Mitch Tonks, co-owner of our readers' favourite restaurant, explains why hospitality is as important as food
Dover, turbot and Dory, a trilogy of deliciousness," Nigel grins as he shows off the fish he has bought in Brixham market that morning. It is still only 8am and Mitch Tonks and I are on our way to breakfast on Tonks's vote for the "best fish you will ever eat". But first we have to buy it. Luckily, Nigel does much of the dealing for Tonks's Seahorse restaurant in neighbouring Dartmouth and he is pleased with this morning's market haul.
"A good bit of fish, all yours, Tonksy," he laughs (most everyone in south Devon is given an added honorific "y" on their name), as he lifts the lids on boxes of shining bass. Tonks has lately converted to the superiority of these larger fish, 5kg to 6kg each, pulled from local waters, scales gleaming as they catch the late summer light. We admire exquisite mossy, mottled turbot, to be served later in the Seahorse with hollandaise. "Every time we get turbot we put on hollandaise," says Tonks. "A bit on your fish, a bit in a sauceboat, a little bit piquant." Perfect pink squid will be "grilled over the fire" in the restaurant this evening, but for now we have our eyes on breakfast. Tonks picks out a couple to add to the John Dory that is being filleted for us.
A box of brilliant green samphire from Brittany catches his interest and he adds it to his order. As we are leaving, we spy another box. Beautiful plaice, sweet, firm and fat, is also swiftly filleted for us. Our destination is the market's Fishermen's Mission, where our "catch" will be cooked on the plancha, and where for a celebration day, the Seahorse team may "cut a 10kg turbot".
It is true, as Mitch Tonks says, that the Fishermen's Mission food is as good as any fish breakfast you will ever eat – simply cooked, freshly plucked from the sea, served piping hot with tea, surrounded by fishermen and their families (unusual this, as many are notoriously indifferent to eating their catch). But Tonks is being modest. According to the 2013 Good Food Guide, the Seahorse he runs with his best friend and fellow cook Mat Prowse is the best seafood place in the UK. But, more importantly, it is also OFM readers' choice for your restaurant of the year.
While we share our breakfast squid, Tonks tells me about his relationship with Prowse and the perfect little restaurant they run together on the south Devon coast. "Matty and I have been best friends since '98," he says. "We are right arm and left arm, he is my closest friend in the world, a lovely cook, we are lucky in that we know what each other is thinking when it comes to food."
Before they lost control of their Fish Works mini-empire (the company grew too fast), Tonks and Prowse daydreamed about one day opening a little place by the sea, "though maybe not quite yet". Then Tonks heard of an old pizza site becoming available on the quay at Dartmouth where he holidayed as a child and instinctively knew this was it (typically, Prowse took a little more persuading before moving south with his wife and four children).
On walking into the Seahorse, you are struck by a timeless, effortless quality: beautifully lit, classic seafood prints, although there is also a Tracey Emin. The glassed-off kitchen looks for all the world like a fish tank. This openness, where customers can see the cooks and vice versa, is important. "I always watch for the first forkful of food if I can," says Tonks. "As soon as you see the first smile, you know that table is OK."
The menu is a seafood lover's tour of Europe's great fish dishes. There's an "antipasti" of creamy bacalao. Starters include a crisp fry of cuttlefish and a striking octopus carpaccio (in winter, the octopus will be served in a stew with waxy potatoes). Mains include smoky red mullet from the bay.
It is the kind of great fish restaurant you'd hope to find (but likely wouldn't) in France, Spain or Italy, and easy to see why in 2009 the Times's critic Giles Coren said he'd been served "the best meal I have had all year".
Partly, of course, this is because of cleverly cooked, spanking fresh fish, but it's also because Tonks and Prowse are old-school restaurateurs, where hospitality is as important as the food. "We have 40 covers and 11 staff in a small seaside restaurant," says Tonks. "We are sometimes over-generous with drinks, we make our own limoncello and give it away, we'll run a boat service with calvados for when the ferry has closed. It is everything to us that our customers feel special.
"We worry the life out of our team, every day," he smiles. "And when we heard about the award, all those days polishing the silver, washing the steps, were suddenly worthwhile."
Giant herring gulls are circling, screaming overhead. Satisfied, we pay our £2.50 to the Fishermen's Mission (don't tell everyone or you'll ruin it), and step out into the Brixham sun. All around us, Britain's biggest fishing port is busy. Fish, clams, scallops, crab are being prepared and packed for London, France, Italy, Spain, but the very best is heading just a few miles west to a small quayside place in Dartmouth. The Seahorse, 5 South Embankment, Dartmouth TQ6 9BH; 01803 835 147; seahorserestaurant.co.uk