Tom's Place

Chef Tom Aikens appears to have undergone a Damascene conversion. His book, 'Tom Aikens Cooking' published in 2006, revealed a chef whose interest in fish stock sustainability extended little further than his deep-fat fryer. 'Cod used to be widely available, but now, because of overfishing, it is one of the most expensive fish to buy. I just hope that we never run out of it for fish and chips,' wrote Aikens. His book went on to recommend over farmed wild fish, and listed recipes for at-risk species such as tuna, cod, salmon and sea bass while seemingly not giving two hoots about the environmental implications. Now it's 2008 - and how things have changed. Ecological issues are now top of the agenda, even for many chefs - and Tom Aikens has clearly changed his tune. 'Top chefs join Greenpeace to back sustainable seafood' read the Greenpeace press release at the end of January - just in time to generate copious press coverage for Aikens' latest project, a posh fish-and-chip shop in Chelsea. It turns out that Aikens, along with Raymond Blanc and others, will 'urge other chefs to use only sustainable seafood on their menus', as well as 'urging food writers to drop unsustainably caught fish from their recipes.' Well. It's better that Aikens has seen the light later rather than never, and is now pledged to doing his bit. The seafood on offer here ticks all the eco-cred boxes: fish is mostly line-caught (not trawled), we're assured they are from Marine Stewardship Council-approved sources, and caught using small family-run boats. The types of fish include gurnard, pollock, sole, ray, Pacific cod (which is okay to eat unlike Atlantic cod), sardines, mackerel, monkfish, line-caught sea bass, and more besides. Tom's Place doesn't take bookings, but we were quickly seated in the funky-looking interior, which is decorated like a nursery school in bright colours. Fish and chips cost from £11.50. Chip buttie £3.50. Mushy peas £2.50. Breaded scampi £20. Prime quality seafood, sustainably caught, might cost a premium, but why did onion rings - five of them - cost £2.50? To the kitchen's credit, our deep-fried gurnard and chips were excellent, though the small portion size would be deemed risible in Biggar or Whitby. Bouillabaisse was a rich, appealing version, and the mushy peas got the thumbs up. Around us, the braying folk of Chelsea were lapping it up, guffawing their way through the fish cakes and British sparkling wine as if they'd been let loose in the tuck shop. The £12.50 for fish and chips is presumably a drop in the ocean to them.

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