Top of the class at The Seafood Restaurant, Padstow

Rick Stein has become the face of British fish and seafood over the past ten years or so. He seems to be continuously on our TVs, seeking out producers of all kinds and showing his own compelling (to me anyway) cuisine, stressing simplicity, quality and attention to detail over elaborate and bizarre combinations. Actually, he’s been in the fish game a very long time – the building housing the restaurant was originally bought by Stein in 1972 as a nightclub (which failed) and The Seafood Restaurant opened its doors in 1975. His big break came when Keith Floyd, making his Floyd On Fish series for BBC TV, suggested to his producer that they go and see when Stein was doing. The producer agreed, and the rest is history.

As seafood geek I have obviously wanted to visit his own Seafood Restaurant for some time. The current downturn means that the Steins (Rick and his ex-wife Jill who now actually runs the restaurant) are offering some excellent bargain deals. We took advantage of a two-night break for £190 per person, including meals in the St Petrocs Bistro (more next time) and the Seafood Restaurant itself. The Almora room was very nice indeed, funky bathroom with TV, modern and light.

After a warm-up pint at the Old Customs House pub along the quay, we were shown to our table in the busy and buzzing Saturday night atmosphere. Even though this was the first weekend after New Year, the place was almost full. The menu is (of course) dominated by all manner of fish and seafood, though there is a veggie starter (pumpkin open ravioli) and a meat main (char-grilled cotes de boeuf). What a tremendously difficult choice… The starters were particularly hard to choose between – oysters from various places including native flats from Clarinbridge in Ireland, fruits-de-mer platters, proper provencal fish soup with rouille, sashimi of sea bass, scallop, brill and salmon, mussels, lobster and fennel risotto… Aaargh!

In the end I was toying with hot shellfish with parsley, chilli, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice but plumped in the end for Cornish crab with wakame salad and wasabi mayonnaise. The crab meat was delicious and delicate, the wakame (green seaweed) salad a perfect foil and the wasabi mayo had a nice spiciness about it. My companions were all well pleased with their sashimi, ragout of turbot and scallops and grilled scallops with pumpkin seeds, Serrano chilli and coriander sauce. A bottle of one of the extensive wine list’s more outlandish options, a Brazilian Ovaja Negra pinot grigio-riesling washed it all down very well – the wine was very crisp, just the job.

The main course choice was somewhat easier, even though there were many tempting options including whole dover sole (a classic), monkfish vindaloo, Singapore chilli crab and a full fruits-de-mer platter (one of which arrived at the next table looking amazing, uncompromising and fully monster-of-the-deep laden). Padstow lobster had my name on it – it’s not something one sees very often, and I had to try it here. I went for the grilled with fines herbes option as opposed to boiled with salad leaves and mayo, and it was sensational. Beautifully buttery, herby, tasty, cooked to perfection, with some work to do to get the meat from the claws and legs but totally manageable. Fantastic. A little dish of buttered and peppery neeps (swede or turnip?) was a nice accompanying touch.

Again my companions were well pleased – the troncon of turbot (does anything else over come in troncons??) with hollandaise sauce was particularly good, and the two plates of brill with pancetta and beurre noisette appeared to have been fashioned to look identical – an example of the attention to detail visible here. Bottles of Allende Blanco 2005 white rioja went very will with all this butter and richness – the wine definitely oaky and yet with a good edge, not something I would have at home but a splendid treat.

After all that the desserts might have been something of a come-down, but the Stein simplicity and attention to detail saw us through to the end. My blackberry and quince cobbler (cooked to order) with clotted cream ice cream was delicious, piping hot from the oven. Very strong coffees brought the evening to a close. The Seafood Restaurant seems to be a real beacon for British seafood well cooked and exquisitely served – a must for any serious seafood enthusiast or indeed anyone who likes their fish. The Seafood Restaurant, Riverside, Padstow, Cornwall, Reservations: 01841 532700, www.rickstein.com.

