Shrimpy's

Shrimpy's retro wall, replete with glimpse of palm tree

Shrimpy's is a serious amount of delicious fun. It's kind of my new local, having literally "popped up" in what used to be a petrol station in a pretty obscure location at the back of King's Cross station. We used to run past it en route to Regent's Park, and it was such a bleak location, the last place you would expect to find a foodie haven. The re-vamp of the King's Cross area has been planned for a long time, and the area is fast gaining it's foodie credentials, with Eat St (now Kerb) providing excellent street food to hungry King's Place staff and customers, and Caravan catering to a weekend brunch crowd. Shrimpy's is the icing on an increasingly-delicious cake, taking up around half the space of what is now The Filling Station, where you can get pizza and drinks and sit overlooking Regent's Canal.

Seabass ceviche with plantains

With a curved, corrugated-cardboard style exterior, I wasn't expecting Shrimpy's to look as inviting as it did. Dimly lit, with an abundance of pineapple-shaped paraphernalia adorning the sills and counter, retro phrases and images have been painted onto the walls. The cocktails are retro-glam too, with a spicy margarita and a "blue-rinse" (a tequila and blue bols mix) amongst others. The food is south american-style. The seabass cevice starter we chose had a lovely tiger's milk marinade, tangy and delicious, but featured a lot of corn which seemed to be doing the rounds as it was on the table when we arrived. The seabass slivers were tasty, but there weren't enough of them in the dish, which had a lot of soft plantain chunks, sweet and tasty, to balance out the lime.

The piece-de-resistance on the menu is clearly the soft-shell crab burger, although lobster did feature and looked pretty good too. The crab burger was crispy and light, with good skinny chips accompanying it, but it wasn't amazing. My monkfish with quinoa, almonds and courgettes, however, was scrummy, and seemingly the healthiest options available. It didn't look that big at first glance, but monkfish is so meaty and filling that I was struggling by the end.

Soft shell crab burger

Since we shared a starter we had room for some dessert and were really hankering after the grilled black figs with almonds, honey and mascarpone, but they had run out. We went instead for what I'd describe as a pineapple eaton mess, or as they call it "meringue, hibiscus syrup, chantilly, pinapple". I'm not a fan of creamy desserts but this was gorgeous, and I'd have stolen it if it hadn't been my OH's birthday dinner! A crisp pineapple slice stood proudly in the top of crunchy meringue, whilst chunks of tangy pineapple cut through the cream. The hibiscus syrup was delicious, and the whole dish reminded me of my childhood, when Tony the ice cream man would serve me plastic cones full of soft serve ice cream with raspberry ripple sauce all over it. I only with Shrimpy's has been so generous with the sauce-I'd bottle it and sell it it was so good.

I'd read reviews that Shrimpy's was "sceney" so I was feeling a bit trepidatious when we first arrived, but the waiting staff were very friendly and relaxed, making us feel at home. I was really impressed just before we left when I overheared the maitre d' helping some walk-in customers, one of whom was in a wheelchair. She was quick to set up a table for them with easier access, and really went out of her way to help. I'll definitely go back to Shrimpy's - perhaps when I've saved up a little as it is fairly pricey - but for a treat it's a lovely place, with great decor, tasty food and super-friendly staff.