The boats come in at four in the morning. By seven the fish market is loud and quick. One of us is there every day the boats run. We buy what is good, what is local, and what is small enough to carry back.
The menu at the pier is short on purpose. Three raw, two cured, three grilled, two desserts. If the boats bring brill, we put brill on. If they bring mackerel, we put mackerel on. If they bring nothing we want, we put on oysters and a salad and we say so.
The tide matters less than people think, and more than we admit. The boats that work the closer grounds go out with the tide and come back with it; if the tide turns at noon, the boats are at the dock by three, and the market is good. If the tide turns at midnight, the boats are not back in time for lunch, and we change the menu.
We keep it short because a long menu is a lie. A long menu says we have everything; a short menu says we have what is good today.