Learning about fish the Rick Stein way – Padstow Seafood School

I’m keen on eating fish and seafood – and, from time to time, cooking it. So when news came through that TV food hero and fish guru Rick Stein was offering credit-crunch beating deals at his Padstow establishments, I was on the phone like a shot. The Stein name runs through Padstow like the word Padstow through a piece of, well, Padstow rock, and the family Stein now have a multitude of eating and accommodation options. Our weekend trip took in several eateries (of which more later in the week), as well as the Padstow Seafood School.

I managed to book a place on the School’s most popular course, the one-day Original Fish and Shellfish course. And so at just before 9am on a chilly Sunday morning, still enjoying the memory of the previous evening’s grilled lobster at the Seafood Restaurant, I found myself donning a smart chef’s jacket and apron and sitting down for a coffee with fifteen other cooks-in-the-making. The school is in a relatively new building just a hundred yards or so along the front from the Seafood Restaurant itself – the building also houses Stein’s Fish & Chips (report coming), Stein’s Deli (lots of yummy things) and other seafaring outlets. The school is on the first floor, and commands a cracking view of the estuary from the long refectory table at one end.

Chief instructor Mark took us through a few words about safety and then took us to the demonstration station at the other end of the kitchen. We sat on stools and looked on while he tackled one of the day’s knottier problems – despatching a large stone crab. Ceiling-mounted video cameras helped everyone see the drama on the chopping board. That done, we went back to the cooking stations (two people to a stove), crabs and screwdrivers were produced and off we went! My partner-in-fish for the day John from Truro got us off the mark, and we put the crab on to boil – just 10 minutes is enough. Once the crab was out and cooling we were back with Mark learning about preparing a squid from scratch (including pulling out the amazingly transparent and flexible bone). Back to the kitchens to put everything into practice, this time cooking the squid in a very interesting slow way in a pan inside the oven set to a low 120C with star anise and cinnamon for about 25 minutes.

Now to disembowel the crab! Again, full guidance from Mark, then back to our places where more ingredients had appeared as if by magic (actually down to Bill and the other helpers) where we went from boiled crab to crab cakes in just a few moments. (Crushed cream crackers are the key ingredient, rather to my surprise!). Into the fridge and then back to the squid which was now cooked, so prepare a salad with vermicelli noodles, mushrooms, ginger and other things. And at last – time to eat something! We sat round the table to eat the salad and enjoy the first of what would be (if you wanted) several glasses of sauvignon.

The day was very impressive in the way it all fitted together, with alternating demonstration and practice sessions keeping the variety and allowing the various ingredients time to reach the optimum conditions. We went on to fillet fish (red mullet as a round fish, and plaice as a flat fish) and prepare the fillets en papillotte (in a bag) and grilled with various accompaniments. Now it was getting on for 2.30pm, and we all sat back around for a well-earned lunch of plaice and another glass or two. Cheers!

The final part of the day was watching Mark and Bill prepare another kind of dish – a prawn and monkfish caldine (wet curry) with flatbreads and pilao rice. The guys worked splendidly as a double act, inviting people to help with various aspects and chatting away answering whatever questions came up, as well as sharing their thoughts on many aspects of the life of the chef. For some reason we ended up talking a lot about salt (Mark says to use plenty of it – the food tastes of more!). Then finally the curry, rice and everything was served all at once, with enough for some of each all round. Certificates, handshakes, a chance to buy an apron or a knife at the school’s shop and we were done. It’s a grand day out, and you certainly don’t go home hungry. I bought a filleting knife and will definitely be starting to buy whole fish from time to time now – I have enough confidence to give it a try. Well done to Mark, Bill and the boys. Padstow Seafood School,Riverside, Padstow
PL28 8BY, Tel: 01841 532700.

