foodSharkbait and Swim — The mission to redefine seafood
Under the arches in Deptford, Steve McClarty is quietly trying to reshape the way we eat seafood. His restaurant, Sharkbait and Swim, is attracting glowing acclaim for embracing interesting twists on classic seafood and bringing them to Londoners at more than affordable prices. Sitting down with the chef, it’s easy to see why.
The first thing that you’ll notice about Sharkbait and Swim is it’s location. Just five minutes from London Bridge on the Overground, Deptford and its Market Yard are becoming an increasingly popular spot for exciting bar and restaurant concepts alike and the community feeling amongst them is clear for all to see. More than anything, the railway arches themselves define a large part of what the restaurant is. For a start, it’s small: with just twenty covers indoors, summer evenings allow for more customers outside but that inherent intimacy remains. That size also of course limits the kitchen — although McCarty has created an incredible set-up behind the pass in such a small area. In just a few square meters he has everything from dehumidifiers to a barbecue grill.
All that equipment is essential because Sharkbait and Swim’s menu is defined by experimentation — it is changing all the time and it was a pleasure to see Steve’s excitement as a new fish arrived and we bounced dish ideas off each other! Base items remain and favourite specials become fixtures but really, everything is in play.
Anyway, the best place to demonstrate all of this is with food and where better to start than with oysters? Steve laughs about the fact that these have become somewhat of a signature — it was never meant to be that way but quite simply no-one else does them like he does. Of course, they are availible in the classic style with shallot vinegar, tabasco, and lemon but this is also where the sauce obsession begins…
First up is maybe the most wacky of all: pickled strawberry dressing. You can listen and watch the podcast to hear Steve explain the story behind this dish in his own words but it stems from his love of summertime Kentish strawberries. His goal of preserving that flavour all year manifests itself here with some cider vinegar for a fascinating flavour combination. It shouldn’t work but is does with the fresh sweetness of the strawberries carried by the vinegar’s acidity and the salty flavour of the oyster.
Nam chim jaew is another of these crazy concoctions, this time discovered by Steve in Thailand. Described by him as “the perfect balance of sour and sweet” it has a similar impact to the strawberry. The Sichuan mala vinaigrette packs a punch for sure and the ponzu, ginger & coriander bring soy to the party with those distinctive herbs to balance them out. Prices are as impressive as the oysters themselves: at £3 each with tabasco and £3.50 with signature dressings they aren’t cheap but, especially given some London prices, they are more than respectable and much more fun to enjoy with a few drinks than at your standard London oyster bar.
Moving on from the shell fish and next up came the chalk stream trout ceviche. Yet again, the sheer number of flavours here is what hits you first and its one of those dishes that takes you a while to work out in your mouth. Ginger and soy definitely dominate but the trout is pleasingly chunky and maintains its freshness through the accompanying herbs to make sure that the fish’s flavour isn’t completely lost.
Scarred by the overboiled broccoli of his childhood, Steve only offers heavily grilled tender stem here and it is all the better for it. It’s one of the few vegetarian options on the menu but it’s not here for the just for the sake of it — the chef says it’s here “because it’s delicious”. That’s an admirable philosophy and it does mean that vegetarians won’t be completely left out if joining friends for drinks . My favourite bit of this dish in particular is the base (seeing the sauce obsession yet?), hints of smoked chile come through and fried garlic mixes with the crispy char for a brilliantly unhealthy take on vegetables.
Ox cheek & miso croquettes, jalapeno jam
Just as vegetables are only on the menu for their flavour, there is one meat dish that sneaks into Sharkbait’s seafood crusade. The ox cheek croquettes take a deceptively long time to make and achieve the crusting, the end result has to be frozen and fried straight from there. The ox cheek oozes delightfully when cut and although the miso flavours didn’t really come through for me, the jalapeño jam base is a great garnish to add some mild sweetness to the smoky meat.
And now the stars of the show — the fish and specifically mackerel and sardines. I’m delighted that these are the two that Steve picked out for me — I think that they both are criminally underused and are often seen as ‘lesser fish’. In fact, they pack far more flavour than most and Sharkbait and Swim take that a step further. Mackerel is skewered and served on a runny tomato butter to add a freshness to the crispy skin that is so pleasing about barbecued fish. That skin is of course present on the sardines too that combine mango and coconut for distinctly Asian flavours. At £10.50 for the plate of three, this dish represents the inventive value that sums up Sharkbait perfectly.
There are so many more stories that Steve has to tell and for them you only have to listen to the ‘Meet The Chefs’ podcast at the top of this article. Having visited his restaurant though, it is easy to see why he is attracting so much high-profile attention. After TV appearances in the past and features in the national media as of late, McCarty very much has his head screwed on. A brilliant eye for flavours and an entrepreneurial ethos leave me in no doubt that before long his restaurants might just become a fixture across the capital and beyond.
