Call and collect fresh fish from top chef Andy Rea to protect business

Worried about the lack of cash flow since the lockdown in March, Andy and his business partners Bob and Joanne McCoubrey hope they’ve come up with an approach which will help to ensure the popular restaurant is in a decent financial shape when the lockdown is eventually lifted.

Concern about what lies ahead, especially if the lockdown in hotels and restaurants continues beyond the summer, is shared by hoteliers, restaurateurs and café owners throughout Northern Ireland. There have been stark warnings from hospitality bodies that the drastic loss of trade from the lockdown could mean that many may not survive the pandemic.

“It’s a fight that we are determined to win and will do whatever we can to protect the restaurant and valued employees, many of whom have been with us for some considerable time,” Andy says. “We are all in a tough and scary situation.”

The fightback features a twin-pronged approach involving the resumption of sales of fresh fish and seafood, including oysters and mussels, all of which are sourced from local suppliers.

“Shoppers are now able call us and collect fresh fish from Kilkeel and other local harbours. We’ve created what is in effect a drive through fishmongers at our restaurant in Bank Square. We’ve always had a small fish and seafood counter at the restaurant and have now expanded this because it’s become difficult to source locally landed seafood in Belfast especially since the closure of St George’s Market.

“In addition, I am back in the kitchen with other chefs offering quality fish dishes for customers on a call and collect basis. As well as our longstanding focus on the highest hygiene and safety standards, we now observe social distancing rules in the kitchen,” Andy explains.

“Customers can contact us to arrange a time to collect a freshly cooked meal. They then drive into Bank Square to collect. We will again observe social distancing rules to ensure everyone’s safety.”

Instructions on how to prepare the meals are included in the takeaway containers. In addition, customers are able to tune into a video for advice from Andy on how best to enjoy the tasty food. A premium meal of starters and mains for two costs £36. The first call and collect meal featured a delicious starter of hot smoked salmon with spring and the main was grilled fillet of hake with saffron risotto cake with sprouting broccoli, fresh tomato and basil salsa.

The response to the fresh meal service may also lead to an extension of call and collect to Home and La Taqueria, the other restaurants Andy owns in Belfast. Other local restaurants are developing call and collect services for customers and more will follow as continuing uncertainty fuels anxiety about what lies ahead.

Andy is also keen to do whatever he can to support local trawlers landing a range of fish on a daily basis: “Fishing families also need regular income to ensure long-term survival. We have some of the world’s best fish and seafoods. They are natural and healthy foods. I will also be offering them an outlet for different species such as megrim and gurnard for fish lovers in the Belfast area.”

Andy, a native of Belfast, fell in love with seafood during a stint working as a top chef on Martha’s Vineyard, the tiny island off Cape Cod in New England. Mourne Seafood Bar was established in 2006 by Andy and Bob, a marine engineer and former oyster farmer on Dundrum Bay, who runs Mourne Seafood restaurant in the Co Down seaside town. Both are dedicated campaigners for local seafood. The Dundrum restaurant has also launched Mourne@Home, a fresh meal collection service.

Andy continues: “We are committed to raise the profile of the superb seafood to be found in Northern Ireland, most of which was exported before the lockdown to grace the dining tables in France, Spain, Italy and even further afield. Oysters from here are to be found in ritzy restaurants in Paris, and you’ll find our lobsters in Barcelona. Glenarm organic salmon is prized by chefs in Dubai, Hong Kong, New York and San Francisco as well as in London.”

He’s determined to protect the acclaimed seafood restaurant because it is the realisation of a dream: “To eat seafood is to hear the gulls, feel the sand and taste the sea. My aim is to provide delicious, innovative and honest food that has been locally sourced at a price that is accessible and also offers a decent return for the restaurant and our fishing families that supply our wonderful seafood.”

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