Seafood Week set menus in London, from £16 for two courses
Oysters off the Brixham day boats in Battersea, two courses £16 in Soho, and the Thames at Barnes
Seafood Week arrives in London in the first week of October, and a plate of oysters costs what a plate of oysters costs. The set menus are where the price of good fish gets settled in advance, and Wright Brothers Battersea runs its weekday prix fixe off the same Brixham day boats that supply its shellfish platters.
British seafood gets served two quite different ways in London, and these kitchens cover both. Manzi's plays it as Soho theatre, with a Poseidon over the tables and a knickerbocker glory on the menu, while Rick Stein Barnes plays it plain, simply cooked fish and the Thames going past the glass. The fish is the same. What you are doing that evening is not.
01 | Wright Brothers Battersea
Battersea
two or three courses £22 to £26, Mon to Fri, 12pm to 6pm
Wright Brothers Battersea began as oyster merchants and now runs a coastal depot at Brixham, so the fish on the prix fixe comes off the day boats the business already supplies to other kitchens. Shetland mussels and the signature shellfish platters carry the menu, eaten by the river in the Power Station's West Village. A restaurant sitting at the end of its own supply chain is a rare thing to walk into. The same business sells seafood to chefs at more than 500 restaurants around the UK, and the Battersea kitchen orders from the same landings as they do.
02 | Rick Stein Barnes
Barnes
three courses £35, Mon to Sun, 12pm to 3pm
Rowers go past the window at Rick Stein Barnes, on a quiet stretch of the Thames along from Richmond. The menus change with whatever has been landed, and at the seafood bar the oysters, langoustines and sashimi are put together in front of you. Nothing is done to the fish that does not need doing. The same menu runs again in the evening.
03 | Manzi's
Soho
two or three courses £16 to £20, Tue to Sun, 12pm to 5pm
A large Poseidon hangs over a table downstairs at Manzi's, and mermaids prop up the bar upstairs, both catalogued by Hot Dinners with some relish. Seared scallops and whole monkfish tail share the menu with a knickerbocker glory, which is about the balance the restaurant means by seaside charm with a hint of kitsch. The address is an alleyway, Bateman's Buildings between Greek and Frith Streets, and the original Manzi's stood off Leicester Square. Large dining rooms run across every floor, with a bar big enough to wait at, and a three-course theatre menu, served with a drink, takes over from 5pm.
04 | Lilibet's
Mayfair
two or three courses £29 to £34, Mon to Fri, 12pm to 2.30pm
The line-caught British bluefin tuna at Lilibet's can be traced to the vessel, the time of the catch and the coordinates. Seasonality, sustainability and provenance are what the kitchen says it works to. The art-deco dining room sits on Bruton Street, and the Michelin Guide notes the house takes its name from the childhood nickname of the late Queen, who was born in a townhouse that once stood on the site. Oysters, caviar and whole fish cooked over flames run through the menu.
Fish is the one thing on a London menu that answers to the weather. A week given over to it is really a week for asking what came in that morning. The fixed prices are already sitting on every London lunch set menu.