THE ALLURE OF LURE
Travel and food blogger Emma Oxley discovers a great little fish restaurant
Cold, dark January is a month that is stuck in a time warp. Summer is either a distant memory or a wistful dream. I find it helps to cast my mind back to those distant memories of sunny days and most importantly sunny food, to pass the time until I can eat this kind of thing again. Last June, hungry after a lovely early evening walk on Hampstead Heath with friends and family it was suggested that we head to nearby Lure Fish Kitchen in Kentish Town for dinner. I’d not heard of the restaurant before but was assured it was a great little find, off the beaten path and the fish was fantastic.
We called up to book, found there was a table free and wandered over. The ambience of the restaurant was casual, almost like a fish and chip shop in the front (they do take-aways) with a smarter (but still casual) restaurant in the back. We ordered a bottle of wine while we looked at the menu and the daily specials. The menu is billed as fresh, seasonable and sustainable, which is always nice to see – a restaurant with these values is definitely a plus!
We started with an oyster each, which we just couldn’t resist. They were delicious, so fresh and tasted just like the sea and they came with some shallots and red wine vinegar to add to them. They paired perfectly with the wine, which was very crisp and refreshing and tasted of citrus fruits with a hint of peach.
I picked the salmon tartare as my starter and the other dishes that were ordered were the mussels (with tarragon, shallots, crème fraiche and cider) and the prawns. When they arrived we were seriously impressed. Beautifully presented and very summery – living up to their seasonal promise!
The salmon tartare was amazing – so fresh, and exactly what I wanted on the hot summer evening. Citrussy and crisp, just like the wine! I also had one of Dan’s (my boyfriend) prawns, which were absolutely huge! I don’t normally go for cold prawns – I prefer them in hot dishes – but these were some of the best prawns I’ve ever had. Really meaty but fresh and sweet tasting – you can tell that the restaurant really takes pride in the quality of its ingredients. Those who picked the mussels loved them and said the tarragon was a really different herb to pair with them and it worked really well.
Next up were the mains. I’d chosen the pollock with salsa verde and sharing sides of broccoli with ginger & chilli and minted peas. You definitely need to order sides here, as the main meals don’t come with any vegetables or extras.
The pollock was so fresh, beautifully moist and had been marinated in the tasty salsa verde before it was cooked. Again though, Dan ordered the best dish…gilt-headed bream in lemongrass, chilli & coriander dressing. It didn’t look like much when it came to the table – quite small and without vegetables the plate looked very bare. However, the waitress said: “Just try it,” and she wasn’t wrong! The flavours were incredible! Spicy and sweet, salty and lemony it really was an amazing marinade, so full of flavour.
The side dishes were fantastic too – the broccoli was the best one and I’m definitely copying that and cooking mine with chilli and ginger from now on! The minted peas were good and I loved the simplicity of the whole meal. Not much to it, but every element was done perfectly.
Dan’s mum had gone for the special – ‘Sea Dog’ (breaded cod in a bun with tartare sauce and minty mushy peas). It was a showstopper of a dish, a posh fish finger butty!
The best part about the meal was the price. Only £30 a head for a starter, main and a few bottles of wine, and of course we saved 15% on top of that with our Restaurant Club card.
We left, full, happy and knowing that we’ll definitely be back! A fantastic little gem in North London.
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