Tom Parker Bowles & Olly Smith: Eating In

This week Tom goes trawling for a treat with some of the UK’s finest fish for delivery

Eat more British fish. Please. Because in this post-Brexit, mid-lockdown world, our fishermen are having a fairly torrid time. Issues with the  export of live shellfish to Europe as well as the shutdown of the hospitality industry means demand has crashed.

But there is hope, as the industry pivots swiftly from catering to consumer sales. All the below offer seasonal, sustainably caught British fish and shellfish.

• Pesky Fish (peskyfish.co.uk) is a four-year-old company that connects day boats directly to the punter. Sign up, and most mornings (fishing being dependent, of course, on the weather conditions), you’ll get a choice of spanking fresh British fish, and the very best farmed mussels – but move fast, as things sell quickly.
• Call 4 Fish (call4fish.com) doesn’t deliver direct, rather collates all the best fish suppliers in the country who can deliver direct to your door. Like Pesky Fish, it helps the small suppliers and day boats, and you can find live crabs and lobsters, as well as fish smoked fresh and frozen.
• Wing (thecornish fishmonger.co.uk) sells boxes filled with the finest and freshest of Cornish seafood.
• Fish for Thought (fishforthought.co.uk) also delivers the best of dayboat-caught, sustainable fresh seafood from Cornwall.
• Andy Race (andyrace.co.uk) is somewhat of a Scottish legend, despite being English, and he runs his company from the Highland port of Mallaig. Excellent fresh fish, shellfish, and his home-smoked kippers and salmon.
• Wright Brothers Ltd (thewrightbrothers.co.uk) are one of my favourites, delivering high-quality whole fish, shellfish (including at least three different varieties of oyster and frozen Carabineros prawns), smoked fish and fish boxes. Pure piscine class.
• Some of the best oysters in the country are from Richard Haward (richardhawardsoysters.shop) in West Mersea, Essex. You can get beautiful rocks and natives, plus cherrystone crabs.
• More magnificent oysters, both natives and rocks, from Colchester Oyster Fishery (colchesteroysterfishery.com), as well as lobster, crabs and shrimps.
• Rockfish (therockfish.co.uk), owned by my friends Mitch Tonks and Mat Prowse, has moved from fish and chips to fish boxes, filled with the likes of Brixham scallops, locally caught turbot, crab and Dover sole.

 

 

Drinks: Olly’s St Patrick’s Day dark beers

 Pints of Guinness traditionally flow on St Patrick’s Day, which lands this Wednesday. But dark beers don’t have to be heavy. Clever brewing delivers rich aromas of intensely roasted grains that create moody colour and deep flavours minus the ballast. Small Beer’s Dark Lager is a deft example and my pick of the week is just 0.5% alcohol yet still manages to feel like a treat – so you can embrace your saintly side.