These Wright Brothers didn’t invent the aeroplane and they are not actually brothers but brothers-in-law. They cultivate oysters at The Duchy Oyster Farm on Cornwall’s Helford River and supply their own restaurants and others with locally caught fish. At the original London outlet in Borough Market it is often hard to find a perch.
The Soho sibling, with dining space on three levels, is more accommodating and in many ways more appealing except for that attitude of many restaurants that the customer must fall in with our systems.
A note on the blackboard menu to the effect that the kitchen will send out dishes when they can be bothered meant our quite complex order arrived all at once.
Items that should have been eaten hot, such as smoked haddock rarebit and the fish soup, cooled, while crustacea, in this case little Kumamoto Japanese oysters, posed the question of whether they were worth £27 for nine.
Mackerel served with salsa verde was as fresh as if it had just been pulled from the sea. We liked the erudition of the staff. "You’ll enjoy that vicariously, will you?" said the waitress to Reg as she handed me a glass of Savennieres "Les Bastes" Domaine des Barres 2008 (at £9.80).
Little brothers can sometimes be pesky.
Wright Brothers Soho
13 Kingly Street, W1F 9
