Tuesday 16 March 2010

Smuggling Scallops at The Ship in Rye

On a wet Sunday evening The Ship Inn was quite quiet but felt inviting and ideal for an evening of board games and more scallops. We hunkered down and imagined we were smugglers trying to evade detection. We set about a marathon session of Scrabble along with a pint of Harvey’s. I just wish I had written this review using the scrabble board to record our thoughts…



Coquille Saint Jacques tasted great but wasn’t the elegant dish we were expecting. It was a bit cloying and overly dense but in fairness the scallop was the star of the show. And to be honest what’s not to like about cheese, cream and scallops even if it wasn’t an ethereal version.

Smoked haddock gratin

Smoked haddock gratin with toasted sourdough was delicious. Very simple. Very naughty. Very good.

Mexican scallops

Scallops with smoked prawn and chipotle sauce, served on corn fritters, were brilliant. The smoked prawns and chipotle are a great match and a speciality of the Ship. Whilst I loved them, some more sauce would have been very welcome indeed.

Scallops with risotto

Unfortunately scallops with bacon and pea risotto read well but ate badly. Everything was tasty, but the cement-like risotto shouldn’t have been allowed out of the kitchen. It needed to be far looser.

Despite a dodgy risotto and sloppy Coquille Saint Jacques, we had a very enjoyable experience. The staff were a fun bunch of quirky youngsters sporting interesting tattoos, brooding make up and genuine smiles. It’s a great pub that does imaginative food and takes care to create a creative experience that sets it apart from other pubs. So much so that they get full marks for their fantastic website which not only provides all the information that you need but does it with such style seamlessly links with the imaginative vibe you get when you settle in for a session.

Further reading:

The Ship Inn website
The Ship Inn on Trip Advisor
The Guardian on the Ship Inn

This is part of a small clutch of posts about our trip to Rye for the Scallop Festival.

5 comments:

Manggy said...

Wow, look at that risotto - were they trying to make a giant dumpling out of it?!
Scallops do look lovely though.

Unknown said...

I love Rye and it's been far too long since I last went there. Scallops look great but shame about the risotto.

Looking forward to seeing some Swedish reviews!

Jonathan said...

@Manggy - Haha. It was very dumpling esque. I probably should have written something cutting about it. But it's too nice a place to do that.

@Sarah - Fear not. I'm planning some Swedish writing once I've had time to bed in.

natural selection said...

What a perfect night!

Paunchos said...

@natural selection - Indeed it was. Scrabble and scallops. What more do you want?

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