All I can say is… The power of social media. If you go onto Fish and Bubble’s instagram you will see, they have a substantial size following. I decided to spontaneously walk in for a quick lunch seeing that it had newly opened in the area. The menu looked nicely laid out and did show promise. It was slightly milder this day, so I treated myself and sat outside. The tables didn’t appear to be super clean, and it looked like some were covered in dust. An observation and not a good start.
I took three tapas first to see where we would land. One catch of the day fish balls, Mediterranean herbs infused anchovies and baby leaf salad with cucumber and prawns. It all reads very nicely, doesn’t it? The fish balls were nothing to shout about, I felt neutral about them. A prominent flavour of cheese came through which was unexpected. The anchovies came out fridge cold, it would have been more pleasant for the palate to serve them slightly warmer or at room temperature. They looked like they had been thrown into the tapas bowl without any care whatsoever. This place hasn’t heard the saying. ‘You eat with your eyes’ I didn’t find them very appealing. The baby leaf salad was one of the better tapas dishes, the prawn was sweet and plump especially, but nothing to be excited about here.
As it was a weekday lunch, I wanted to still be healthy, however I thought ok let’s go with a dish that this place is supposed to be doing very well. The Fritto Misto. It arrives on a platter and the waiter says that there is a chickpea fritter on it and the same catch of the day fish ball I had for the first tapas dish. For your information, the menu states that it will be a deep-fried selection of fish and seafood in our secret batter with aioli mayonnaise. What came on there was also some chips. This is not what it should be, and it was almost £16.00. It would not be so outrageous for Notting Hill if it were what it said it was and it was cooked very well. It might have passed. It did have some seafood in there though. Amongst them was the calamari and it was chewy. (I was chewing for days.) Eventually I had to dispose of it onto my plate. (I know not very elegant). It is no secret that the batter they made was subpar as well. You can’t even call it a batter; it had no crisp. The rest of the fish looked like it hadn’t been prepared properly so I didn’t want to eat it. It was officially the worst Fritto Misto I ever had. I gave out a sigh. I liked the idea of this place, but it couldn’t deliver.
Inside the restaurant the staff were working hard on their social media. I looked across at them, it looked like they were putting in a lot of effort. It made me question what the restaurant’s motives are. Is it to get hundreds and thousands of followers or is it to create delicious Italian tapas food? I know my answer…
A kind remark for the waiter, he took the Fritto Misto off my bill and apologised. Weirdly in a way like he was used to doing it. Perhaps I was another Guinea pig road testing this place, yet for them to hear another complaint. It seemed all too familiar to me or was it the fact that they were more interested in making videos and photos for their socials. I saw a girl take a huge bite into her bun on camera, then she started to laugh. I felt disheartened and sad to see that this is how the world really is now. I take food seriously (To the extreme) And if people running a restaurant are not serious about the cookery, they may as well close shop and do something else. Most of us just want to eat tasty food not prance around on tick tock.
