For the latest in our wine columns with Matthew Clark and Tennent’s Direct, SLTN spoke to Café Fish in Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, to talk fresh seafood and fine wine with owner Liz McGougan.
Café Fish, overlooking the harbour in Tobermory, was opened in 2006 in the former Tobermory ferry terminal. It offers a menu of the freshest seafood, paired with a dozen high-quality wines from around the world.
THE DISH
Cold shellfish platter with fresh-caught langoustine, crab claw, caviar, velvet crab, roll mop herring and dressed salad.
THE WINE
Icauna Petit Chablis
(La Chablisienne)
France
Bottle: £40
You had previously worked in kitchens in Glasgow. Why did you decide to relocate to Mull?
“I’m actually from Tarbert on Loch Fyne. I used to come sailing to Tobermory all the time. I’d been in Glasgow for 20 years but I wanted to move back by the water. Live back by the sea again.
“It took me a couple of years to decide, but I always hated being in Glasgow in the summer. After being there for 20 years I was ready to move back.
“I also wanted to be my own boss. I didn’t want to work for people anymore.”
Can you describe the menu at Café Fish?
Liz: “We are predominantly a seafood restaurant. We do simply grilled fish, fillets of fish, halibut, haddock, seabass, hake, turbot. You can just have that with lemon and caper butter. Or we have a specials board, which changes.
“We do a lot of Asian-influences. We like cooking in that style. And obviously some European-style cooking.
“For example, we have a Tom Yam, which has been on our menu for years. And we do an Italian fish stew, which is one of our most popular dishes. We’ve cut the menu down quite a bit over the years, because it’s a very small kitchen, but it’s quite a varied menu.”
What is the wine list like at Café Fish?
“We stock around 12 wines. Our house wine is an Australian Sauvignon. We do three wines by the glass: the house Sauvignon, a Vermentino, and a Picpoul, which is probably our biggest seller. Then we have a Muscadet, New Zealand Pinot Gris, a New Zealand Sauvignon, a Petit Chablis, an Albarino, a Riesling and a Sancerre.
“We have a French rosé that we’ve had for years. And we only have three reds. We have the Australian Merlot, we have a Flagstone, which is kind of a mix of three reds, and then we have a Barbera d’Asti. We don’t sell a lot of red. It’s predominantly white we sell.
“Our Albarino is really popular. The Muscadet is really popular. But the Picpoul is the most popular.”
Can you give an example of a wine paired with a particular dish from the Café Fish menu, and why they are well suited to each other?
Liam Dunn, wine development manager, Matthew Clark: “With the magnificent shellfish platter in Café Fish we would recommend a dry crisp white wine such as this Icauna Petit Chablis 2023, from the Bourgogne region in mid-eastern France, specifically the Yonne department, made from Chardonnay grapes and hand harvested in September.
“The soil on which the grapes grow is Portlandian, which imparts a lighter, fresher style of wine. Ageing in stainless steel tanks gives the wine subtle floral notes mingling with citrus aromas which gives the wine a refreshing energy. A great accompaniment to the platter.”
matthewclark.co.uk
