36 On The Quay [Emsworth, Hampshire]

Took advantage of a keenly priced set lunch here today, in a low key but luxe dining room with comfortable chairs and linen tablecloths and napkins.

They served 2 kinds of warm sourdough bread (white, and fennel and raisin) to start, with whipped butter. Forgot to take a photo.

I had the BBQ beef brisket to start, husband went with cured gurnard tartare.

My beef fell apart easily at the nudge of a fork. The sauce had ginger as the main flavour profile. There were some bits of picked cucumber and radish. And a sprinkling of puffed rice.

My husband enjoyed his more spring-like dish - I didn’t taste it.

For mains we both had the hake fillet, which came on a bed of wilted spinach sitting in an intensely savoury broth made of brown crab with a few gnocchi and spring peas. A few baby mangetout were perched on top. I wasn’t quite sure what the little puffy bits on top were, some kind of puffed grain perhaps. The fish was cooked absolutely perfectly, coming apart in translucent pearly large flakes.

Instead of dessert, we shared a rhubarb ‘nojito’ (non-alcoholic). This was initially quite sweet but became better as the ice melted and I mashed the mint and lime into the drink. I appreciated the use of a metal straw!

The drinks menu looked nice and more reasonably priced than the one at The Briny in Southsea. There was a separate wine list.

I was intrigued by this piece of cutlery, what it is meant to be used for? I used it to eat the hake fillet.

The bill:

Service was formal but warm.

11 Likes

Great price. And the hake looks lovely.

Dunno what the spoon is designed for but I have seen one before, with the little notch. It may be in a box of vintage cutlery I inherited from my mother.

1 Like

I think it is a gravy spoon

https://www.replacements.com/silver-guy-degrenne-beau-manoir-blois-stainless-individual-gravy-spoon/p/108380231?utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping_feed&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_wdsJhseH3y7d8wT5jU24C_XdGU&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoqPYs8najAMVUzWtBh0ImwPoEAQYAyABEgKu6vD_BwE

1 Like

Looks to be a sauce spoon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_sauce_spoon#:~:text=A%20French%20sauce%20spoon%20or,the%20sauce%20accompanying%20a%20dish.

1 Like

It’s a fish spoon. My fish forks and knives have a similar design.

1 Like

And your entire meal looks absolutely lovely! I had to look up both gurnard and mangetout - I know the second, and the gurnard is absolutely fascinating! Also called Sea Robin, Butterfly of the Sea. (I hope this video comes through)

3 Likes

Fish knife. When I saw your first pic of it I thought “Oh good, proper fish cutlery.” Once we were served scrambled eggs and smoked salmon at a lovely inn on Dartmoor and the waitress was horrified she had forgotten to give us fish cutlery and apologized profusely which tickled us to no end.

You lunch looks and sounds lovely!!

3 Likes

I didn’t realise a gurnard looked so pretty! Thanks for sharing.

1 Like

BF and I had sea robin as part of an omakase at Umi in Waltham recently. It was lightly torched and touched with a bit of a light sauce and a dab of yuzu kosho. Little bit of a chew to the fish. We really liked it!

8 Likes

I’m by no means an expert in Japanese cuisine but that is a beautiful piece of work, almost reminiscent of the shape of the whole fish.

1 Like

I wish I knew more, as well, but I can say we were in very good hands that night!

2 Likes