Aubin and Randall - Soho, London

Knowing my father's fondness for seafood platters, I mentally jotted down Aubin and Randall in Soho as a potential place to eat when he was next in town. The restaurant was always bustling on the numerous occasions I have passed by and the food didn't look too bad either. Reviews online showed the sort of middle of the road comments ... never quite a five but around the three. Good enough to risk a meal with my parents.

A no booking policy meant waiting for a table but with the nice weather and a chilled glass of wine supplied by the charming waiter, the time passed by fast enough. Once settled on our high stools in the teeny tiny restaurant, a little cramped but it's all part of the charm (though someone might want to tell the staff that the slightly overenthusiastic dance music was more than a little out of sync with the Parisian chic atmosphere that they were trying to recreate), we were supplied with bread, butter and olives (a surcharge of £1.50 is charged per person) for us to nibble on whilst waiting for our orders.

Finally the pièce de résistance arrived - the fruits de mer. Our waitress advised getting the minimum order for 2 people (priced at £29.50 per person) with the serving being rather large and getting a few sides to share or another main (or two) later if we were still hungry. And how right she was .... the serving was very generous - a selection of rock oysters, whole crab, giant prawns, Atlantic shrimp, diver picked scallops, whelks, cherry stone clams and green lip mussels. There was supposed to be langoustine on the platter as well but as they had run out for the day we had extra oysters. All the seafood was fresh and tasted good. My father was satisfied. So all was good.

I had started eyeing another table's order of roast chicken and frites when we were standing outside waiting for our table but with our large order of seafood to finish, I had to settle for a side order of fries (£2.65). Not the best fries I've ever had but it had to do for the day.

To jazz thing up a little further with a touch more fried food I also ordered the zucchini frites with basil mayonnaise (£4.95), which were yummy-delish! Juicy batons of courgette encased in light batter served with basil tainted mayonnaise. I absolutely adore mayo with fried food so was particularly delighted with this dish.

After much debate if we should get more food, we finally decided to "not overdo things" and get a main to share instead. The waitress recommended the pan fried king scallops with braised fennel and sauteed potato crisps (£16.85). The scallops were nicely cooked and despite being a fennel hater ... I found it rather yummy. Braised but still retaining a little crunch. The most interesting part of the dish was the sauce which took quite a few guesses to try to get right. Saffron, mango juice and star anise amongst other things ...... who would have thought ... it came out robust with an underlining fruitiness. Even then it was the waitress who came round to inquire if I had guessed the ingredients correctly. Apparently it is a common occurrence with customers who order this particular dish to conduct a taste test on the sauce.

Decent food and friendly service. Our waitress even gave us a little lesson on the French occupation of Algeria as she sorted out our bill. I think my father might suggest another visit when he is in town next.

Aubin and Randall
16 Brewer Street, Soho, London W1F 0SQ