Finest crab on your doorstep – SEAFOOD & EAT IT Ltd

One of the great tastes of the British seaside is surely fresh crab – in salads, in sandwiches, latterly in pasta, or even on its own with lemon and brown bread. While our seaside towns often have lots of places to get and enjoy crabmeat, it’s much harder away from the coast. Even upmarket places like Waitrose, even though they stock dressed crab with mayonnaise and egg, have not been a source of fresh crab for the discerning diner – until now!

Browing around the seafood department of our local Waitrose I noticed a new offering – fresh Cornish crab, hand picked, in white, brown or potted versions, from a company wittily calling themselves Seafood & Eat It Ltd. (The company website confirms that this is after the glorious old joke “I’m on a seafood diet. I see food and eat it!”.

Seafood & Eat It was started by two brothers – Neville, a skipper fishing for crab from Newlyn in Cornwall, and Richard a former London office worker. While many crab fishermen were giving up, Nev has persisted and when his brother decided that his future lay away from the PC and the monthly sales target they set up together with a little help from the Prince’s Trust and the Fisherman’s Mission. The aim was simple – to supply the best quality crab meat to a wider audience. To this end they cook their crab in small batches and painstakingly hand-pick it to get the very finest meat onto your plate. They have been supplying the wholesale trade in Cornwall for some time, and in August 2008 the Waitrose chain began stocking their crab meat products for public consumption.

We first tried the potted crab, deliciously rich and absolutely ready to eat on bread or even (as their website suggests) with pasta. It was so good we moved on to the white and brown meats, and I used them in my own version of a classic crab with linguini and chilli pasta dish. Simply put about 50ml olive oil, a couple of chopped garlic cloves, two or three chopped red chillis, a handful of chopped spring onion and about two strips of finely chopped lemon zest into a pan and cook until it starts to sizzle. Meanwhile cook about 200g of linguini and drain, keeping some of the pasta water. Into the now-empty but still hot pasta pan put the chilli and oil mixture, and add the pasta, 200g crab meat (we used 100g white and 100g brown), the juice of half a lemon (and optional capers) and heat through till it’s hot. Use a splash of pasta water to loosen the mixture if it gets dry. Stir in a good handful of chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges (serves two).

Seafood & Eat It crab meat is available nationally at Waitrose stores. Now’s an excellent time to try it out in whatever form of crab dish you favour. (And do answer our poll about your crab preferences!) Seafood & Eat It Ltd, Newlyn, Cornwall TR20 8TL, http://www.seafoodandeatit.co.uk/.

Crab delights in North Norfolk - Cookie's Crab Shop

The windswept North Norfolk coast is a popular spot for bird-watchers and Islington residents in search of a weekend away. From the Victorian resort town of Hunstanton in the West to Cromer in the East, the coast is a fascinating and hard-to-find place. The sea and land seem to merge in a series of shallows, dunes, flat lands and lagoons – a haven for a vast range of seabirds including the rare bittern. The coast road is a mile or two back from the sea for most of the time, and towns with names like Wells-Next-The-Sea are very well named. The sea is indeed next…after a while. The visitor centre at Cley Marshes affords an excellent place to find out more, as well as being an impressive example of sustainable and low-impact development.

Cookie’s Crab Shop is on the coast road in the small village of Salthouse (what more seasidy name could there be?). And it’s a good half mile from the sea. It could well be called Cookies-Next-The-Sea though – this is the last bastion of civilisation before the dunes and reedbeds. Cookie’s has been in business since 1956, when Peter Cooke (father of current proprietor Suzanne and her husband Robert Mcknespiey) set up in this tiny cottage by the road and facing the North Sea. From just supplying crabs, the enterprise has spread out into the garden and now features clusters of tables in a summerhouse, a gazebo and in the open air as well as inside the shop.

This is a down-home as it can possible get – and much the better for it. Suzanne and Robert look after cooking and picking the crabs and prawns, making pates and soups and source their other supplies locally. You order at the counter and take a seat to await the arrival of the goodies. And what goodies they are! I started with a warming prawn bisque (this being a chilly October lunchtime), which featured lots of prawns as well as a hint of spice. Just the ticket. My sister’s prawn and garlic pate may have been the most garlicy thing we’ve ever tasted. In a good way.

