11.British: Kingfish Restaurant

Kingfish Restaurant
36 Sussex Road,
Haywards Heath,
West Sussex
RH16 4EA
01444 412601



Badgerman and I happened upon Kingfish Restaurant after I visited a Podiatrist at the Foot Care Centre next door and what a great find it was too! Forget your preconceptions about fish and chip shops/restaurants when you visit Kingfish. You can order a take-away from the very clean counter or go further in the foyer and enter the very smartly decorated restaurant with its chic tables and chairs and interesting, themed abstract and realistic artwork a photographs.

We were greeted with a friendly smile and shown to our table. It was just 12 noon and we were the only customers but the restaurant was quite full when we left an hour later.

I chose crevettes cooked in butter, olive oil, garlic and pepper served with French bread for £6.00. Not particularly cheap for a starter but the huge crevettes were beautifully cooked- still plump and flavoursome and nicely presented and worth the cost. Badgerman chose whitebait (£4.30); a brave choice as I have often found this dish to be little than a mess of crispy, oily, overcooked, shrivelled fish. Well not this time! They were plump and fat, lightly battered and cooked to a turn with the flesh still moist and very tasty.

Our ample main dishes of 'small' cod, chips, ratatouille and pickled gherkin (left) and 'small' huss, chips and peas (below)were £6.40 each and arrived soon after our starter dishes were cleared. The chips were good but we both particularly enjoyed the fish. It was perfectly cooked and the batter was really thin and crispy- just as it should be. I liked the home-made ratatouille and found it a nice alternative to peas. We could have had medium sized fish portions for £7.30 or £7.85, depending on the variety of fish or large portions for £8.30 to £9.00. Our small sizes were plenty as we had starters. When I return, and I will, if I don't have a started I will probably order a medium fish portion and save the large for my sons with their hollow legs.

Perusing the menus we found a surprisingly large choice of pasta, pizza, meat, pie and vegetarian dishes; there were also good reasonable children’s selections such as cod bites. Kingfish is fully licenced, notably with imaginative and reasonalby priced wines.

We finished up just with coffee, as we were too full for dessert and our bill for two came to £26.65 excluding tip.

Rating
Ambience: 3
Food Presentation: 2
Food Quality: 4
Service: 2
Value for money: 2.5