The Fisherman’s Table

When a fish restaurant has the local fishmonger behind it, you can bet that those scallops were sitting in their shells until very recently. And when the chef has a stint at Whitstable’s award-winning The Sportsman under his apron strings, then you are in for a treat. That sums up The Fisherman’s Table. This place is certainly Catch of the Day.

The Fisherman’s Table is in Marple – that fisherman must have a long commute. It’s over 40 miles to the seaside, and further still to Fleetwood from where the majority of the seafood is sourced. Nevertheless, this is some of the freshest fish you’ll eat.

The interior is light and airy, with some nautical touches bringing a whiff off sea air to a handsome old stone building whose exterior suggests steak and ale rather than slippery oysters splashed with shallot vinegar or Morecambe Bay mussels with tomato and chilli.

Steak and vegetarian dishes are on the menu (it’s an everyone’s welcome kind of place) but it is undoubtedly the fish dishes which are the stars of the show.

Expect starters and appetisers like chilli calamari with lemon pepper mayonnaise or traditional Scottish Cullen skink. Everything is fresh, crisp and bursting with the taste of the sea.

Main courses don’t disappoint with the fishy flavours showcased carefully – the delicate nature of the seafood is never submerged by extraneous ingredients. When the fish is this good, you don’t want all sorts of jetsam and flotsam on the plate. Typical examples of the skilful cooking on display are whole Dover sole served on the bone with brown shrimp and capers or seared tuna steak with a fricassee of chickpeas and chorizo.

You might be able to buy the ingredients from the fishmonger, but the reason this is The Fisherman’s Table and not your table is that they are unlikely to taste anywhere near as good.

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