All aboard the Ark

For a nation living on a lump of rock that is surrounded by the sea, we show a puzzling disinclination to eat fish. The Spanish, French, Italians and Greeks will all happily pay top euro for fine fish, but for Brits fish means fingers, or maybe something to splash with industrial vinegar and eat with soggy chips.

Perhaps the Ark will change all this? The Ark is a cleverly designed restaurant in E18 (for the geographically-minded, we are talking about the meeting point of the M11 and the North Circular). What the Ark has managed - and this is an area where a host of restaurant groups have tried and failed - is to boot fish-and-chip shops into the new millennium.

The dining room is large and airy, with non-smoking tables to the left and a smoking area to the right. This is a converted pub so you get high ceilings and a bar area. The place looks modern - blond wood floor and plain but stylish tables and chairs. There are art prints of handsome fish by Richard Bramble brightening the walls - whoever designed this place took all those gastropub lessons to heart. And on the fish side the Ark has an impeccable pedigree - in the beginning there was the Sea Shell on Lisson Grove, which had a hard-won reputation as London's top chippy.

In the Eighties, the principals moved on to open Faulkner's on Kingsland Road (still thriving and winner of best fish-and-chip shop award in 2002-2003). Then about a year ago Faulkner Restaurants added the Ark to their portfolio.

This place succeeds because it is not a fish-andchip shop - the Ark proudly defines itself a 'fish restaurant'. But hang on, there's still malt vinegar on the table (albeit in a designer bottle), the restaurant doesn't take bookings and you can order fish and chips with mushy peas. Meanwhile, the atmosphere is modern restaurant, the prices are resto prices and you can have a bottle of wine. It's a terrifically successful combination and it's no surprise that this restaurant is so busy.

Starters range from baked crab with a light cheese crust to leek and potato soup, from anchovy and Parmesan salad to half a native lobster grilled with herbs, or whitebait - a monster portion for £4.25, fried until crisp, perfectly dry and impossible to improve upon. There's a handful of main course specials that may include dishes like smoked haddock with mashed potato, poached egg and sauce mornay, but the knowledgeable diners are here for the fish and chips.

Cod fillet, plaice fillet, whole lemon sole, haddock, skate, halibut, salmon --priced at between £11.25 and £17.50, which may be expensive for a chippy, but is cheap for a fish restaurant.

They know how to do fish and chips here. The chips are perfect, crisp outside fluffy within, fried in groundnut oil. If chips could ever be called light, these would be the ones. The fish is good, too - a large chunk of cod, accurately cooked, big pearly flakes of fish, wellbalanced ratio of fish to batter and simply presented with a chunk of fresh lemon. The mushy peas are also sound.

The wine list gives a decent choice of mainly Italian wines at sensible prices. The service is friendly and efficient and there's a delightful clean, no-nonsense feel about the place. The Ark may yet save our fish and chip heritage.

Ark Fish Restaurant
Hermon Hill, London, E18 1QH