Prawn on the Lawn, Islington
During my search for London's best oyster bars (I was writing this piece for About Time), I was directed time and time again to Prawn on the Lawn; a teeny tiny fishmonger in Highbury that also doubles as a seafood bar, so I made it my business to go and see what all the fuss was about.
There's a cellar which takes reservations, but really you'll want to be up in the shop and here they only take walk-ins. It gets busy on the weekends but you can leave your name and number and go to the pub until there's space. You're not far from Upper Street or there's a few around St Paul's Road.
Try to refrain from groping whilst you look at the menu of the day:
I really wanted to eat every single thing on it. It's a seafood lover's dream and the crab with nam pla was very tempting. I was duty bound to try the oyster tasting platter though, which was no hardship. Mike, their friendly fishmonger / chef prepared me a dish of oysters dressed altenately with cucumber and dill, nam pla and salmon caviar and creme fraiche (my personal favourite). Half a dozen were about £15 I think.
They were so good I bought a dozen Carlingfords to take home and do myself, now that I'm adept at shucking thanks to the Wright Bros masterclass. Think tea towel, sharp strong knife and a tight grip. If you're not sure, ask someone there to show you, I'm sure they'll oblige. Again, I think they were only about £1 each.
I served them with lemon and sriracha as a special Friday night dinner starter ahead of the Tagliata and Bone Marrow I posted about.
There's also a lovely wine selection at Prawn on the Lawn, to drink in or buy and take home.
What's not to like? I'm going back to try the rest of the board imminently.