Notting Hill Fish+Meat: where the Beckhams and chutoro cross paths
Summary:
A logbook by Sensei Hiroshi Umi.
As you stroll around Notting Hill or nearby Holland Park and the local vicinity, you half expect to bump into Hugh Grant waiting for Julia Roberts with a bunch of roses. You imagine that at any moment 007 will pull over in his Aston Martin to buy copy of The Times, while stalking some supervillain. You might see Elton John taking his dogs for a walk, chatting away to Ed Sheeran and Robbie Williams on Portobello Road. Meanwhile, David Beckham and his chef choose select fruit, the freshest vegetables and bluefin tuna loin and belly for the guests coming to dinner on Saturday. Of all the situations you could imagine in the refined heart of West London, tucked away behind the grandeur of Hyde Park, the last of these is completely real.
With its air of a distinguished neighbourhood store, and its select, gourmet range, Notting Hill Meat + Fish Shop is the grocery to the stars, the deli where the denizens of this Millionaires’ Row stock up on tasty morsels to lavish on their illustrious guests. Behind this gastronomic success, this outpost of flavour with thoroughly Spanish fragrances, lies Chris D’Sylva.
Notting Hill Fish Shop: starting out in the days of Covid-19
Originally hailing from Melbourne, this hugely charismatic and intrepid Australian has no less tasty a story to tell. He spent the first half of his career working in PR and marketing. He packed his bags, imported his know-how to companies in the UK and USA, where he became Director of Strategy at the car-making giant Chevrolet in Detroit.
A series of emotional twists of fate brought him back to the City of London, though, where he embarked on a new journey. He had a number of ideas he wanted to try out in the field of catering. After closing down a traditional fishmonger’s which served as his springboard and trial run, he took the plunge and opened a store in October 2019 in the famously cinematographic neighbourhood of Notting Hill, on the corner of iconic Portobello Road and its market. Ever since, he has brought the finest bluefin tuna possible to this culinary epicentre of London, along with other delights.
Along the way, there have so far been many lessons learned, including the tortuous Covid-19 pandemic, which put his business resolve to the test. Because in October 2019, before we even suspected that the world would go into lockdown, Chris decided to re-mobilise the team from his previous catering business, opening Notting Hill Fish Shop on the corner of iconic Portobello Road. The store, whose past story features an art gallery, aroused the interest and initial curiosity of local residents (some of them mega-celebrities, as mentioned), attracted by the outstanding quality of the produce on offer, and making this one of the favourite haunts for West Londoners.
And the bluefin tuna was a real hit. As the lockdown was suffocating local trade, Chris invited others to install pop-ups at his shop, free of charge, including the legendary butchers HG Walter, and Neal’s Yard Dairy. This expanded his portfolio, forging a whole network and resulting in an extension to his enterprise: Notting Hill Fish + Meat Shop was born.
Discovering Fuentes bluefin tuna
“I started out here four years ago, around six months before the pandemic. We traditionally brought in whole yellowfin tuna from the Maldives, but then Covid struck. And a whole load of local chefs who were unable to work at their own establishments came here to prepare sushi. That was a blessing, because thanks to them I discovered bluefin tuna. Before, I couldn’t tell one from the other. I took a risk, and bought a 250-kilo tuna from Fuentes. It was a big risk for us, but we really struck it lucky, because we had the capacity and were preparing sushi daily to order, which led to a fivefold increase in demand for our business,” explains D’Sylva, who refers to this red-fleshed titan as the “Rolls-Royce of tuna”.
Last May, Chris himself was able to see first-hand how the tuna migrates, passing through the narrow Strait to be caught in the almadraba pound nets, in the most sustainable proportions. “It’s amazing how the bluefin tuna from the Atlantic, a cold water fish, makes its way into the Mediterranean Sea to spawn in late April and mid-May, and to see how they operate the almadraba net in Cadiz. Only the adult fish are caught, while the young juveniles are allowed through to continue their spawning cycle. An incredible producer like Fuentes then provides them with natural feed to create this high-quality marbled meat, this wonderful inherent fattiness. And you won’t find that anywhere else in the world. That is what UK customers prefer, fairly fatty fish…,” he admits.
There are plenty of other Premium products on offer at his establishment, including such Spanish representatives as extra virgin olive oil and La Vera smoked paprika, Pedrosillo chickpeas, cured Iberian ham from the Dehesa woodland, and as well as aged Rubia Gallega beef. And on the fish counter, turbot from Devon, scad, mackerel, bream, cockles… And red slices of akami, chutoro (Chris’ favourite) and otoro from the waters off Cartagena.
Supermarket of Dreams. The saga continues
With his recollection of low-quality bonito and albacore fish from Australia, Chris expanded his gourmet range to the extremely pricey nearby district of Holland Park, home to more actors, more footballers (the aforementioned Beckhams, Richard Branson), and the occasional former UK prime minister. Spurred on by his enthusiasm, despite the lockdown, he set up another establishment which he christened the Supermarket of Dreams. He brought together all the local restaurants that had shut their doors because of Covid, and invited London’s finest young chefs to join the enterprise, creating haute cuisine dishes for home delivery. Bingo.
“This is most definitely a journey in educating our customers. We were really lucky, so to speak, that during Covid people were more open to the idea of experimenting with products and with other ways of serving them, with other cuts. They didn’t have any clothes or houses to buy, or any other entertainment. They focused on food. And it turned out to be the perfect time to introduce them to bluefin.”
