Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 3 and Version 2 of Fish In A Tie, SW11 2PF
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locale='Clapham Junction,SW11' |
locale='Clapham Junction,SW11,South London' |
Fish in a Tie is a reasonably sized and distinctively named restaurant just around the corner from Clapham Junction train station. It's spread over 2 1/2 levels and I get the impression that smoking is allowed in the downstairs section but not elsewhere.
The décor is very 'bistro', with dribbly candles in bottles, except that they're JD and Bailey's bottles instead of the usual basketed Chianti. It's rather cosy as they don't half pack the customers in, and when we went on a Tuesday night it was absolutely packed.
There are two menus, one of which is the regular menu and the other a 'specials' menu. Mains are almost all around £7-8 with a couple in the £10 range. Appetisers are between £2 and £5 though mostly at the £4 mark. The restaurant doesn't call itself Italian that I can see, but looks and feels like an Italian, with a very strong leaning toward seafood. Starters include asparagus wrapped in salmon, potato wedges, pasta, crab in choux pastry and a risotto marinara. There are many more I can't remember. Mains include roast knuckle of lamb, fillet of sea bass, ostrich steak and the 'Fish in a Tie plate'. There's a selection of desserts too, all reasonably priced, including the 'Black Tulip' - a crispy pancake with various fruit and things inside.
I had the Wild Risotto Marinara to start, and it was almost too big for an appetiser. It included mussels, clams, squid, a very large prawn and octopus in a tasty tomato and chilli sauce with perfectly cooked rice. Highly recommended, though it is about the most expensive thing on the starters menu. My main was the Fish in a Tie plate, which was another seafood medley, similar to the above but with larger bits of everything, plus salmon and another fish and more prawn, all in a white wine, cream and ginger sauce. My dessert was profiteroles, which were very large and sadly slightly over-baked, but very generously filled with cream. I think the chocolate was sauce from a bottle sadly. It was the only minor disappointment of an otherwise tasty evening.
The service was perfect and prompt, so we didn't resent them adding on the 10% service charge for us. We even left more because we were so impressed.
Overall, three courses with a couple of glasses of the house wine came out at about £20-£25 per head including service and a bit extra on the tip. Highly recommended, especially if you like fish.
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