‘Understated charm and quality’: The Fisherman’s Table, Marple, reviewed

My vegetarian friend Dave doesn’t like fish. When I ask him why, his response is a combination of the answers you’ve come to expect. The taste, the glassy soulless eyes, and the view that they’re just a bit weird. 

As someone who loves fish in all its forms, I’m not on board. The taste is complex in a way that meat often doesn’t quite achieve unless there’s a sauce or something special to compliment it. The glassy eyes do have soul, I’d say. There’s something both comic and melancholy in their gawping expressions as they’re artfully laid out on ice, their deep oceanic streaks of colour worthy competition for even the most beautifully marbled sirloin. 

And as for being a bit weird, well, Dave’s not without his quirks. Which of us are?

But even the most committed pollock apologist might say an entire restaurant dedicated to fish is a bit of a stretch. 

I would disagree. 

For its first five years The Fisherman’s Table was manned by Marple Fish man Jamie Barratt, whose trips back in the morning light from Fleetwood brought a trawl of quality produce for surrounding restaurants, and eventually his own. 

Since Christmas it’s been in the capable hands of head chef Louis and manager Charlotte, both having been in the place since day one. So in the interests of continuity I drove over to the familiar surroundings of Marple to see if The Fisherman’s Table still had the locals hooked. 

Inside it’s refreshingly unpretentious, looking much like most restaurants did decades ago before interior design started getting equal billing. I like an interesting decor as much as the next person, but not at the expense of what comes out of the kitchen. 

There’s plenty of wood paneling in that very cosy, Cornish style. Upstairs there's framed pictures nodding to everything from the tentacled to the scaly. Along with an agreeably pun-laden writeup from something called City Life (no, me neither).

There’s a lunch menu from midday to 3pm, with the likes of breaded fish goujon sandwiches (or a posh fish finger butty in other words), dressed crab salad and fish or scampi with chips and tartare sauce. I decided the less lunchy, and you could argue more refined, selection of the a la carte was what I was after. 

The menu did include the mightily tempting smoked whisky glazed pork belly (£11) - even writing it down is enticing - but I decided a puritan approach was best and chose the Shetland mussels in a Thai green curry broth (£9). 

The mussels were plump, fresh and a portion that suits a starter just perfectly, and the broth was more creamy than expected but in a pleasant way, matching well with the chilli that crept up on you rather than reaching out of the depths and pulling you under. 

Mains had plenty of similarly tempting options. I love tuna steak, I love fish pie, and I also love the luck-of-the-draw nature of the Catch of the Day. But instead I found myself drawn towards the appeal of a well-established trio, and chose the miso, honey and chilli baked cod fillet with sauteed vegetables and white rice (£21). 

It was perfectly baked cod, still retaining the soft crumbling quality of a well-treated fish. When you can simply lift out a slice of the fillet from the unbroken skin you know it’s been baked to the exact right point. The glaze was subtle but not lacking in the notes and flavours promised, because after all you do want to taste the fish itself, rather than simply the sauce. The vegetables were properly sauteed to the point of softening without losing the crucial bit of crunch. A lovely light option for a lunchtime but in no way a lightweight dish. 

Finally for dessert I chose something that could cleanse even the palate of a cannibal after a big lunch; affogato (£4.95). Vanilla ice cream, amaretto and bible black espresso, it’s a perfect example of the power of three.

With places like The Fisherman’s Table it can sometimes feel like they hide their light under a bushel compared to the flash, whizz and camerawork of more savvy operators in the likes of the city centre. It’s not the sort of place that can be gleaned via Instagram. 

It’s far closer to the neighbourhood restaurants of years gone by, that are there where you left them, reliable and yet still exciting with each steady turn of the menu. A sense of being the place just up the road, even if you’ve had to travel. 

The next time I visit, this time without my work hat on, I may have to drop the puritan approach and order that whiskey glazed pork belly. I may even take Dave, but as a vegetarian who doesn’t like fish he may just have to be happy with the bread board while I grin goggle-eyed like those weird-looking fishes. 

The Fisherman’s Table, 103 Church Lane, Marple, Stockport, SK6 7AR