Wright Brothers Battersea Power Station

It's best to book at this riverside restaurant, though the hardworking staff will try to accommodate walk-ins when they can. The terrace, overlooking the riverbank and the colossal Battersea Power Station is a great spot for people-watching, but inside it's perfectly comfortable with a long communal table at the bar or more private tables around the dining room. 

Oysters are the speciality and there's a broad selection on offer, from ‘naked’ bivalves served with 'hogwash' (their own sweet-sour fresh chilli sauce) to an intriguing choice of ‘cooked and dressed’ variants – although there's much more than molluscs and seafood platters here. In their other lives, the titular 'Wright Brothers' are fishmongers, so the quality of the seafood is pretty much guaranteed – and the kitchen knows what it’s doing. 

An elegant plate of sea bass sashimi was exemplary, the fish beautifully fresh and carefully cut, with sweet pink grapefruit providing the necessary acidity, and red onion and chilli adding crunch and punch. Elsewhere, the crispness of tempura batter was a pleasing contrast to the chewy nobashi prawn within, and though the accompanying Thai dipping sauce wasn't quite as fierce as it could be, it still did the job. There are also crowd-pleasers of battered cod and chips, as well as crab linguine, made richer and more unctuous than usual with the addition of brown crabmeat in the sauce. Desserts are something of an afterthought.

Non-fish eaters are catered for, but to be honest, they're very much in the minority here.  Given the menu, it’s hardly a surprise that the rather good wine list shines the spotlight on whites rather than reds, and thanks to a Coravin system, some serious stuff available by the glass.