When fish is the works!

For those who live far from Chiswick, Turnham Green Terrace is rather irritatingly well supplied with excellent food shops. Macken Brothers at number 44, considered by some to be London's best butcher's shop, also owns M&C Greengrocers at number 35, which comes garlanded with praise in a current London Food Shops Guide.

Mortimer and Bennett at number 33 is spoken of in reverential tones whenever talk turns to delicatessens (no doubt frequently in Chiswick) and Covent Garden Fishmongers is so obviously enamoured of the street that, despite its name, it is located at number 37. Since there is also a thriving fish-and-chip shop, the arrival last month of FISHWORKS at number six might be seen to be over-egging the pudding.

FishWorks is the fourth outlet of a business (now a plc) established in the West Country, in Bath, Bristol and Christchurch in Dorset. The formula, devised by TV chef and cookery book author Mitchell Tonks and his business partner Roy Morris, is basically that of a shop with tables.

The shop in Chiswick opens at 8am and does not close until 10.30pm, which will surely cause a flapping of fins in the curmudgeonly world of traditional fishmongers. The young chaps dressed in jeans, blue smocks and white wellies who are selling the stuff are full of enthusiasm and recipe hints. Although I had booked a table, I was tempted on the way in just to buy some clear-eyed, shiny-scaled fish and rush home to cook it.

The restaurant, up a short flight of stairs, is brightly lit and painted a Devon dinghy blue. Seaside paintings, some emulating the naive style of Alfred Wallace, contribute to the bucket-and-spade holiday atmosphere, as does a terrace and garden at the back with gas heaters standing in for sunshine. Unflaggingly friendly waiting staff do their bit to suggest that here is a celebration of the bounty of the deep (for as long as it can last).

A blackboard list reflecting the day's delivery augments the printed menu. Most of what we tried was first-rate, with special mention for the Dartmouth crab salad featuring snowywhite crabmeat, and the main course of whole sea bream baked in sea salt.

The latter arrived triumphantly unadorned - a fish on a dish - perfect in texture and flavour. Spinach leaves wilted in a pan (the day's vegetable) was the ideal accompaniment.

Half a native lobster was a small creature for £19, but it had been tenderly cooked. Lack of size or generosity was not a criticism that could be levelled at the zuppa del pescatore, which was a copious melange of fish and shellfish with an over-emphatic aniseed flavour from Pernod and tarragon.

Such details as the thin white mayonnaise and the aggressive pesto that we tried draped over cold cooked tomatoes could be improved, but, generally, FishWorks brings a jauntiness to the subject of fish which we haven't seen since Rick Stein was last on the telly. If you don't live near Chiswick (some can't) Fish-Works Direct will deliver to your home straight from the Newlyn fish markets. Call 0800 052 3717 or order over the internet at www.fishworks.co.uk.