The building, on Glossop Road, opposite the hospital, is now the latest member of the Loch Fyne fleet, the fish restaurant chain.

Now you can't get a deep-fried ice cream and to avoid embarrassment you should know the ladies and the gents have been switched around since Hanrahan's but you shouldn't feel all at sea here.

The decor, all blonde wood, fishmonger's tiles and exposed ducting makes you think of a poshed-up All Bar One.

There's a cold counter with oysters, mussels, crabs and lobsters and, at the far end, an open kitchen. It would be good to get a table here for a spot of restaurant theatre but we are whisked elsewhere.

Before we've even settled ourselves the floor manager appears, introduces himself, and then, in turn, introduces us to Charlie, our waiter for tonight.

Now Loch Fyne is famous for its oysters and as there is an R in the month on our visit I'm having them.

I feel like Neptune himself as I trawl through the starters. It's a right-on, ethically sourced menu and I could eat everything – the mussels, smoked salmon, salt and pepper squid, kippers, mackerel paté, spiced crab and mussel soup, herring in four marinades and the smoked haddock chowder.

There has been an animated debate in local chatrooms on the number of scallops you get – ranging from four to six, so check first.

If you don't like fish there's duck but for out-and-out veggies, nowt, except a salad.

The oysters, half a dozen cost £9 (a dozen are £16), look wonderful. They are.

Set nicely on a big bed of ice they come with shallot vinegar, a slice of lemon, bottle of Tabasco and a chilli dressing.

Now the art of serving seafood is to source the finest ingredients and do as little as possible to them. But it's the little they do that makes this dish special.

They have been expertly shucked with no shards of shell and the natural juices are still in them. They are plump, firm, briny and at the correct temperature.

I like to go round the plate having one without, one with vinegar and so on until I get to the last, before deciding which to repeat. After years of oysters I still haven't decided.

And I'm in the frame of mind, when Charlie asks how they were, to say "Orgasmic."

My wife looks up from her moules mariniere (£6) to observe: "That'll save me a job later, then."

Her dish has come theatrically in a big saucepan, the lid lifted dramatically on a goodly number of sweet mussels.

They're in cream – which is not moules mariniere if chefs care to check it out – but she likes them that way.

For mains, you could splash out on a platter of hot and cold shellfish with crab (£34) or lobster (£44), to be shared by two – or four as a starter.

Otherwise there are garlic prawns, lemon sole, seared tuna carpaccio, fish pie, bream with pesto, crab cakes, scallops and Cromer crab (tempting for one from Norfolk) but I go for the smoked haddock on mash (£11).

The fish is very accurately cooked, full flavoured and has a "sauce" of spinach, peas and grain mustard.

My wife's Goan fish curry (£12) is pleasant but it could have done with defter spicing and a bit more interest. It has every fish you can think of as long as it's called pollock.

Desserts are not this kitchen's forte.

It was hard to get my spoon into sticky toffee pudding so it was a sorry toffee pudding and creme brulee was average (both £4.50).

But this was a splendid seafaring night. A bottle of French viognier (£16) was a decent partner to our meal although I was surprised a fish restaurant had so many red wines on offer.

The coffee is great. We paid £66 and we'll be back for a platter.
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