Hesp Out West 4 - Mackerel Sky Seafood Bar
A grand afternoon tea is a wonderful thing - there are people in this world who’d survive on it and nothing else if they could - but most of us like to ring the changes. And when we’re somewhere as maritime as Cornwall, we like to eat as much seafood as we can.
Cornwall’s seafood capital, Newlyn, sits snug in the most sheltered corner of Mount’s Bay just a mile or two west of Greg’s high tea. It is one of the largest and most important fishing ports in England, and I love the place.
Trawlers in Newlyn Harbour
But years ago there was something puzzling about Newlyn which I could never get my head around. Although the boats were bringing in some of the best, freshest, most beautiful, fish in Europe and the large auction facility was selling it daily by the meg-truckload, there was not really anywhere in town cooking or preparing the stuff so you could eat it on the spot.
That would not happen anywhere else in Europe! Indeed, when I first visited Newlyn as a journalist, a whopping 96 percent of the catch was being exported to Europe!
That has changed. I first noticed the change a decade ago in the form of a queue of hungry looking people. I have seen this line of folk many times since, standing outside a small but jolly-looking establishment known as the Mackerel Sky Seafood Bar. So, while visiting St Michael’s Mount recently, I went there for lunch to find out what the fuss was all about.
A much-deserved fuss… Because the food served at Mackerel Sky is every bit as good as that queue would suggest (it partly exists, by the way, because there is a no-booking policy at this small restaurant). The place was opened in 2015 by Nina and Jamie MacLean and the tag-line of the place is: “We aim to bring you the freshest and most local produce. The plates are ‘taster’ size, so order one or two, plus a side to make up a meal - or just go ‘tapas’ style..”
Which is what I did with my local friends, Newlyn born and bred seafood expert Robin Turner and his wife Rebecca, who is the mastermind behind the excellent Indulgence Catering business.
It was really first-class. We’re talking about dishes such as crispy sole with katsu curry sauce (£9.00), grilled local white fish with samphire and capers (£9.75), beer-battered local white fish with tartare sauce (£9.00), grilled mackerel, pickled cucumber, horseradish (£9.00), crispy monkfish burger, seaweed mayo (£11.50) etc etc…
Like Greg Milne, neither Nina nor Jamie went to catering college or had a background in cooking. Jamie had a degree in Russian history and classics, although Nina did do a Masters’ in international hospitality management. As is so often the case in life, a bout of foreign travel changed things for the couple. In Australia they found themselves working in catering establishments and so, literally, got a taste for the world of catering. They returned to London where they worked for several years in various restaurants, before moving to Surrey and then to Cornwall, where they bought a lease on a cafe.
To cut a long story short, they now operate their much-acclaimed seafood bar in Newlyn, which they recently enlarged by annexing a shop next-door but one. The property between the two Mackerel Sky outposts is about to become their own delicatessen, specialising in Cornish delights, and should be open by the end of next month.
Jamie and Nina
In a way, I’m sorry to be adding to the constant queue by writing this review - but I do so because I reckon every harbour town in the West Country deserves to have such an establishment. Check out their ever changing menu at https://mackerelskycafe.co.uk/
