Fish Boutique - Portabello

While wandering around Portabello Market a few weekends ago, we came across a really cool little Italian fish restaurant on Blenheim Crescent. This place really caught our eye from the outside with the big barrels and the interesting window seating.

Fish Boutique is much more than just a fish restaurant. It is an offshoot of a fishmongers in Napoli which gets all it's catch on the line and ships it over directly form the Mediterranean within 12 hours of catching. They get 3 shipments a week so it's guaranteed to be nice and fresh. Catching fish on the line is much better for the environment as it doesn't involve catching in a big trawler net, which ends up with tonnes of bycatch which is thrown back into the water dead, thereby depleting stocks. So do the planet a favour by buying line-caught fish, and do yourself a favour and get down to Fish Boutique for some nice fresh seafood!

When we were there there was a small selection of razor clams, scallops, mussels, sea bass, anchovies, white bait and sardines - amongst others. They had actually cleared most of it away by the time I got round to taking this picture unfortunately. Each day will vary depending on what they catch - which is all part of the fun. You can pick up a nice whole fish, and have it cleaned for you while you pop round the corner to pick up a lemon and some fresh rosemary or parsley from Portabello market and pan fry it. Or grab a dozen razor clams and steam them with some ginger, coriander and garlic, with a side dip of chillies chopped finely into soy sauce. Works just as well with scallops of clams too.

The interior was great with a real mix-up of styles that seemed to fit together really well - a bit like a big pot of bouillabaisse: everything thrown together but works in harmony.

I particularly liked this old-school drinks cabinet:

Since we had just stuffed ourselves with street food, we couldn't manage much but the beauty of having a 14 month old baby who sleeps out of hours is that when he wakes up hungry, it gives you an excuse to eat with him out of hours. We ordered red mullet fillets with red peppers and tomatoes which became a three-way battle:

We also sampled half a dozen oysters fresh from Scotland:

This is a fun, relaxed place to visit where the staff are all friendly and you'll be sure to get some good quality seafood either to eat in or to take home.

Fish Boutique is at 8 Blenheim Crescent, London W11 1NN.
Tel: 0207 229 3400
Check out the website which also has a link to the fishmongers and restaurants in Italy: http://www.pescheriamattiucci.com/index.html