Ashtead, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: An “incredible selection of fresh fish” from its in-house fishmonger, Jarvis, next door is the draw to this offshoot of a Borough Market stalwart of two decades standing. “Everything can be grilled for you to order” – and there are “very good specials”.

2021 Review: Helping make Tooting’s Broadway Market a foodie destination, this “very affordable” three-year-old seafood specialist wins praise for its “fabulous food, great service and big smiles”. The “really inventive” approach extends to drinks, which include an “amazing gin cocktail” flavoured with oysters. Antiques trade veteran Jimmy Luttman is an “excellent” host.

This “excellent, family-friendly creperie” “overlooking the river” built a solid local following for its Breton cuisine under Lindsay Wotton, who sold up last year to retire after 35 years. Thus far, the new owners have maintained standards and changed little, with “good-value lunch specials, especially strong on the fish dishes” still getting the nod.

A “brilliant location on the Thames” near Barnes Bridge can’t mask the reality that this venue from the high-profile TV chef “doesn’t live up to his reputation”. Some reporters do hail it as a “go-to” for “imaginative” fish cooking, but for far too many diners it’s “living on the Stein name” with “overpriced” food that “lacks edge” and whose “relatively high score for ambience only truly applies if you get one of the tables by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river (fabulous on a nice day)”. In summer 2024, it was announced that the family are seeking a central London site for the brand – to cut the mustard in the West End it will need to be a step up from this one.

Giant nachos, a bucket of beer and a platter of jumbo shrimp – if that sounds, good head off to these “large and vibrant” US-style ‘Bar.B.Q & Crabshacks’, which have multiplied in recent years from their age-old Chelsea home to colonise Covent Garden, Canary Wharf and Westfield Stratford. They are the kind of places you can make a reservation for 20 and they won’t blink. Top Menu Tip – “great lunch and weekend deals”: e.g. “lobster, salad and chips with a glass of Prosecco for £15 in WC2 – what more could you ask for!”

“A very good fish selection with great daily offerings” and “excellent seafood” win very many nominations for these ever-popular fish-and-seafood bistros in Borough Market, Battersea Power Station and South Kensington. All offer a “pleasant experience”, with an appealing “casual” ambience, “friendly” staff and very “reliable” standards. In particular, SW8 has a “terrific location – right by the Power Station and the boat landing! – Step off and step straight inside!”

2024 Review: “A wonderful display of fresh fish on ice” (“including the biggest scallops with the coral attached”) greets diners arriving at this “unique Italian” in a quiet corner of Kensington, whose “cooking is precise with a light touch”.

“A very good fish selection with great daily offerings” and “excellent seafood” win very many nominations for these ever-popular fish-and-seafood bistros in Borough Market, Battersea Power Station and South Kensington. All offer a “pleasant experience”, with an appealing “casual” ambience, “friendly” staff and very “reliable” standards. In particular, SW8 has a “terrific location – right by the Power Station and the boat landing! – Step off and step straight inside!”

With its alpine-themed interior, this Italian-ish Chelsea haunt from the team behind Goodman and Burger & Lobster opened to rave reviews just before lockdown. This year, though, its offering – combining a raw bar, with prime cuts of steak or fish from the grill and a selection of pasta – received little but opprobrium in our diners’ poll for “ridiculously overpriced and average meals” (“you don’t have a value-for-money category. If you did, this would score 0/10!”).

Claude Bosi’s “casual chic” alternative to his flagship upstairs occupies the foyer of the iconic Michelin Building on Brompton Cross and also aims to provide “superb food and the very best service”, but in a more dressed-down manner to the mothership upstairs. Under Claude, the offering has expanded considerably from the old days when it only provided cold oysters, crab and other ‘fruits de mer’ – there’s now an extensive menu incorporating hot fish mains and they’ll even grill you a steak. Top Tip – “it’s particularly enjoyable amongst the lush floral display in the front courtyard in warmer weather”.

“Lots of the fish is aged in-house and the flavours are second to none” at this chic fishmongers and seafood bar in a bougie backstreet off Sloane Street; and “sitting at the counter being served by the chef feels special”. Sadly, though, its dazzlingly brilliant Haggerston sibling closed in March, leaving this Chelsea branch, which is primarily an amenity for the local ladies-who-lunch rather than a major magnet for serious foodies (as was the case in the East End, where the ambition was off the charts).

