A white-walled, wide-windowed restaurant on Covent Garden’s charming Henrietta Street, this feels like the kind of seafood place you might find washed up on a beach in Cornwall. A smart beach, mind: Oystermen is definitely rustic-chic. There are blackboards scrawled with crab specials, a deep-blue ceiling and a menu that will tempt even the most dedicated fish-o-phobes into a flurry of patriotic ordering: Scottish mackerel, Devon crab... can you feel that bracing British sea breeze?
Oystermen is the first permanent restaurant from the successful oyster traders, so the bivalves are the speciality of course, and it’s doing rather inventive things with them. Think decadent tempura oysters with champagne aioli and smoked herring caviar, or XO oysters with dried shrimp, garlic and chilli-infused soy. Keep an eye out too for exceptional smoked cod roe and spicy deep-fried mussels, as well as a high-quality bouillabaisse with seared prawns, steamed clams, white fish and a saffron rouille.