Match of the week

Smoked herring roes on toast and oyster stout

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on November 17 2009 at 14:16

I seem to be spending most of my time dining with bloggers at the moment. On Sunday it was the Blaggers Banquet, next week an Umami night at Ms Marmite Lover’s underground restaurant and last Monday Dine with Dos Hermanos a monthly (or so) feast organised by Simon Majumdar and his brother Robin.

This one was at Bentley’s an old London fish restaurant taken over recently (well, a year or so ago) by the ebullient Richard Corrigan. With both Richard and Simon having a hand in the menu it was predictably lavish with huge platters of smoked fish, followed by fish pie, braised ox cheeks (yes, as well as the fish pie) and sticky toffee pudding and clotted cream.

The smoked herring roes on toast were an unadvertised canapé but such a good one I managed to fit in three, not least because they were a fantastic match for the Porterhouse oyster stout that had been served with the oysters (a classic match) and which I still had on the table in front of me.

The consistency of soft roes is perfect for stout, I’ve realised, the slight smokey note just taking the bitterness off the edge of the beer and making it taste wonderfully smooth and velvety. Champagne couldn’t have done better.

Image © Seija - Fotolia.com

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