“Superb” cooking from a “precise seafood menu” means Mauro Sanno’s “busy” Sardinian spot is, to its many fans, “just perfect” – “you can go for business and pleasure”. “My favourite affordable Italian restaurant” may be the claim of a regular used to Belgravia prices, but “the house wine can’t be faulted at £25 a bottle”. “People criticise the decor, the table spacing and noise levels but I like the vibe, and it’s always busy!”

“Very good pizzas” are the pick of the broad Italian menu (also with seafood on display) at this Notting Hill Gate fixture, where the best seats in summer are on the large outside terrace. With a “great family atmosphere”, it’s “very much a local restaurant, and all the better for that!”.

A “great concept, expertly delivered” – the two headline dishes are served up in posh, comfortable diner style at this nine-strong London group (with another dozen branches around the world). As a gimmick it doesn’t generate the buzz it once did, but both of the main dishes receive a good rep in feedback, in particular the “excellent and good-sized lobster” (and “for lobster it’s not that expensive”).

2024 Review: Diminishing feedback in recent years makes it hard to recommend this “noisy and fun”, family-run Sardinian on Brockley Rise quite as resoundingly as we used to. Fans, though, still say it’s “a super, local Italian trattoria, with a great menu: especially the quirky ice cream and sorbet flavours”.

“Just love this authentic busy Chinese!” – Since 1978, this “bustling” linchpin of Queensway has won a huge following and is a “favourite Chinese” for many Londoners. Despite its grungy, ’70s-tastic interior and brusque service, it’s actually known for high-quality seafood: in particular, lobster and noodles with ginger. That said, its ratings were more middling this year, on the back of some who say “the positivity this resto attracts continues to puzzle me”; or who find dishes “solid but uninspiring”. Top Menu Tip – “We always eat exactly the same things: salt and pepper asparagus, lobster with ginger and spring onions, Peking duck, chicken with dry chilli and ginger… because they’re so damned delicious; and fantastic value!”

2021 Review: Mussels, prawns, calamari and other seafood by the, er, bucket-load is the promise at this “lovely local” yearling on the Bayswater/Notting Hill border – a “comfortable” modern bistro with simple-but-effective decor, serving “a wide selection of very fresh fish and seafood” (in small metal pails) that’s “very good value”. Top Tip – oyster happy hour 4pm-7pm weekdays and 4pm-6pm on weekends, when oysters are £1 each with any bottle, jug, cocktail or bucket of beers.

“A long-missing top-class option in Richmond” – one can quibble about whether or not Richard Caring’s yearling fully lives up to its long-established Mayfair sibling, but no-one denies its “very special setting” with “elegant decor and beautiful riverside location;” and as it entered its second year of operation, it put in a much more rounded all-round performance in general. OK, service in particular can still dip, and on occasion results are “ordinary”, but its ratings improved palpably this year and acclaim for fish and seafood that’s “simply presented but perfectly cooked” was much closer to the level one might hope for. The overall verdict – a little “overpriced”, “but as a treat, it’s worth it”.

“What a great restaurant to land in Hammersmith!” – this seafood newcomer has immediately won a big local fanclub. “Worth seeking out, even though it’s in an odd spot just off the Broadway roundabout”, it has a “smart” and surprisingly “glamorous” dining room and provides “excellent-quality fish and seafood”. “Dishes are well-priced and everything is prepared to a good standard”. It’s from the team behind The Victoria seafood pub in Mile End, and they hope it’s the first of a small chain across London.

2024 Review: Mykonos, it is promised, will come to Knightsridge in autumn 2023, with the opening of this self-consciously glam newcomer – a spin-off from the celeb-filled Greek island original, which is jetting into the Harrods hinterland via Cannes and Dubai to create ‘a new dining concept with a relaxed neighbourhood atmosphere’. It’s on a site that was for decades Montpeliano, and – with its reservations-only (no walk-ins) policy – seems to be aiming to capture the same supercar-driving set as its predecessor did in its heyday. If the advance visuals are any guide, the bright interior will be rather gorgeous, in which to enjoy a sharing plates menu of Med-inspired surf ’n’ turf.