey that supposedly went into this but that may be because I started the evening with Laphroaig and exorcised all traces of subtlety from my palette with oily fish and strong meat. The sorbet, though beautiful, is too sweet for me.

The structure is ‘an exciting spoon challenge’, you end up shepharding the biscuit, chocolate and meringue fragments around the plate, idealy trying to get them to stick to the panna cota/sorbet.

The Verdict

Pros

On the whole you get a pretty well orchestrated dining experience which follows a template that’s not too ‘chainy’ (Dick Chaney...Big Dick Chaney). I’d imagine it’s quite consistent across the other branches too. I reckon a lot of the late middle aged diners could be explained as customers of Loch Fyne, returning for the consistency.

Some splendid meats: If you like smoked salmon, the variety and quality here should be enough to draw you in. The beef is nothing to turn your nose up either, arriving on the rarer side of medium rare by default. Way better than I expected. 

Unpreteniousness – this is what my grandparents would call ‘honest food’. Expensive honest food, but hearty stuff that relies more on taste than alchemical cooking techniques, French names and strange presentation.

Cons

It was a little too busy for comfort and they perhaps need to streamline their booking/queing/ordering system for busy periods

Would like to see more choice on the bar menu. More of everything please, particularly the things that aren’t whisky.

Though it’s not ‘chainey’ it doesn’t possess all that much charecter. Or didn’t feel like it did on the day we went. It’s not devoid, by any means, it just felt like it needs an injection of that certain something. Do not expect ‘edgyness’.

The Details

2-4 Catherine St,

London

WC2B 5YJ

020 7240 4999

http://www.lochfyneseafoodandgrill.co.uk/locations/london-covent-garden

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