Love and Fish

Jane got me thinking about anniversaries.

In early May 1991 V and I met for the very first time. I was on my summer vacations having just completed my class 10 exams. V had just finished class 11 exams and had this serious and handsome face with a smile that caused a flutter in the heart. I was 16 and he was 17. Yes, like the song…

At the time we were both too young to know what the future held for us. It was not till a few years later and many reams of friendly correspondence that things turned romantic. The rest, as they say, is history.

Girls, being far more sentimental than boys, think up anniversaries for every occasion. Well, both of us (and by that I mean me, followed by poor V) like to mark the years that have passed since we first met.

2006 marked 15 years since that day we first met. Knowing your other half for half your adult life is quite a landmark (I think). And we decided to celebrate by going out for a lovely meal in the evening sun. After much deliberation about where to go, we chose ‘Fish!’ in Borough market (since our Zanzibar holiday two years ago we are both hooked on seafood). It’s a restaurant that is always full on Saturdays during the day - which is when we usually pass it while shopping in the bustling Borough market. We’ve been tempted to go in many a time but mainly due to the crowds have always ended up sitting in the church courtyard eating falafel in pitta or brockwurst in a bun from the market stalls.

I booked at ‘Fish!’ for an early meal as it was a Monday and we both had work the next day. It was a lovely sunny albeit windy day and the glass walls of the restaurant kept the inside nice, bright and toasty. To start with, V had smoked Salmon and I the halibut rarebit. As main courses V had halibut with vinaigerette and I had tuna steak with Hollandaise sauce. I have only good things to say about our meal. The fish was fresh, beautifully handled and cooked and artistically served. The portions were a good size and the service friendly. Fish! is highly recommended. I would say a weekday evening meal is probably a better option than a weekend day time meal. If you love fish this is an excellent choice to dine at.

We had a lovely evening reminiscing about when we first met. I remembered a totally different version to V – and with his razon-like memory compared to my rusty old one I’m relying on his! It was interesting to see how far we’ve come since we were teenagers, how much we’ve evolved as people and grown as a couple. We laughed a great deal, talked about our life together, enjoyed basking in the past and dreaming of the future. The evening was perfect in every aspect.

May 1991: Calcutta – May 2006: London - May 2021:?

Fish!: Cathedral Street, Borough Market, London SE1 9AL. Tel: 020 7407 3803