Rating

In a word

Velvety

Hafnarfjörður

Whilst the above may look like a baddie laughing fnarfnar, it’s actually an Icelandic fishing village just outside of Reykjavík, and means harbour fjord. I’ve been told off before by friends to my constant rambling about other countries, but for me food and travel are symbiotic, and I will remember a place as much for the food I had there, as for what I saw. Don’t get me wrong: the scenery in Iceland is mind-blowing, and the feeling of absolute earth-shattering humbleness I felt as the neon sky danced in different colours onto a lunar landscape will never be paralleled by something on this earth. Unless I go to Antarctica, but OK, this is about bisque, right?

So, when the ‘tache and I still had holidays, you know before we were writers, living on a meagre existence of coffee and review products, we went to Iceland. Not the supermarket, you understand; the island in the middle of the North Atlantic, where incredible music replicates the even more incredible landscape and drips with synaesthesia. Here, in Hafnarfjörður, we tried what was the best lobster bisque I have ever had. Oddly topped with squirty cream.

So when the amazing people at Fish for Thought offered me a sample of their lobster bisque, I began to get very excited, remembering the smooth, delicate texture of its Icelandic counterpart. These guys get all of their seafood locally. So local, in fact that they can actually tell you who will have landed it and where. The lobster will either have come in from Newquay on the Three Jays, skippered by Ian, or brought in on the Helen Clare, skippered by Julian out of Port Isaac. This attention to detail is a contributing factor in what makes Fish for Thought such an excellent source of seafood. Information about which chef made it is even given on each label.

Revered by The Hairy Bikers and the Guardian, and tried and tested by the Sunday Times and BBC Food, there is no shortage of accolades when it comes to Fish for Thought’s foodie credentials. But that needn’t mean anything without a taste test. Arriving by special delivery, packed in ice, this bisque was treated like gold dust. And rightly so.

The taste

It seems so cheap to say it tastes of the sea, because the hand sourced ingredients mean that there is so much more flavour going on, but in the very best possible way it does taste of the briny. Sweet, velvety and buttery, the bisque also packed an opulent flavour, which was further brought out when hitting the chunks of lobster meat at the bottom, as a good bisque should.

Creamy, delicious and fresh, this was a really indulgent lunchtime bowl for me, which I even added a little more locally caught seafood to. I did this because, whilst it works as a starter, it would have left me a little hungry as a meal. At £8.95 for 400ml, it is not cheap, but makes a really special starter, and brings a taste of Cornwall to wherever you are.

Fish for Thought

The company is based in Bodmin, and liaise with fishermen around Cornwall to land fresh fish, which is then delivered all over the country. 

To order hop over to www.martins-seafresh.co.uk

The Cornish Fish Store
Unit 1, Callywith Gate Business Park
Launceston Road
Bodmin
Cornwall PL31 2RQ

Phone 01208 262202

Email: sales@fishforthought.co.uk

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