Set amidst the city skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, this new restaurant celebrates the UK’s beautiful countryside and bountiful seas.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever eaten an ox’s heart before,’ says S studying the menu, ‘It’s not something I’m likely to have forgotten is it?’ I nod in agreement, noting that also available is Tigella bread with offal, rabbit, lemon and parsley gravy. Is it too early in the review for the ‘offaly nice’ joke?
No. The restaurant is offaly nice. Set in the base of one of Canary Wharf’s towers, bravely close to Hawksmoor where the tight-shirted hedge funders get their steak fix, its airily double height with its innards all on display, perhaps in a nod to some of the dishes on the menu.
Fish Game is a new restaurant from Roberto Costa, the Italian restaurateur behind Macellaio RC and it’s a departure. His aim is to use ultra-seasonal, sustainable British ingredients, venison, duck, great coastal fish, all cooked over ash and charcoal. Executive Head Chef, Matthew Colk (previously, the Roast and The Gun Pub) mans the fires.
Cooking on open fire continues, of course, to be the up to the minute trend in the hipper London restaurants.
Most of the space uses vintage and reused furniture in a rustic, yet stylish, way, think gnarly tree roots supporting tables, all of it just avoiding the slight danger of it looking like one of those themed restaurants in Covent Garden.
There is a good value £16 set lunch menu, but seeing as the dishes are compact and shareable, we order a variety of them starting off with Moray Firth squid, fermented chilli and fried cavolo nero.
I’m pleased to see the squid comes in strips, and not rings, and the tentacles are present and correct. The fried cavolo nero reacts, as all kales do, very well to being cooked this way, becoming crispy and not getting caught in the teeth, while the fermented chilli hands out some decent heat without taking your head off. The squid is excellent, soft and buttery with a hint of smoke.
You don’t see that much rabbit on menus, so before we get to the Tigella we have Rabbit croquette, black olives, potato, thyme, marjoram mayonnaise and lime zest. S reckons he’s got some actual shot in his croquette, which would suggest these were definitely free-range thumpers. Great croquettes; crisp, gamey and the mayo very moreish. The dark undercurrent of flavour from the black olives is a treat.
What indeed is a Tigella? Well I now know that it’s a typical street-snack flatbread from the Italian Emilia Romagna region. It comes to the table folded and resembling a Bao bun and inside is stuffed all that ash-cooked offal, Windsor Great Park rabbit, lemon and parsley gravy. It’s an absolute triumph, if rather messy. Oil drips out, but we don’t care and after we’ve finished I run my finger around the plate to get some more bits.
More ‘standard’ is a big bowl of mussels, Shetland Island mussels with ‘venison ‘nduja and lemon zest’. Lovely plump mussels and the broth is creamy and lemony, but not I think ‘nduja-y, so I am not sure what happened there. Still it’s no worry as the mussels really don’t need any help and the broth is good enough to take a straw to, but not having one to hand I use an empty mussel shell as a ‘spoon’ instead and then dunk the accompanying sourdough to mop it all up.
So to the ox heart.. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect here. My parents used to eat lamb hearts once a week with one whole heart on each plate. Would the plates here be big enough for ox? Well as it turns out it comes as thin slices cooked over charcoal having first been long marinated in Taggiasca extra virgin olive oil, fresh chilli, garlic and it’s served on a citronette salad. Citronette is like vinaigrette, but the vinegar is replaced with lemon juice making for a sharper dressing. The salad is mostly fennel.
Not our favourite dish as it turns out, the salad is rather ho-hum, and whilst the ox heart is tender and smoky, it doesn’t really excite us.
However this slight disappointment is forgotten as we get into Swaledale mutton rump marinated in fresh mint and mustard, chilli broccoli and shallot vinaigrette. This is the good stuff for sure. I often find lamb dull, but mutton usually makes me smile. The older meat simply has more flavour although of course it can also be tough. It isn’t here, just chewable. Great flavours with the crisp broccoli contrasting well.
We even try three desserts, purely for the sake of research of course, a tiramisu made at table is a good bit of fun and less excessive than a usual tira, there’s some delicious ice cream made with Taggiasca extra virgin oil and rock salt, and a lemon tart with English strawberries and fresh mint that’s summer on a plate.
Fish Game is a fine idea, boldly executed. It’s certainly a novel restaurant for Canary Wharf, or to be precise Wood Wharf, it even offers a chilli tasting menu with peppers from Italian farm Vivi Piccante as well as an Agave Bar.
Game on.
14 Water St, London E14 5GX
fishgamerestaurant.co.uk