Tom Aikens brings a fish and chip shop with an environmental edge to the Chelsea crowd.

The Venue
Toms Place is set up over two floors, with the takeaway on the ground floor alongside few high, bar-style tables and red stools. Descend the gleaming metal spiral staircase to the first floor and you’ll find the restaurant. The room is small, with thick plastic tables (made to look like slabs of granite) and red vinyl plastic chairs that match the red splotch on the ceiling. It’s kind of like being in a boat: the walls are either covered with metal or glass murals of fish, and the door and the wall even have portholes.

The restaurant aims at being as environmentally friendly as possible, so wherever possible everything is recycled (the takeaway boxes and cutlery are made from corn starch) and all the fish are from sustainable sources approved by the Marine Stewardship Council.

The Atmosphere
The crowd is very Chelsea, with everyone from young-looking mothers to glamorous older women with bulging Conran shopping bags. As promised, there’s documentary about the fishing industry playing on a plasma TV screen, but there’s no need to worry that you’ll be lectured while you eat – the sound is off and if you’re facing the other way you probably won’t even see it. Service is friendly and the food is served quickly, although they should really look into getting that dumbwaiter fixed so the poor staff don’t have to climb up the spiral staircase with hot fish and chips.

For an environmentally friendly restaurant, however, there are a couple of things that might make you raise an eyebrow. Surely the LED screen declaring the fish on the menu could be replaced by a good, old fashioned, energy-saving blackboard? And when serving a milkshake in the restaurant, there isn’t really a need for the plastic cup – a glass would do fine.

The Food
Thankfully (for the world’s fish, at least), line-caught sustainable fish tastes quite nice. Some of the menu’s choices include pollock, ray, grey and red gurnard and Megrim sole – cod is there as well, but it’s MSC approved and from the Pacific ocean. The red and grey gurnard fillets are firm and nicely flavoured, with a good texture, whilst the pollock is subtle, soft and flaky – quite like cod, actually, and the batter on both is crisp and light. These both come with chips: big, square, fluffy and well seasoned. Bottles of vinegar, a pale yellow, vinegary tartare sauce and red sauce (like a mixture of ketchup and Worchester sauce) are available as condiments, and other sides include mushy peas, chip butties and onion rings, with a crispy batter and a large, almost sweet slice of onion inside.

There’s a separate kids menu as well as other non-fried dishes on the menu, including moules marinieres, bouillabaisse. Slightly more sophisticated fish dishes are also on offer, such as pan-fried line caught sea bass with balsamic onion, tomato and shallot sauce. Desserts are very simple: ice cream served in little cartons with tiny wooden spoon included. Particularly recommended flavours include a soft, sweet and creamy banana and a bitter and citrus-y orange marmalade with bits of orange rind blended in.

The prices are a bit eye-watering at about £12 for fish and chips, but: a) it’s Chelsea, b) the portions are large and c) as we all know, organic and free range food is more expensive than what supermarkets churn out with force. The fish are all caught by family-run boats across the UK, so think of it as helping out the little guy. Elsewhere on the menu the prices are decent, with both sides and desserts are about £2 - £3.

The Drink
The wine list is short and entirely British, with bottles ranging from £16 - £24 from Surrey, Oxford and Kent, plus a few more expensive bottles of (all English) sparkling. There’s a range of organic beers, juices and ice cream milkshakes as well. Luscombe is a well known juice brand and their ginger beer, although good, tastes a bit more like lemonade, and Weston’s Organic Cider is crisp, cool and smooth.

The Last Word
A high quality fish and chips shop with lofty ambitions that it just about reaches. Grin and bear the price and join them – saving the earth (and its fish) doesn’t come cheap, you know.

venue information venue map view london review add a review image gallery (5)