Every so often you will read of the delights of small market town living, in such places say, as Bury St Edmunds where the pace drops a significant number of notches from, for example, the delights of Notting Hill. Some towns in Britain already enjoy the ready availability of good restaurants and one's mind thinks immediately of Ludlow in Shropshire, with more fine establishments per head of the population than probably anywhere else in Britain.

In Bury St Edmunds a French-style restaurant where the chef, Pascal Canevet, majors on fish, is perhaps part of a movement to encourage that ancient town in the same direction.
 
The menu is straightforward and the dishes offered, together with the roll call of wonderful piscine names. Let's start with the salmon, a plate of which is designed to tickle the tastebuds and will include salmon 'rillettes' with handpicked Cornish crab meat, cod and dill roulade and shellfish mayonnaise.

At the other end of the scale, and there are stopping-off places in between, is the Royal plate, a breathtaking presentation of lobster, crab, langoustines, oysters, whelks, tiger prawns and mussels.

Seared scallops is presented with diced vegetables brunoise, tomato and balsamic vinegar dressing, whilst fish soup served with rouille, garlic croutons and grated gruyère would need some serious avoiding action. Any quality fish menu is, almost of a necessity, going to mirror a changing market subject indeed to wind and tide, and Maison Bleue is no exception. It is this element of uncertainty that catches the interest and makes every visit a voyage of discovery.

On the other side, there are dishes that follow like wild turbot from the Scottish coast with pan-fried fillet, egg tagliatelle and garlic leaves sauce, or lemon sole, whole fish pan-fried with capers, croutons, lemon and parsley. It is surely one of the hallmarks of a successful approach to cooking fish that a minimalist approach in general pays off almost every time.

They offer different variations on lamb, fowl and beef and it is much to their credit that the wine list, which is full of fish-worthy whites, also does justice to the carnivores, though the tendency to drink red with anything, does seem to be on the increase.

The décor and front of house arrangements are faultless as one has come to expect with this modest but convincingly effective East Anglian group. If you are looking for further information, then you will find that a'plenty on their comprehensive Website, including menus. It should not come as a surprise to learn that it has been named as East of England's restaurant of the year 2009/2010 by the Good Food Guide and two Rosettes by the AA Guide.