“It feels so great to finally be open and back in the kitchen,” delights Carolyn Munro who, after months of hard work, has opened the doors to her dream restaurant in Sudbury.
The Fish Dish, on Station Road is Carolyn’s homage to seafood. Having operated an evening pop-up at The Granary at The Quay Theatre successfully pre-Covid, the new, larger premises enable her to open for light lunches during the day alongside evening dining – as well as offering a unique takeaway deli.
“I’ve so been looking forward to having people come along to the deli bar side where they can take away oysters and seafood platters, or they can sit down with a glass of Champagne and pick on a few bits,” she says.
The deli is open from 9am to 4.30pm, boasting everything from shucked oysters with shallot vinaigrette or Tabasco, to prawns, lobsters, handmade devilled crab pasties, English smoked salmon and ricotta English muffins, and sandwiches (perfect for taking to the nearby parkland and meadow along the riverside.
“We’ve got bloody Mary prawn cocktail, and I’m making dressed salmon sandwiches, and overfilled sandwiches of thin tuna steak with egg mayonnaise and sunblush tomatoes.” And those all come on Carolyn’s homemade bread. She makes her own ice cream too. In fact, there’s very little the chef hasn’t conjured up in the kitchen from scratch.
All the above is available at lunchtimes in the bright restaurant, supplemented by lunchtime specials, which change daily, based on the best seasonal fish Carolyn can get her hands on from husband David –who runs Munro’s fishmonger on the market every week.
Evening bookings are available on Fridays and Saturdays from 6pm, with Carolyn chuffed to be fully booked up for the first few weekends since opening in early July.
“We hadn’t even promoted it yet and we had people getting in touch by email or giving us a call. We’ve got a mailing list too and that really helped us. There were so many people who wanted to come in, which is brilliant.”
Many of the deli items, such as oysters and platters, can be enjoyed by guests dining at night. And this is when Carolyn really gets to flex her culinary muscles, bringing together fresh, seasonal ingredients to create plates that showcase the fruits of the sea at their best.
“We’ve had king prawn salad with red pepper and lime dressing. That’s so light and zingy and perfect for this weather,” the chef says, describing some of the dishes from the evening menu. “There’s poached skate wing with a lovely crab and new potato cake and a caper and cornichon butter. And I’ve made a delicious strawberry jelly with elderflower sorbet and shortbread.”
Other top picks include marinated mackerel kebabs with tabbouleh and tzatziki, smoked or smoked mackerel pate, potted crab and potted shrimp, all to be paired with wines and Champagnes from the concise, carefully-chosen wine list.
“It feels really good to be open at last,” Carolyn smiles. “It’s been such a long year for me – well, it has for a lot of people – but I think the benefit I’ve found is that not being able to work, I’ve had the opportunity to think about what we do here, and come up with some brilliant new recipes that I can’t wait to share with our customers.”
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