An excellent weekday lunch at Rockfish

Rockfish on Exeter Quay sits practically on the water, offering diners front-row seats to the gentle bustle of quay life.

The menu proudly champions sustainable seafood, which speaks to my increasingly eco-conscious sensibilities.

We started with Portland Pearl Oysters grown in Chesil Fleet’s clear waters. Served naturally with mignonette and chilli sauce, they tasted of the sea – briny, fresh, and alive with flavour.

Next came grilled mackerel—a criminally underrated fish, in my opinion. Perfectly charred on the outside, succulent within, and mercifully free of the overthinking that plagues so many restaurant fish dishes these days, the mackerel was a delight. The mussels, currently in season, arrived steaming in their shells—plump, sweet, with fresh bread for sopping up the broth.

We finished with affogato—that brilliant Italian invention that perfectly caters to the indecisive dessert orderer. Is it coffee? Is it ice cream? Who cares when it’s this good?

I find myself increasingly drawn to restaurants that understand place—that connection between food and location that elevates a meal from sustenance to experience. Rockfish gets this. They’re not trying to be in London, Paris, or New York. They’re proudly of Devon.

If you’re in the area and, like me, have reached the stage where comfort and quality trump novelty and noise, you could do far worse than an afternoon at Rockfish. Don’t forget to book ahead!