Livebait, 21 Wellington Street, WC2.
Armed with a £15 discount voucher from http://sante.com I popped into Livebait, next door to the Lyceum theatre with my good chum Andrew for a spot of lunch last Saturday. Livebait sports a bar complete with a mini-fish menu, and a large restaurant behind.
We proceeded to the restaurant under a sign welcoming us to the best fish restaurant in Covent Garden and took one of the American diner style booths flanking both sides, complete with banquettes. The dining room is a pleasant enough but somewhat drab place- the myriad of off green shades and smeared mirrors didn’t help. Nor did the less than sparkling white and green tiled walls, reminiscent of an unhygienic East London fishmongers. At least Livebait’s dining room saved us from the usual mix of drift wood, nets and nautical memorabilia.
Anyway, on to the fish. I stuck with the set menu offering 2 courses for £14.50 and 3 for £18.50, settling on Louisiana fish cakes and ‘classic’ fish and chips with tartare sauce. Andrew chose moules mariniere and grilled king prawns with a garlic and herb butter. We promptly were offered a choice of breads. We stuck with wholemeal which was fresh with the right amount of chewiness and crust to be enjoyed with oysters et al. Not that we had any, but a point worth making in case you chose to!
The £14 bottle of South African Chenin Blanc was perfectly pleasant - crisp and clean which is my preference with all things fishy so one can focus on the business at hand- and arrived with an unprompted ice bucket. The starters were acceptable - the fish cakes were small but filling crabby varieties served with tartare sauce rather than its close French relative, the promised remoulade detailed in the menu. Either way, neither would have added a great deal to the dish given the tasty dill and egg potato salad mound next door. The little pile of leaves on top of the potato salad had seen better days but were edible. Andrew’s moules were moist and flavoursome, with an intense, relatively grit free jus. I would have liked some parsley added to the mix, but that’s just a personal preference.
Unfortunately we had to wait a while for our main courses, giving us time to contemplate the existence of the empty bar at the front of the restaurant. At least it gave customers the option of indulging in cocktails with their fish if they so chose I suppose.
The mains eventually arrived, Andrew’s prawns in a regimented line with a the garlic butter dipping sauce and the battered cod sitting on top of crisp, well cooked chips with a little dish of more tartare sauce balanced on the side. I can report the prawns were reasonably juicy and the dip pleasant enough, but at £14.75 should have arrived with a salad (we ordered a rocket and parmesan one- which was disappointingly small with shavings that clearly had been done a while ago). The fried cod was more batter than fish, and could have been chunkier and less greasy. I would have felt someone miffed if I had shelled out £14.50 for this dish from the main menu.
Our total bill, including a bottle of mineral water, a £1 cover charge each and a £7 service charge came in at £62- in my view somewhat stiff given the mediocre ambience and so-so food. The £15 voucher helped matters somewhat, bringing the quality of food more into line with the asking price and just meriting Livebait a cautious recommendation.
By the way, they do a express lunch where you can have mussels and chips or the aforementioned fish and chips plus a small glass of wine for £7.50 which is a bit of a bargain.
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