Dinner At Chesterfield's New Seafood Restaurant, Catch 22
Published On Wednesday 30 Mar 2016 by Sticky Beak
This venue is now closed As you know, I absolutely love Seafood and Fish, can’t get enough of the stuff. You can only imagine how cock-a-hoop I was when the team at Chesterfields only Oyster and Prosecco bar and seafood restaurant invited The Boy Wonder and I to sample their menu. It has been a few years since I last had fresh Oysters and I have to say that I really enjoy them; if you haven’t tried them before please go to Catch 22 to have them. The Oysters are delivered fresh every day and Daniel expertly shucks them and prepares them beautifully for you to enjoy, so they are absolutely top quality specimens. The menu is very varied both in the range of fish and seafood dishes to choose from, but also the exotic meats, steaks, chicken and vegetarian dishes they serve. This type of restaurant works very well for His Nibs and I because he does eat fish but it isn’t his favourite food, so there was plenty of choice to keep him happy; I think this is a fairly common dilemma for a lot of couples. For starters I chose the Tempura battered Soft Shell Crabs with Sweet Chilli dip from the specials menu and The Man had the Salt and Pepper Squid with Garlic Mayonnaise. We rounded things off with our usual Lattés and really took in the relaxed, loosely seaside inspired decor. I love the fish print wallpaper and co-ordinating light shades, and the ceiling had drapes that reminded me of fishing nets to cover them.
General Manager, Levi, and Manager (and Oyster maestro extraordinaire), Daniel, greeted us warmly and invited us to the very modern, swanky Oyster Bar to try some super fresh morsels.
I had three little beauties in total; the first I had “au natural” and the tang of the sea was just fantastic, it was as if I was in the sea itself revelling in its glory. The second Oyster I had with some of chef Bret’s homemade Vinaigrette that has wine vinegar, shallots and sugar in it, and it was marvellous when paired with the firm fleshy Oyster meat. For my final Oyster I had Tabasco and Lemon juice on it, and it was just so incredibly fresh on the palate.
Throughout the evening there were plenty of people trying the Oysters, both as a stand alone experience and also as a starter before their main courses in the restaurant. The restaurant was about two thirds full, and Levi was saying that at weekends it gets incredibly busy; they have 40 covers, and at peak services they can easily serve 80 covers.
The Crab meat was very succulent with that lovely creamy taste that Crab has, and there were two whole crabs to savour. Him Indoors was very pleased with his Squid, it was cooked perfectly and not at all rubbery. The seasoning was just enough so that you got the savoury tang of the salt and pepper without it overpowering the Squid itself.
I decided to have the pan fried fillets of Gilt Head Bream for my main course and these come with Spring Onion and Gruyere mash and grilled Asparagus, and I also had some buttered Spinach as an extra side dish.
Daniel had recommended the Rose Veal haunch to His Nibs when we were chatting at the Oyster bar and this comes with French fries, Field Mushroom and grilled beef Tomato. In addition to this The Boy Wonder ordered some homemade Onion rings, which when he tried them were deemed to be amazing.
Both meals were presented nicely and The Mans Veal was like butter when he cut into it, and he said it was a lovely delicate creamy flavour and texture. My fish was, unsurprisingly, superbly cooked so it had a nice crispy skin and juicy, moist flesh to savour and the mash was fantastic; it was exactly as described with plenty of Spring Onion flavour and a nice tang of Gruyere in evidence. The Asparagus was nice and crunchy and the buttered Spinach was wilted to perfection with just a nice amount of butter on it.
All the food so far had been really fresh, excellent quality and skilfully cooked, and we were definitely up for having pudding. The homemade Passion fruit and White Chocolate cheesecake was my selection and The Man had the homemade creamy Rice Pudding served with Raspberry Jam.
These little chaps were most definitely homemade; the cheesecake was a very deep affair that balanced the decadent richness of the White Chocolate magnificently with the sharp perfumed flesh of the Passion fruit. The base was a nice depth too and lovely and firm, and the whole thing was a pleasure to eat.
As children, His Nibs and I both had Grannies that made a proper rice pudding, the sort that had a lovely baked skin on top (that the family invariably fought over) and a nice firmish texture. The rice Pud at Catch 22 is definitely in this vein, a real “stick to your ribs” affair with a light dusting of fresh grated Nutmeg on the top, and the chirrups of delight coming from The Mans mouth were lovely to hear.
As should be the case with a proper rice Pud, he couldn’t quite finish the last bit, but it wasn’t for lack of trying or enjoyment. The Raspberry Jam was served in a separate little dish so that you could add as much or as little as you fancied.
I remarked to The Man that this was another DeLorean night where I could go back in time and eat the food all over again, it really was that beak smackingly good. Our server, James, was a complete star all evening; he checked that our food was to our liking at every course and brought fresh cutlery out for each course too.
Catch 22 manages to be one of those venues where you feel equally comfortable in smart casual clothes as you do getting a bit glammed up for an occasion and there is a lively vibe to the place without it being at all brash. I would definitely recommend booking a table in advance, especially if you have a specific date and time in mind to eat there.
It feels strange saying “Hot Wings” for a Seafood restaurant, maybe it should be “Hot Fins” on this occasion; but nonetheless the hearty endorsement is there :)
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