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The music pumps, the place heaves and there are mermaids everywhere,


both sculptural


and real; the latter jettisoning their tails for the evening, pre- sumably, as they waft about as entertainment, doing the occa- sional performance in short skirts and some wild headgear. This place, a sister restau- rant of the establishment in London’s Berkeley Square, was branded in the Manchester press, even before it opened in October 2023, as a ‘celeb haunt’. I order a plethora of dishes; food to pick at, to skewer and dip, nibble and taste. It’s food to fill the gaps between looking at your phone, shouting some- thing inane and cool to your neighbour, and sipping your drink. It’s food that enables you to say, ‘Wow, look at that food,’ without the need to be actively interested in it. It’s disco food, as adjunct to


the place as the music, fish art and fishy customers. So I judge it as such. Context is everything, darling. Which is the sort of cool thing I could shout to a dining companion, if I had a human one. The food, from a vast menu


William Sitwell orders a plethora of disco food at Sexy Fish Manchester


of sushi, sashimi, snacks, sal- ads, skewers, tempura, gyoza and much more, is indeed decorative. A plate of crisp pink


Start with the “moussaka”,


Jay Rayner finds the twisted food to be delightful at Fenix, Manchester


When our waiter gives the obligatory speech about shar- ing plates and how it’s modern Greek with an “Asian twist”, my heart plummets deep into my ankle-supporting boots. Please stop bloody twisting things. Leave them uncoiled. The proof, however, is not just in the pudding, but in all the courses that come before. Because the food here, courtesy of Greek head chef Ippokratis Anagnos- telis, is delightful. Yes, it can be mannered. And no, this isn’t the place for taverna classics. But it really is all sorts of deli- cious and, in its own way, thor- oughly comforting.


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which needs those inverted com- mas, because it’s an assembly rather than a one-pot dish. There is a fat, slumping piece of slow- roasted aubergine underneath, topped by tangles of braised beef short rib. On top of that is a duvet of cheesy béchamel and, alongside, discs of fried potato. It’s all the flavours and textures of moussaka, not so much deconstructed as reupholstered. The taramasalata is light and


frothy, the pitta with it comes hot and blistered, soft and olive oil-slicked. A sea bass tartare is both worth looking at and worth eating. We lean in over a fabulous dish of orzo, cooked until soft and starchy in an anise-heavy lobster bisque and topped with three fat langoustine tails, plus one lan- goustine head that squints up at you over its claws, as if checking you’re having a good time. Yes I am, thanks for asking.


shrimp is served on the paper- covered belly of a small silver mermaid. The fish is soft, the batter fresh and crisp, the mayo gooey and rich. Three pieces of decent sashimi come on green shiso leaves on ice in a vast sil- ver ice bucket, held, it seems, by the silver tentacles of a squid. There are skewers of beef, which are tender and sticky, and a plate of well-cooked broc- coli with the ubiquitous mess across it – this time quinoa in a spicy miso. A dish of crisp duck


and watermelon is a rather pale relation of restaurateur Will Ricker’s original E&O version with cashew nuts. This is food to share: canapés and finger grub. I finish with a dessert of chocolate, whose top melts as a waiter pours hot caramel on to it. It’s a dish that needs eight spoons. Only a nutcase would order a whole one for themselves. This pud knows its true audience, as does Sexy Fish. It knows what it wants, needs and cares for, and in this business that’s all that counts.


Tom Parker Bowles says Ixchel on London’s King’s Road is ‘a cut above’ Once we’re seated, a couple of Tommy’s margaritas thrown down our throats, we realise that this is a cut above your usual half- baked Mexican mediocrity. Head chef Ximena Gayosso Gonzalez trained at Martha Ortiz’s Dulce Patria in Mexico City, and worked at her (now sadly shuttered) Ella Canta, in Mayfair. The food is said to ‘draw inspiration’ from the Yucatán Peninsula, an area where the Habañeros are hot and fruity, and the cuisine melds the legacy of indigenous Mayans with the cooking of nearby Car- ibbean islands. Sadly, no sign of cochinita pibil, perhaps the region’s most iconic dish.


Still, seafood plays an impor- tant role, and while the scallops aguachile, tuna tostada and prawn quesadilla have already run out, a crab tostada is excel- lent, the white meat freshly picked, the salsa macha pos- sessing just the right amount of nutty heat. And you can always judge a decent Mexican place by its salsas. They are the lifeblood of this magnificent cuisine, and there are four here, ranging from a sharp and sprightly salsa verde to an incendiary scotch bonnet, with a truly brutal kick. Approach with extreme caution. Pork belly taco blends good handmade tortilla with well brought-up pig, while an ensenada taco (from the Pacific rather than Caribbean coast) sees a finger of white fish encased in a golden, brittle batter and doused in a punchy Habañero crema. It would do credit to any seaside taco stall back in the homeland.


26 January 2024 | The Caterer | 11


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