Someone at Camp Aikens deserves a slapping around the head with a large sustainable fish…
All the pre-opening hype about Tom Aikens' upcoming Chelsea chippie has focussed on the fact that he'll only be battering and frying eco-friendly fishies - megrim sole, gurnard, ling and the like. All very laudable, even if Aikens shunned a perfectly serviceable pun by opting to call the place Tom's Place instead of Tom's Plaice.
Then he goes and gets himself photographed for the cover of OFM spooky-ginger-identical-twin-seaside-postcard-style with brother Rob, his partner in the business and the neighbouring Tom's Kitchen. This for an article where chefs and restaurant types gave their favourite summer recipes and where Aikens, T, pipes up with a recipe for battered cod and chunky chips, that's cod probably the most overfished fish in the sea, according to The Marine Stewardship Council who know about these things. A fish that if you're pushing your eco-credentials - as Aikens is undoubtedly trying to - should never appear anywhere near your menu.
Let's hope he manages to remain more on-message between now and late September/early October when Tom's Place, which will seat 50 in addition to offering takeaway, is currently scheduled to open at 1 Cale Street, London SW3 on the site that was once Monkeys.
