Here's our dinner from Mr Oyster Boy.
So what exactly is Mr Oyster Boy?
Its the home delivery service from Richard Corrigan, the Irish chef who has three restaurants in London, the eponymous Corrigan's, Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill and the recently launched Daffodil Mulligan.
This service is mainly centred around Bentley's with something of a focus on seafood (the name Mr Oyster Boy gives it away). Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill is something of an institution in London, it's been around for over 100 years and for over a decade has been run by Corrigan. It's also firmly on our list of the very best restaurants in London. But while you're unable to sit up at the bar of Bentley's right now, this is a very welcome alternative arrangement.
In addition to Bentley's, there's a guest appearance on the menu from Daffodil Mulligan, Corrigan's most recent opening near Old Street.
Where are they delivering to?
You can collect from Daffodil Mulligan, or they deliver Friday - Sunday, up to 5.5 miles from that restaurant.
How much work is involved?
Relatively little - all the cold dishes are ready to eat and a few of the hot dishes mainly need a little reheating. It's all quite straightforward.
And what did you try?
We roamed through a selection of the menu. Dishes are split into signature and classic, and you can also pick up a few extra "essentials" from their shop.
Things kicked off with something from the "shop" section of the menu - 200g of their rooftop smoked salmon (£17). Yes it's actually smoked in a smoker on the rooftop of Bentley's.
Next up was the Cornish dressed crab (£26) - which comes with four slices of their soda bread and seaweed butter alongside. This entire combination worked wonders. The dressed crab was made of all-white meat, and the soda bread was top notch too...
The soda bread is also available as a whole loaf (£6) and you can also buy the seaweed butter on its own (£5). We make our own soda bread and as such are extremely fussy about others' efforts. But this had an often-missed lightness in the texture and was very good.
Then we moved onto the main event - The Bentley's fish pie (£26). This is a signature of the restaurant and is a mix of haddock, prawns and salmon. Again, a fish pie is easy to make OK, but relatively hard to get just right but this was exceptional. It was both generous with the fish and the sauce was wonderful. It says that this serves between 1-2 people, but we think it's way too big for just one person. A must-order.
Anything else worth highlighting?
As we mentioned, Daffodil Mulligan puts in a showing too - with the sugar pit pork available to order (we had that at Daffy's at Christmas and it's an easy recommendation). Other highlights are lobster spaghetti, Bentley's fish and chips (with mushy peas, of course) and a couple of soups - lobster bisque or crab, mussel and coconut soup. There are also oysters to start with, of course, and Bentley's classic fish cocktail.
What about desserts?
There are just two on the menu - a rice pudding and what we had (see below). You can also order some of their port-infused stilton and oat cakes (£17) to finish up.
We had one of their dessert classics - a light (much-needed after gorging on the fish pie) Japanese cheesecake which comes with an elderflower poached peach on the side (£6).
Overall thoughts?
While this is on the high end price-wise of some of the deliveries we've had, we thought the quality was similarly high. Good seafood is worth paying for and this is exceptional seafood. If you're a fan of Bentley's, then this is an easy recommendation - but even if you haven't been, lovers of quality seafood are well serviced here. A definite winner.
More about Mr Oyster Boy
Where is it? 70-74 City Rd, Old Street, London EC1Y 2BJ
Delivery range and times: Delivery radius from Daffodil Mulligan of 5.5 miles. Preorder is available from Monday - Friday (last orders at noon) with delivery/collection from Friday - Sunday.
How to order: Visit their website.
Find out more: Follow Bentley's on Instagram @bentleysoysterbar
Hot Dinners were sent these this meal by the restaurant. Prices are correct at time of publication.
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