5. Wood fire grilled turbot surges in London
Whole turbot cooked over a wood grill seems to be the hottest dish in the United Kingdom, according to Derek Guthrie, a food writer for The Guardian.
“In London, turbot has been this year's thing, kicking off specifically with a Basque-inspired restaurant called ‘Brat’ in Shoreditch,” he wrote recently.
Tomos Parry, the inspirational chef behind the Michelin-starred restaurant Brat, has always loved turbot, saying that the fish, simply grilled, is his ideal last meal. Not always on the menu, it is regardless the grandstand dish, prepared over the fire as he learned from a small fishing village restaurant in Gateria, Spain.
“The fact that London's restaurant cognoscenti just discovered turbot this past year came as a shock to me, as it’s long been a favorite of mine,” Guthrie said. “More importantly, they also discovered turbot cheeks and then other nuggets of flavor like cod cheeks and sucking the heads out of prawns.”
Brat – which also happens to be an old English term for turbot – isn’t the only restaurant capitalizing on the fire grilled fish.
“It’s not just Brat," Guthrie said. “Open fires are spreading even faster, with it seeming like every new place now has pits and flames and wood burning.”
