Food and Drink

Plymouth’s award-winning Rockfish seafood restaurant has re-opened after a £200,000 refurbishment which has added even more of a wow factor to the harbourside eatery.

The makeover inside includes bigger windows which have opened up sweeping harbour and sea views for all diners and there’s also a new bar area where people can enjoy a coffee or a drink without having to eat.

Outside, Rockfish now has the biggest al fresco dining area in Plymouth where diners can enjoy waiter service, while half of the area is for takeaway customers to also sit and eat their meals with a drink from the bar if they wish.

The kitchen has been kitted out with new equipment to allow a greater choice of cooking methods: it can now serve your seafood fried, traditional grilled, chargrilled or cooked on a plancha range, which is a flat grill.

Rockfish Plymouth is run by well-known restaurateur, chef and food writer, Mitch Tonks. Mitch now has five Rockfish restaurants in Devon – the others are in Brixham, Dartmouth, Torquay and Exmouth – and a sixth is planned for opening in Exeter in early 2018. He also has his Seahorse restaurant in Dartmouth.

Rockfish Plymouth occupies a prime site right next to the National Marine Aquarium and is just yards away from Plymouth Fish Market. The views from the new windows take in Sutton Harbour, the Barbican and out towards the Sound, which means you get to see the fishing boats coming and going. It is, says Mitch, a pretty special sight: “You’re sitting here watching the fish come ashore, there’s fish on the grill and the beer’s cold. It’s just the perfect environment.

“Because this was a building that wasn’t designed as a restaurant when we first moved in – it was an office block – we wanted to create some warmth in here but we realised that in doing so we’d actually blocked the views a little bit,” he added. “We’ve now opened it up so that wherever you’re sitting in the restaurant, you can see the boats moving past.

“What’s particularly brilliant is that at night time, when you see the port and starboard lights of boats moving backwards and forwards, you feel like you’re in the middle of it.”

Mitch says that the investment in Rockfish Plymouth is also a response to what’s happening elsewhere in the city’s vibrant eating out scene: “Plymouth has a mixture of branded restaurants and really good independent restaurants - there are some great restaurateurs in Plymouth doing some fun, funky things,” said Mitch. “It’s got a lovely feel right now. For us, we’re aware that we’re in a city with a really good food scene and you’ve got to keep your game up.

“I also love being part of Plymouth. We’re committed to the city and I especially love it where we are here. I term this as Plymouth’s seafood quarter.”

Born in Weston-super-Mare and now living just up the coast in Devon’s other big fishing port, Brixham, Mitch has always been passionate about the sea and seafood – as long as it’s sustainable. Rockfish won two awards at the 2017 Seafish National Fish and Chip Awards, for Best Seafood Multiple Restaurant Group and the Good Catch Award for the most sustainable restaurant.

“Sourcing sustainable fish and local fish is what we do,” said Mitch. “The whole thing about sitting here in Rockfish is that you’re eating fish that’s come from just out there. I think that’s why it works so well and people like it. And then, with fish like cod and haddock, we buy it from fisheries where it’s sustainable.”

So which local fish is going down well right now? “People like the red gurnard, especially now we’ve got the chargrill,” said Mitch. “It’s amazing cooked over an open fire, it has a really lovely flavour. Also at this time of the year, people are eating lots of brill and we’ve had some great John Dory in. A whole John Dory on the plancha is delicious, you get that lovely caramelised feel.

“And we have the most amazing crab along our coast between April and November and we’re having a set menu dedicated to crab which I think people will really enjoy.”

Mitch is keen to encourage more people to try seafood and is looking at plans to have a fish market outside on Saturday mornings where people can buy fresh fish landed at Plymouth fish quay the day before, to take home and cook. Watch this space! “It’s really to create a demand in Plymouth for people on a Saturday morning to think ‘yeah, let’s have some fresh fish for the weekend’ and they can come here and buy fish from Friday’s catch.

“It’s going to be a great environment here. People can sit and have a coffee or a beer and buy some lovely fish to take home with them. “