Wiltons, Livebait, Pescatori and Zilli Fish
IN WARM weather fish slips down more easily than red meat, so this seemed the right time to try some of London's fishy establishments and see how they did. I started, price-wise at any rate, at the top, at Wiltons, where it's said that if you ask how much it costs you can't afford to eat there. Wiltons moved a few years ago from Bury Street around the corner to slightly more spacious premises in Jermyn Street, but the decor and atmosphere remain unchanged: comfortable, clubby, those famous booths, crisp white tablecloths and motherly wait- resses in grey bombazine. I asked an old friend, a quintessential Sloane Ranger, Lucinda Glyn, to join me there as I knew she would fit in, and she was delighted to accept my invitation. 'Darling, I haven't been there in years!'
Impeccably looked after by the manager, John, we settled into comfy chairs around a table (always so much nicer to eat at right angles to one another) and over immacu- late dry martini and campari soda consid- ered the splendidly straightforward menu. No fiddly foreign dishes here (sea bass with baby roast fennel and olive oil is about the most exotic thing on the menu), so Lucinda ordered potted shrimps and I dressed crab to start, followed by grilled Dover sole on the bone for Lucinda and poached turbot with hollandaise sauce for me. Prices were astronomical — £8.90 for the shrimps, £13.75 for the crab, £23.50 for the sole and £25.25 for the turbot — but at least por- tions were generous and the fish gloriously fresh and impeccably prepared and served. As a bonus the creamed potatoes with my turbot were superb — proper texture, not a dainty French purée — and Lucinda thought her vast sole on the bone the biggest treat she'd had for ages. We fin- ished with a 'brilliant' summer pudding for Lucinda and a whole Stilton in the best condition I've seen in years for me. With a beautifully fresh Sancerre 1995 and coffee, in a comfortable and relaxed room, this feast came to £134.75, without service. Somehow, in a perverse kind of way, it seemed worth every penny: dining at Wiltons is truly a treat.
My next fishy stop was south of the river at the much-vaunted Livebait in the Cut, which keeps winning awards. I went there with the editor's assistant at the Express, charming Georgie Brewster, for some self- indulgence after the magnificent rigours of Maurizio Pollini playing Beethoven sonatas at the Royal Festival Hall. But Livebait is not designed for comfort: a cramped lavatorially white-tiled room, the hardest of chairs, unclothed tables very close together and an excruciatingly high noise level. It certainly deserves its recent Time Out award for good service: all female, it is sympathetic, efficient and, given the surroundings, wonderfully calm. Starters of Oban oysters and large grilled crevettes with good .mayonnaise were fine; it was with the main courses that things came adrift. In vain on the menu one looked for good plain fish: there was noth- ing like sole meuniere or grilled halibut to be found. Every dish was described in all its complexity in several lines of print, and Georgie chose 'poached inshore turbot (SW coast)' plus three lines of ingredients, ending with strawberry and chervil hol- landaise. It arrived with several con- stituents missing and the hollandaise had I can't wait for New Labour to deal with inner city violence.' separated. Very charmingly they replaced it with her choice of 'pan-seared Scottish king scallops (diver caught)', served with another plethora of trimmings, all right, if rather old and chewy. My 'pan-roasted fil- let of sea bass with a cardamom bread- crumb crust served with orientally scented red split pea and shitake mushroom casse- role, port butter sauce and preserved red chillies' was fine if only I could have tasted the delicate flavour of sea bass rather than the accessories. It's not that the chef lacks skill, just judgment. Our blood orange sor- bet at the end was excellent, as was a bottle of Quincy for £17.50. Very fairly, neither turbot nor scallops were charged on a bill of £52. I gather Livebait has just been taken over by the Chez Gerard group which also owns Scotts of Mayfair. I await developments.
Pescatori in Charlotte Street also belongs to a chain — Spaghetti House — and has been there since my schooldays. It has now been attractively revamped and is offering good, simple, Italian fish cooking in pleas- ant surroundings. I went there with my sis- ter on a Saturday evening and we were well looked after, though the atmosphere seemed rather louristique' and anony- mous. Elizabeth's crostini of scallops in a shellfish sauce were better than my lobster ravioli which lacked lobster and were prob- ably too cheap at £6.95. Elizabeth then ate a good, large Dover sole, grilled on the bone, and I a delicious dish of grilled cod with spinach and a light saffron sauce. With a bottle of Vernaccia di San Gimignano and espressos our bill, including service, came to just over £70 for a pleasant, if not especially exciting, meal.
In similar vein, but altogether more up- to-date, is Aldo Zilli's new Zilli Fish restau- rant in Brewer Street. Set on a corner site, open to the street, this splendidly state-of- the-art fishery, opened just a fortnight ago, offers gloriously fresh fish enterprisingly prepared. Tasted and approved were mari- nated king scallops char-grilled on rose- mary and served with spinach with balsamic dressing, delicious fresh clams in a broth of fresh tomatoes with herbs and chilli, a truly impeccable fresh lobster risotto (there's a vast fish-tank at the top of the room), deli- cious char-grilled sea bass with perfect angel hair pasta, and strawberries marinat- ed in limoncello with pistachio ice-cream. Prices are reasonable — about £35 a head, with wine — and Zilli Fish was doing a roaring lunch- time trade. Clearly a wel- come arrival on the scene.
Wiltons, 55 Jermyn Street, London, SW1; tel: 0171 629 9955. Closed Saturday.
Livebait, 43 The Cut, London SE1; tel: 0171 928 7211. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday.
Pescatori, 57 Charlotte Street, London, W1; tel: 0171 580 3289. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday.
Zilli Fish, 36-40 Brewer Street, London, Wl; tel: 0171 734 8649. Closed Sunday.
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