Taste
Bill's fishy business
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| Bill Burgess at his Billy the Fish restaurant in Dorchester Picture by FINNBARR WEBSTER/F5998 |
I ALWAYS thought Billy the Fish was a novelty gift - that one that resembles a mounted seabass - that serenaded you, all of a sudden, with Take Me To The River, or Don't Worry, Be Happy or whatever its repertoire was.
They were all the rage for about 10 minutes in 2000. Anyway, it turns out I was wrong, that was Big Mouth Billy Bass, whereas Billy the Fish is a fishmonger's in Dorchester owned by Bill Burgess. Bill's fishy business has been going on for a couple of years now down the alleyway left of Best Flowers in Trinity Street, Dorchester. (It is nigh on impossible to find the place unless you know where you are going). The latest development of Bill's business, which opened nine weeks ago, is The Fisherman's Workshop, a rustic restaurant that serves the freshest of fish cooked just how you want it.
Bill says: "I wanted it to feel like a fisherman's workshop." He has done a good job; happening upon the restaurant is a very pleasant surprise indeed, with nets strewn over the walls and looping down from the ceiling, and rubber rings and fish baskets about the place. It's a nautical treasure trove in landlocked Dorchester, a dry Davy Jones's Locker, if you will.
"When I was looking at the atmosphere, I was aiming to make it comfortable for everybody," says Bill, "so you could dine in here whether you were wearing a suit and tie, or shorts and a T-shirt."
Before opening the restaurant, Bill was serving fish on a six-seater from the fishmonger's. "It was successful, so when this came up for lease I just decided that it went hand-in-hand to have a fish restaurant next door to a fishmonger's," he says.
The system works well. Bill buys line-caught fish from local fisherman, crabs from Portland and, two or three times a week, he drives down to Brixham in Devon to bid for fish there.
He says: "I always buy from day boats rather than big trawlers so I know the fish is fresh."
Bill's interest in fish started with his fishing for pleasure. After an injury in carpentry, his former trade, Bill decided to open a cockles and mussels hut in a car park in Ferrybridge in Weymouth.
"As the summer finished I decided I wanted to carry on in the trade and I realised there was not a fishmonger's any more in Dorchester, so I found this place. I always had the idea of a crab-cracking shellfish bar and, as I learned that there are a lot of people interested in the whole experience of eating fish and cooking it, I decided to do an open kitchen here."
"We put the whole fish on display and that can be filleted or cooked how the customers want it. It can be grilled, baked, fried, steamed; however they want it. Because the concentration goes into the fish, the meals come accompanied with a simple organic salad and sautéed potatoes."
Do Bill and Shelley, his daytime chef, make recommendations, I wonder? "Yes," says Bill. "If customers come into the restaurant and try something they might not usually try, such as a fillet of plaice or a fillet of Dover sole, they can watch how it's been cooked. Then they can go over to the fishmonger's, have their fish filleted for them so it's no harder than cooking a fishfinger; a fillet will cook in five minutes."
One thing that Bill is interested in doing is a fish cooking class for customers one or two nights a month.
Has he got any tips? "I find that ginger, garlic, fennel and thyme are nice flavours to add to fish," he says. "A house speciality here, because I have a great deal of crab carcasses and lobster carcasses left over at the fishmonger's and I make a really mean stock, is homemade fish soup (£3.95)."
The restaurant also does a good line in homemade fishcakes, homemade fisherman's pies and homemade pates, although it does not have a set menu because the fish changes daily.
The Fisherman's Workshop is doing well; already it is best to book a table at weekends.
"The first weekend we opened, we were so busy during the day and in the evening we were fully booked, but we ran out of fish," smiled Shelley; "we had to order some more."
What is Bill's favourite fish, I wonder? "There are so many: brill, tuna, John Dory, swordfish, mackerel, and we've got beautiful local trout. I can not understand how people can say they don't like fish when there are so many flavours and so many different fish.
"When you've tried 20 or 30 different species, only then you can say you don't like fish."
The Fisherman's Workshop is open every day (except Sunday) from 11am to 4pm and from 7pm until late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Call 01305 757428 or 07709 428 389 to book.
8:38am Monday 21st April 2008
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