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Open: Sun - Wed 11am - 11pm
Thurs - Sat 11am - 12am
Payment options: All major cards accepted
Tipping the scales: Tom Aikens, left, and his twin brother Robert aim to highlight the parlous state of white fish stocks
Since the time I overheard two fat-cat businessmen in a restaurant bar discussing the killing they were going to make in carbon futures, whenever I hear the phrase eco-friendly I reach for my wallet.
From congestion charge to - as of last week - an ethical chippie in the heart of Chelsea, I have yet to be shown up as unnecessarily cynical.
Tom Aikens, whom I suspect is not serving pollack and gurnard in his eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant, is highlighting the parlous state of white fish stocks and championing the plight of British fishermen in his new venture Tom's Place.
Given the fish and chip shop's traditional love of puns in the name, second only to that of hairdressers, how was he able to resist Tom's Plaice? Perhaps plaice is an endangered species. There was none on the menu last Friday.
Tom Aikens's sincerity is visible - a film on a loop of Tom looking concerned around fishermen and boats plays on two plasma screens in the restaurant - but since, as he says in his long mission statement inside the menu, food "defines our values, health, status, environment as well as culture, politics and economy", why not heed Michael Pollen's advice?
In his recently published book In Defence of Food - The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating (Allen Lane £16.99), eco-philosopher Pollen starts his introduction with the eminently sensible summary: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
A predominantly vegetarian restaurant conceived by a classically trained, talented, intuitive chef; that would really be progress. Serving Sloanes chips and batter and, in the guise of Lincolnshire fish pie, chips in batter - so many carbs they don't know where to put themselves - is an odd way forward.
Tom's Place stands on the site of the former Monkey's, a singular restaurant which specialised in game. Now game is a defensible ingredient in a healthy diet. On the first floor, where most of the dining tables are located, a sealed window - in deference to the neighbours - plus heat rising from the downstairs fryers, contributed to a hot, stuffy atmosphere last Friday evening.
Air conditioning is, of course, not in the least bit green, but ceiling fans or, if necessary, punkah wallahs would have helped. (I have been told that the Perspex panel sealing off the window has now been removed and the window can be accessed and even opened a crack.)
Reg stares at the walls of the narrow room covered in a metallic fabric and says he feels like he is in a caravan. Moving pictures of sea glimpsed through portholes makes it feel like a caravan at the bottom of the ocean. Or a piscine plebs' branch of Cipriani.
Although there are no first courses offered on the menu, our sweet French waitress reveals that we could have some off-piste steamed scallops dressed with olive oil and lemon. But no, we are in a chippie so we order Marine Stewardship Council certified cod and chips and ray and chips plus side orders of mushy peas and battered potato.
I read somewhere that the decline in sharks is leading to a boom in skate and ray. It's a swings and roundabouts world down there on the seabed. We also try bouillabaisse from a list entitled Bowl Food and grilled megrim sole (aka Cornish sole) with lemon, capers and parsley butter.
The beer batter is a light coating but just a single layer, so short on satisfying crunch. Chips are fat and flavourful having been fried in beef dripping. The Atlantic cod slides apart gracefully but has no discernible taste. The ray is predictably soft and squishy. Well-seasoned mushy peas are exemplary.
The recipient of the megrim sole is put off by the dozens of unheralded little grapes, or "golden raisins" as the waitress describes them, scattered over and around which wreck the dish.
The bouillabaisse, a rich, creamy, cheffy soup, lacks croutons to give it backbone. Dessert is lovely ice-creams made in-house served in cups of what must be recycled paper. Orange marmalade and caramel are the flavours that get the most votes.
Not embracing with wild enthusiasm an environmentally aware venture such as Tom's Place is like coming out against motherhood or daffodils, but I would rather eat fish less often, or scarcely ever, than have the nation's fast food rendered in such a leaden, patronising, self-conscious fashion.
And offering only English wines may account for a lighter footprint but it is a tooth enamel-threatening step too far.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Unpleasant! The food is too greasy; the portions are too small; the plastic decor is like eating in a caravan; the so called "Eco Friendliness" must be a joke bearing in mind there are so many extractor fans and air con. The whole thing is a con. An overpriced con in fact!
- Hugo, London
We went there last night expecting the quality of Tom's kitchen just down the road - which is excellent! We were given a bowl of grease that I can still feel rolling around inside me this morning. As for the UK wine - all very honourable intentions but it just ain't up to the Aikens calibre!
- Tom, London
It was mediocre - I was expecting special.
- Tracey, London
