Tasting notes

All aboard The Grand Duchess, the London barge now serving top-notch seafood

Serving up seafood – on a barge

PUTTERING ALONG Regent’s Canal while knocking back oysters and sipping English sparkling wine is one of my most memorable meals in London. A seafood dinner aboard The Prince Regent – a narrowboat operated by The London Shell Co – spanned three or four happy hours, plus a fair few tunnels heading out from and back to its berth in Paddington Basin.

Its owners, siblings Harry and Leah Lobek, have run their roaming restaurant (to rave reviews) since December 2016. From the moment they got the lease, they’ve had their eye on a second vessel, The Grand Duchess. ‘We asked the landlord about it every month for two years,’ says Harry, until, finally, it became available. The 32-seater barge opened for lunch and dinner service earlier this month, moored permanently by the canal’s towpath at Paddington and unmissable thanks to a sculptural shoal of shimmering, patinated fish over the entrance, created by Luke Nash.

Having (a little bit) more kitchen space is a novelty, Harry explains, since the food is prepared on board. ‘All we have on The Prince Regent isa gas oven, hob and fryer. Now we’re cooking on really high-spec gear,’ he says. Still, it’s a squeeze for three chefs, and turning tables is an added challenge. Yet the food is just as thrilling as The Prince Regent’s set-menu feast: battered fish with curry sauce; pork loin with cockles and dulse; ricotta gnocchi with artichokes.

‘Everyone on the canal thought the barge was ugly,’ Harry admits. ‘But we can really make a statement with it.’ As a floating galley for gastronomes, it’s certainly now shipshape. londonshellco.com

From top Inside The Grand Duchess; a lunchtime feast including oysters, seared mackerel fillet and beerbattered lobster tails with curry sauce; the mooring at Paddington