But the real treat is the arrival of the Royal salads. This is Cookies flagship dish, and mine featured crab as the main ingredient. The delicious dressed crab even came with a smiley face (as you can see in the picture). Not only crab, but also…(deep breath) hot smoked salmon, smoked mackerel in three different guises including pepper and chilli, crayfish tails, anchovy fillets (yum), cockles, pickled herring with delicious sauce, prawns… and beetroot, potato salad, tomatoes, cucmber, bread, mayonnaise, lemon and lime wedges. What a fantastic spread, a real cornucopia of the best of what’s around in the British autumn. The cost? A ridiculous £6.30. The best value ever. No wonder Stephen Fry wrote in the Independent recently that this coast, and Cookie’s in particular, is his favourite place in the British Isles.

Cookie’s is a real king amongst seafood shacks. Get over there at once. Cookie’s Crab Shop, http://www.cookies.shopkeepers.co.uk/, 01263 740352 (and it’s worth calling to reserve a table).

Singapore swing I - Chilli crab at Jumbo Seafood

We were passing through Singapore last week running some workshops in team coaching and change management. I've visited the Lion City quite a number of times in recent years, and the food is always a highlight - you can get just about anything, particularly Asian food, at great prices and in surroundings anywhere from palatial to pavement. Our hosts Debbie and Dave were good enough to welcome us off the plane from London and take us straight for a great Singapore food tradition - chilli crab.

This dish has become something of a national symbol over Lee Kuan Yew era. Mr Lee, the first leader of independent Singapore from 1959 until he stepped down in 1990, is still alive and takes on the role of Minister Mentor. He took to eating chilli crab on Singapore's national day, 9 August, at one of the seafood restaurants on East Coast Road. One of the leaders amongst the many seafood places along this stretch, which links downtown to the airport, is Jumbo Seafood.

Founded in 1987, Jumbo has become the leading up-market seafood restaurant group in Singapore. They now have seven outlets, including the one on the Kallang river near the Indoor Stadium we visited. Having ordered a jug of cold cold Tiger beer (another Singapore tradition - it's more convenient to have a jug a several cold glassses!), out hosts ordered the food. We nibbled on peanuts and chilli & ginger sauce and waited for the first food to arrive. This was deep fried fresh baby squid, marinated with oyster sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds and served over crispy noodles. These 'crunchy squidlets' as we called them were really delicious - much tastier than they sound, about the size of a thumbnail, and very tasty - an ideal starter!

More dishes arrived - sliced beef fillet with pepper, kailan (green vegetable) with garlic, prawns in cereal (lovely shell-off prawns covered in a dry flaky mixture of cereal - to go with yummy sweet sauce). The sun went down, evening fell, we sat by the river in the heat as the skyline of downtown lit up about a mile away, just the other side of the Formula 1 pits area (the Grand Prix has been in town two days earlier).

And the the piece de resistance....the chilli crab. This comprises, basically, an enormous crab! In this case a King crab from Sri Lanka. Cooked. Cracked (with still with work to do). And smothered in the most delicious sweet, hot, sticky chilli sauce with egg stirred into it. Mmmmmm. This is served, as is traditional, with steamed buns, delicious white and soft, with which to mop up the sauce. (I only wish these were more absorbent - they are delicious but hardly serve the purpose!) Crackers are provided, the crab is split into large pieces and everyone pitches in. Prizing the delicious crab meat out of the shell while getting your fingers (and possibly much else) covered in chilli sauce is really what it's all about. It's worth taking care by the way - on a previous occasion I spilt some sauce on a nice cotton shirt and the stain proved totally permanent.

Jumbo Seafood is at East Coast Road, Indoor Stadium, Riverside Point (near the excellent Brewerkz brew pub), the Riverwalk and other locations. More information at http://www.jumboseafood.com.sg/.