Pat and Claire are currently working their way through Time Out’s 2008 Top 50 London Restaurants and J. Sheekey makes it on to the list on the strength of their fish. They have kindly invited me along to all their dinners and even though I’ve been to J. Sheekey before on that occasion I didn’t try any of their signature dishes (the Fish Pie and the Spotted Dick) so of course I couldn’t refuse to go 🙂

In the last five months since I last visited there hasn’t been any change at all to the restaurant – its still old-school, discrete and classic. The only change was to the menu and I was glad that this time around Spotted Dick made it on to the menu. Ironically we were even seated next to the table where Jenny and I sat last time!

As I mentioned above this was my chance to try the dishes I wanted to try last time but didn’t – the Fish Pie and the Spotted Dick. My starter tonight was pan-fried scallops with wild garlic mash and crispy bacon. The scallops were divine, if a touch salty, and the mash and bacon were equally up to the task. A good starter but at 15.25 was actually pricier than my main of Fish Pie! (12.75)

The Fish Pie was what I was looking forward to most and though very well put together (with a beautifully light and fluffy mash topping and creamy filling) something made it a little too salty for my taste. It could have been all the smoked fish. Generally as pie the fish inside it was very generous.

Finally, and even though I could barely fit it in, I finished with a dessert of Spotted Dick. This is one dish I have no trouble recommending. Accompanied by butter and golden syrup and loads of custard (for once a serving of custard which was more than enough) it was delish and hardly as rich as I was expecting it to be.

Tonight, as per last time, the service was very spotty – friendly when we got it but visits from the staff were far and few in between. I’d expect somewhere like J. Sheekey to ensure our glasses of water were topped up constantly at the very least but they weren’t and we had to keep requesting water just to keep hydrated …