Loch Fyne
19 Market place
Woburn
Tel: 01525 290 877
Website

If you lived most of the year in a country surrounded by warm seas as I do, you would lust after the exquisite firm, flavoursome seafood that is the hallmark of fish, crustaceans and molluscs from the lovely cold waters that surround this island. A hot climate, and warm seas, may be good for beach lovers and swimmers but it produces limp flavourless seafood. So I was very happy when Hester mentioned that a seafood restaurant had opened in Woburn. With a name like Loch Fyne I expected nothing but the finest seafood grown in those lovely chilly waters!
I knew this restaurant as the Market Place, a restaurant that I always thought promised a lot more than it delivered. The new decor is basic with naked tables and a noisy floor: not a lot had changed in that direction, although I noticed the serving area has been considerably extended by the inclusion of an almost new wing.
A jolly girl appeared with menus and the essential wine list, and after we had settled into a decent bottle of Vognier I could give my full attention to the food offerings. Behind me was a promising looking display of crustacean featuring various different prawns, oysters, crabs and lobsters. The display looked well used in that it was not over full. I sat back happily with a confusion of options from a menu that promised much. In addition there were a few specials on the obligatory blackboard.
For starters I lusted after the shell on prawns, something, many moons ago, I used to sell by the half pint, but in the end let my love of potted shrimps get the better of me. I love those little brown shrimps simply packed together and sealed with butter. This allows the taste of the shrimps to come through. So I was desperately disappointed when these potted shrimps seemed to have a herb and garlic butter topping complete with lumps of garlic. Hester had a plate of those shell on prawns allowing me to nick the odd one, or several, and they were pretty good.
For mains I had the poached Loch Fyne smoked haddock with mash, spinach, peas and whole grain mustard sauce: served in soup bowl! I know this is trendy thing to do but I find it impossible to do anything more than mash all the food together which meant the haddock became entangled with the sauce. I would have preferred a nice plain piece of fish. Hester had pan-fried fillets of bream with olive oil mash and watercress pesto. At least it was on flat plate.
We finished off with some cheese which was cold because it was straight from the fridge, another black mark!
The service except for the initial girl was very ordinary and seemingly disinterested. The napkins were cheap 2 ply white paper ones, although we were told that they had run out of linen ones because of the recent bank holiday. What surprised me is that we were told the linen ones would re-appear on Thursday – two days later – did nobody have a washing machine and iron?
The next day I visited the Loch Fine website and reviewed the long list of restaurants they boast about, however it was not that that caught my eye but the following:
The menu is based largely on fresh seafood - prepared simply but with style – using only the finest and freshest ingredients to allow the delicate flavours of the natural produce to take centre stage.
That was exactly the cooking style I had been looking for! Maybe the guys who write the website should have a word with the people that do the cooking! When they do I will go back: but until then Loch Fyne will be on my avoid list.