A great catch
Tony Dorris, head chef at the Jersey Pottery Restaurant, believes he has found the UK's seafood nirvana. His kitchen is minutes from some of the best lobster and crab beaches in Europe - and the fish is good too.
"You get spoiled with fish here," says Dorris. "The local bass is superb and cheap so the customers get a bargain. Local turbot just needs to be steamed over a bed of seaweed to bring out its best."
A pottery with a restaurant seems an unlikely marriage, but as the former is one of Jersey's main tourist attractions it made sense to offer food to the visitors it brought in.
Starting as a snack bar in 1954, the restaurant was created in 1970 when proprietor Colin Jones took over from his father. It established a name for itself with locals and visitors and now has a Michelin red M.
The secret is "simple food cooked very well", says Colin's son and restaurant manager, Robert. "Sole frites is just fish and chips, but fish and chips are superb when the raw ingredients are this good."
A glance at the menus for the 200-seat à la carte restaurant and 350-seat self-service brasserie (including an outside terrace) will tell you the eatery is not shy about exploiting the rich bounty from the Channel fisheries.
For the first course alone there are 13 seafood options from a choice of 23 items on the à la carte, including capuccini (£6.50), which are succulent morsels of crab meat with thin slices of smoked salmon in a brandy-flavoured Marie Rose sauce.
Although the menu changes every quarter, special seasonal dishes are offered. Ormers (a type of abalone) have been one recent highlight. This rare shellfish can be harvested from Jersey's beaches only a few times a year.
Dorris tenderises them by pressing the flesh of individual ormers together overnight. He then casseroles them with root vegetables and chicken stock for six hours to create a memorable winter warmer.
The 22-dish main course selection also reads like a culinary aquarium, with crab and lobster well represented. Its plateau fruits de la mer comprises oysters, mussels, cockles, winkles, whelks, gambas, prawns, lady crab and cigale de mer, on a bed of crushed ice. Considered the best on the island, it is priced at £16.95 per head or £23.50 to include half a Jersey lobster.
For those with strictly land-lubbing appetites there is steak (£12.75), lamb (£11.95) or guinea fowl (£10.95). All are served with vegetables or salad and new potatoes.
"Many locals come just for the crabs when they know they they will be at their best and they simply devour them with a bottle of wine," says Dorris, attesting to the popularity of starters such as the local spider crabs, or the peppered lady crab.
The self-service brasserie offers a more modest menu and items are priced accordingly at an average spend of £5-£10 with wine, compared with £20-£30 in the restaurant.
The Jersey Pottery, Gorey Village, Jersey, Channel Islands. Tel: 01534 851119
