This month Chelsea seafood bar and fishmonger The Sea The Sea relocates to new premises. Alex Hunter, the man who founded the business back in 2019, isn’t going far, however, with his new site just a skip across the street on Pavilion Road. The new 40-cover bistro will be a bigger site than the original, with a 10-seat seafood bar in the evening and a 28-cover outdoor terrace and will build on Hunter’s original ethos of serving fish by day and transforming into a restaurant by evening.
The new Chelsea site is currently Hunter’s only project having closed the Hackney site of The Sea, The Sea, which was a tasting menu restaurant overseen by chef Leandro Carreira before he departed, and the sale of The Sea, The Sea Wholesale to Reach Food Group in early 2025. Nick Marsden, who joined the business in 2024, continues to lead the kitchen at its new Chelsea digs.
Why did The Sea, The Sea cross the road?
It’s a bigger site that we can do more with. We had a site in Hackney until quite recently, and the wholesale business in Cornwall, so we’ve been scattered around in different locations. I had far too many sets of keys on my chain. I spotted this unit had become vacant and saw it as an opportunity to do everything I’ve wanted to do with the brand under one roof and build on what we’ve started in Chelsea. It has always been solid and well received but I can add aspects of the offer that we can’t do in the current space. It’s not a big move though, it’s all of eight metres across the street.
Tell us about the new site
It’s five times the size of the original. It might not seem that to look at it but it’s spread across three floors and the basement is kitchen and storage. The current space is tiny, only 500sq ft, and we operate retail and restaurant in one space. During the day we are primarily a fishmonger - we serve lunch on the terrace and six seats at the bar, and at 4pm we take down the fishmonger and reopen it as a restaurant at 6pm to fit 19 diners inside plus on the terrace. What the new site gives us is the ability to operate different sides independently - the ground floor will purely be a fishmonger, although we will still convert the display table into a raw seafood bar in the evening because people liked that element and, unlike at current site where we can’t do full cooking, at the first floor bistro we will be able to grill, fry, and roast, which opens up a much broader range of cuisine.
Were there any concerns about moving?
In the current environment I wouldn’t do anything anywhere else, it’s too much of a risk. Everything is stacked against the sector at the moment. Firstly, it’s a fantastic location, there was a huge amount of competition with some enormous amounts of money offered for the site so I have to thank the Cadogan Estate for showing faith in us. We already have a loyal clientele and I’m very confident we will be able to retain the custom we’ve got and build on it. Just the fact that we have comfy seats with backs on the chairs rather than stools is exciting.
Will the food offer be more like that of Chelsea or Hackney?
It will be more based on what do at Chelsea. Hackney under Leo was very progressive, it was a tasting menu of modern fine dining and it was a showcase of the produce and the brand. It was quite experiential. The new space will definitely have an experiential element, you walk through the fishmongers to get to the restaurant, but it is definitely more accessible in both the style of food and price point. At the current space, half the menu is raw and warm or hot small plates, at the new place we will keep all that and change up some dishes and add larger plates, such as whole grilled fish to share. It will have a modern touch and some progressiveness about the cooking but it won’t be experimental or particularly daunting.
You say that, but there’s a dessert of potato ice cream and smoked eel on the menu...
The dessert is all down to Nick, our head chef. Nick is very interested in seafood but he’s also into vegetables, seasonality and using ingredients and products that are perhaps unknown or overlooked. Combos like this sound wacky but when you taste them it just make sense.
It’s never been a harder time to open a fish restaurant and I’m surprised that so many people are doing it
Alex Hunter
And there will also be a seaweed counter?
We’re going big on seaweed. I’ve always wanted to feature seaweed and have in the past made some attempts to sell it at retail. With this space there is far more capacity to do that. Seaweed has lots of nutritional benefits, it is also highly available and has the potential to save the planet, so we all need to be embracing that a bit more. It’s so versatile; you can use it for everything from butters to pickles and we might introduce it into some of our cocktails. It doesn’t always have to be the dominating ingredient but used to enhance or add seasoning. We are also developing a range of oven-ready and ready-to-eat takeaway dishes and a lot of them will involve seaweed as a nice accessible way of introducing it to people. Leo was fairly responsible for the dry-aged fish movement in London and I back ourselves again to do something with seaweed and build that trend.
Seafood seems to be having a moment again in London. Why do you think that is?
I’m always happy when fish is getting the headlines, but it has to be fish caught in the right way at the right time, and lots of people don’t do that. The fact is that fish has never been more expensive or volatile when it comes to pricing. Certain species are getting wiped out so there is much less fish available. The octopus invasion in the South West has really impacted stock and fish prices. It’s never been a harder time to open a fish restaurant and I’m surprised that so many people are doing it.
You no longer have the wholesale business. How does that affect supply?
It was acquired by Reach Food Group last year but we have maintained strong links. I still consult for them and talk to the team in Cornwall every day and have retained that special relationship on top of other sourcing that we are doing direct. Fish is a wild product and so completely unpredictable. Supply is dependent on things such as the weather, tides, wind, and foreign markets paying more for our fish, which is why I set up the wholesale business to control our own supply of fish rather than to supply other restaurants. We have spent a huge amount of time and money building up a direct supply, which effectively gives us an edge. Having a direct source means fish doesn’t have to pass through various hands in order to get to us so we can make it more affordable. To be able to retain that element but not have the day to day running of the business is quite a blessing.