Fins Restaurant

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• Average price 2 courses:
   £24 (lunch)
   £27 (evening meal)
• House wine: £12.80 per bottle

• High point: Fish lovers' paradise
• Low point: Only two wines available by the glass
• Food served: Tue–Sat noon–2.30pm, 7–9pm; Sun noon–2.30pm. Closed Mon.
• Open since: 1993
• Also offers: Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Wheelchair access, Takeaway

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
– in the shops now or buy online.

Bernard and Jill Thain's restaurant may have the look of an upscale country café, but their serious approach to seafood and the quality of the ingredients marks Fins out as a more interesting proposition altogether. Indeed, Bernard himself is the fisherman, taking to the seas in his traditionally built wooden boat, Pegasus, and he claims to know the origin of every fish they sell down to the last langoustine. Situated only a few minutes from Largs, the busy dining room and conservatory are favoured by middle-aged customers enjoying impressive platters of seafood, washed down with decent bottles of wine. Cullen skink is thick, creamy and full of smoky flavours, and is served with excellent home-made bread. A huge portion of mussels, as plump and fleshy as you'll find, are cooked in garlicky broth, while seared king scallops come with a smoked salmon sauce fragranced with dill. Elsewhere, halibut fillet is served with squat lobster in a chardonnay sauce. An on-site smokehouse and farmshop sells not only the fish Bernard catches but other local produce, and on the last Sunday of every month the farm is host to a well-attended farmers' market.