Scott's, 20 Mount Street, W1

In New York, there is a certain type of restaurant (or bar, club, cafe, etc.) that opens to rave reviews and then is nearly impossible to get into.  A few months later, it is heavily populated with what are called the "Bridge & Tunnel" crowd; those people who travel from Long Island, Staten Island, New Jersey.  The worst of the B&T crowd descend en mass using their "outdoor voices" inside and tend to assume an air of proprietorial entitlement that can only be the natural result of having sat in traffic for hours on the BQE just to have dinner in the city.  Happily, the infiltration does not last long as the B&T crowd usually moves on to the next big hotspot as soon as they can get a reservation.

This is not the case at Scott's.  Scott's is consistently populated with everyone from film stars and footballers (WAGs and chavs in tow) to neighborhood locals and for some reason, at least of table of representatives from Essex.  Needless to say, it makes for interesting people-watching.

But people-watching is not the main event here - rather, it's what one does while waiting for one's cocktail or starter to arrive.  One comes to Scott's for the fish.  I must confess that while my husband and I have dined at Scott's a number of times, I am a creature of habit.  My husband (Mr. Ex-Pat), on the other hand, shakes it up every time and can vouch for the octopus carpaccio, the smoked eel, the wild rabbit on toast, and the wood pigeon on toast.  I've sampled all of his orders and so far, tend to favor the wood pigeon which was perfectly cooked (rare but not bloody) and very flavorful without being gamey.  The only time I deviate in my ordering is for my first course and then it's dependent on the season.  In the summer (depending on the month, of course), I will generally order either a half-dozen native oysters or their glorious zucchini flowers.  The native oysters are just as I like them best - fat, briny, with a slight sweetness.  The zucchini flowers are a thing of beauty as well - stuffed with robiola then fried in an exceptionally light tempura batter and served over a bed of heirloom tomatoes with just a hint of pesto.  In the fall and winter, I tend to start with the cod's tongues served with marrow.  This last visit, on New Year's Eve, I stuck with tradition.  The cod's tongues were served with ceps in a rich, buttery jus and accompanied with two roasted marrow bones and a piece of buttered, grilled toast.  The tongues and ceps were heaven though a touch overcooked but certainly not enough to quibble about.  The toast would have been served well without the butter as the marrow was rich enough without the extra fat.  The only complaint I had was out of the two pieces of marrow, only one was perfection; the other suffered from some sort of bloody-gristle nonsense that looked too unappealing to bother with.

As usual, I followed my starter with the 16oz. Dover Sole Meuniere which the waitstaff helpfully took off the bone for me.  The fish was firm and dense - the flesh perfectly seasoned and almost caramelized.  Mr. Ex-Pat and I decided to share a side of plain, steamed spinach which I flavored with a bit of the clarified butter from my sole.  The spinach however, did not need the dressing up I gave it.  The leaves were bright green and just slightly steamed so they retained their individual leaves rather than being the mess of dark green mush in brownish water that one normally gets in restaurants.  Mr. Ex-Pat threw me for a loop when he ordered the Roast Sea Bass with Clams & Sea Shore Vegetables instead of the Atlantic Halibut.  The halibut looks like a sad piece of fish when it arrives - bone-in, all alone on the plate - but dear me, is it tasty!  The chef wisely lets the halibut speak for itself by simply seasoning it and either roasting it or grilling it.  The Sea Bass on the other hand, was set in a bowl of a creamy, buttery sauce that was enhanced by the clam's natural juices.  The skin of the bass was crisp and the flesh firm with a hint of opacity.  Mr. Ex-Pat, who generally has an aversion to clams and mussels ate them with relish and pronounced the dish a winner.

Scott's is a favorite for boozy lunches particularly in the summer when it's possible to sit outside.  They make a mean classic champagne cocktail and vodka martini but the wine list is fairly limited if one is looking for a mid-range white.  There is a Chablis for 36GBP and a Pouilly-Fume at 40GBP that are very nice but one would like a few more choices in that range.

The only real complaint I have with Scott's is the cover charge.  Granted it's only something like 2GBP per person but seriously... When one is paying 150GBP plus the 12.5% service charge (or whatever it is - I can't remember) for lunch for two, doesn't it seem a bit mean to charge an extra couple of pounds for the privilege?