Celebrating Local Seafood - Part One

At Rockfish we’re passionate about local sustainable seafood, which is why we’re based at the Brixham quayside, right next to Britain’s biggest fish market. Our team walk the market every morning selecting the best of the local landings which are portioned and prepared right at the quay. That seafood is then sent to our restaurants and uploaded to our online fishmonger to be delivered to your door for you to enjoy at home.⁠

You might have seen in the press that we’ll be taking a break from selling cod this summer, but don’t worry, you’ll still have plenty of choice about what that fish you enjoy. At our takeaways we’ll be serving our award-winning MSC haddock and chips, local Brixham Hake and a selection of other species freshly fried. ⁠

You’ll be able to get that same fabulous fried fish in our coastal restaurants along with our local landings menu which has been a staple of the Rockfish experience for years. Whenever you visit us, your server will take you through a list of what is fresh that day, which will then be cooked to order by the team for you to enjoy with your choice of side dishes.⁠

This summer we’re not changing what we do, but carrying on doing what we love, celebrating great seafood.

We look forward to seeing you in our restaurants soon to see what you choose. ⁠

Here are just some of the species we’ll be serving in our restaurants and delivering to your door this summer>

Hake

Thanks to the hard work of local fishermen, this southwest hake is now rightly praised and a huge success story for the fishing community. A few years ago, you wouldn’t have seen much hake on restaurant menus, but a few of the fishermen in Brixham knew it’s potential. They changed their fishing methods to gain MSC certification and guarantee a quality catch, and the hake boom began. It is super succulent fish with soft and silky flesh and incredibly versatile. It makes great fish and chips and is equally wonderful roasted in the oven. At Rockfish we buy two to four kilo fish and cut them into lovely big portions to enjoy in our restaurants or at home.

John Dory

Never a guaranteed catch (due to its sporadic way of swimming in the middle of the water) the John Dory is a fabulous fish that the team at the quayside keep their eyes out for whenever it is landed. It has firm white flesh and delicious small flakes. We sell it either in fillets or as a whole fish, which because it is quite thin is perfect for putting onto the grill and serving with a simple drizzle of olive oil.

Gurnard

Gurnards are an incredible species with armour plated heads and finger like fins that they use to walk along the seabed. They’re an incredible, versatile fish with a firm muscular texture and a delicate oiliness that is great grilled or pan fried, the texture also lends itself well to curries and stews. This local fish varies in size, so we sell them in portions of 2 fillets when from smaller fish, or 3 fillets from the larger ones.

Turbot

There’s no doubt about it, turbot deserves its title as the king of the sea and is a wonderful succulent fish. It sits at the bottom of the English Channel where the power of huge tides help it to build muscular flesh. We buy big turbots for Rockfish which our expert filleters cut into our signature T-bones. To do that they split the fish down the middle and then cut them from the backbone to the edge, forming a T that has plenty of flesh, and an incredibly rich membrane that becomes soft and bastes the fish while it cooks.

Sea Bass

The waters of the Southwest are one of the best areas in the UK for Sea Bass. This highly prized game fish has a delicious white flesh which is satisfying and juicy grilled or oven baked. Our wild Sea Bass is caught by rod and line by Annie and Ian from their boat the Happy Hooker, making it one of the most sustainable species available. As they say "Rod and line might not be the easiest or fastest way to catch fish but we love it. The conditions and the tides have to be just right. We get the fish on ice within minutes of it being caught and get it straight to Rockfish on the quay. It's the freshest you can get." We love working with Annie and Ian, and their fabulous sea bass is one of our favourites.

Red Mullet

One of Mitch’s favourite British fish is the red mullet. Their fabulous skin which ranges from rosy pink to bright red has a shellfish, almost saffron like flavour which is brought out when they’re grilled which is how we like to cook them in our restaurants. Grilling also does wonders for the skin which has the taste and crunchy texture of blistered chicken skin. With small white flakes and tender juicy flesh it is one of the best eating fish in the sea.

Lemon Sole

Confusingly the Lemon Sole is neither a Sole, nor does it taste of lemons, it's in the family of flounders a species who have their eyes on the right side of their heads. This oval fish comes in a variety of camouflage colours, depending on their surroundings. It is an incredibly delicious fish with delicate soft small white flakes and a lovely sweetness. Lemon Sole is a fish that is perfect for Mitch's 'keep it simple' cooking philosophy, in our online fishmonger we sell them whole but fully trimmed so all you need to do is put them under the grill and add a squeeze of lemon.

Dover Sole

Wonderfully luxurious and highly sought after, Dover Sole has a mild sweet flavour with very firm, small, flaked flesh. It's considered to be the best eating sole of them all and is always in demand at the fish market. Mitch likes to cook these simply under the grill with a little melted butter and plenty of Maldon sea salt.