Marylebone Fishmonger FishWorks: Pick a Fish, Have It Cooked

FishWorks Marylebone, at 89 Marylebone High Street, is a seafood restaurant with a working fishmonger's counter inside, so you can buy fish to take home or point at one and have it cooked. The restaurant opens Monday to Saturday from 12:00 to 22:30 and Sunday from 12:00 to 22:30, and the nearest Underground stations are Baker Street and Regent's Park.

The FishWorks idea started outside London. Trade press records that Mitchell Tonks opened a specialist fishmonger in Bath with business partner Roy Morris in 1995, then added a seafood café to the shop in 1997, which became the blueprint for later FishWorks restaurants: a traditional wet fish counter with a relaxed dining room behind it. The Marylebone branch opened in October 2004 and was the group's largest site at the time.

The brand is now run by a larger restaurant group, and today London has two branches, Marylebone and Covent Garden. The Marylebone Village guide sums it up: each restaurant has its own fishmonger where you can choose a fish or crustacean to take away and cook, or have it cooked there and then to your liking.

Many diners never realise the counter also sells to walk-in customers. The website describes the traditional FishWorks fishmongers in Marylebone as a favourite with locals buying sustainably sourced seafood to cook at home. You can pop in and choose straight from the display, or email or call to speak to one of the fishmongers before you come.

Sourcing is described in seasonal terms. The fishmongers page says the catch arrives every day from the coast and is chosen for quality, flavour and seasonality, and that the team works with local fishermen who use traditional methods. Its own example is telling: whether it is native oysters or wild bass, FishWorks says it only serves what is at its best, when it is at its best. Expect the counter to shift with the months.

The fishmongers handle preparation as part of the sale. The site lists gutting, scaling and pin-boning, plus cleaning and shucking, and the staff offer cooking advice and recipe recommendations. Ask them to open oysters for you if you plan to eat them the same day, and to scale and gut a whole fish if you are roasting it at home.

The counter's listed favourites give a good idea of what it stocks: monkfish, Atlantic cod, wild sea bass, Dartmouth crab, turbot and halibut. Each comes with a wine suggestion on the website, such as an Albariño from Rías Baixas for the sea bass or a Chablis for the turbot, which is a helpful prompt if you are building a dinner around the fish.

The more unusual service is ordering from the counter in the restaurant. On the à la carte menu, fish from the counter is sold at market price: you choose a fish, and the kitchen cooks it to your liking and serves it whole or filleted at the table, for one person or to share. Ask the team for that day's landings before you decide.

Shellfish follows the same logic. The menu notes that all lobsters and crabs arrive fresh daily, and a whole Devon crab, cracked and served on ice with lemon mayonnaise, is priced at market rate alongside a hand-picked dressed version.

Fixed-price dishes give a sense of the costs. The current à la carte lists an oven-roasted sea bass at £22, baked with lemon thyme, olive oil and sea salt, a classic seafood bouillabaisse at £26 served in a copper pan, homemade Brixham fish soup at £9.95 and a whole lobster at £55. Day-boat Dover sole on the bone is market price, grilled with lemon and parsley butter or cooked à la meunière.

Here is the honest call: skip the steak options, a 10oz ribeye at £37, because you came to a fish restaurant with its own fishmonger. If budget matters, the Marylebone lunch menu offers two courses for £29, and a discretionary 12.5% service charge is added to every bill.

The restaurant opens at noon every day and takes bookings online, so reserve if you plan to eat rather than shop. If you only want to buy fish to take home, aim for early afternoon on a weekday, after the first lunch wave, when the fishmonger has time to talk you through the counter.

For larger purchases, call ahead and describe what you need, such as a turbot for six or a few kilos of shellfish for a party. Groups of more than 12 diners are asked to contact the team directly, as the website explains, which is also the route for private dining in the separate room.

Marylebone High Street draws a polished mix of locals, office workers from around Baker Street and visitors browsing its independent boutiques. At FishWorks that means business lunches, couples over oysters and Champagne in the afternoon, and neighbours who pop in only for the counter. The tone is relaxed rather than formal, and you can walk in to shop without a booking.

FishWorks also supports the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, donating £1 to the charity each time a particular dish on the menu is served, according to the Marylebone Village guide. Ask which dish carries the donation that season.

The restaurant sits in the heart of Marylebone Village, a short walk from Regent's Park. Buy fish after a morning in the park rather than before, and if you are eating in, follow lunch with a stroll up the High Street towards the park's southern edge or along the quieter Georgian side streets. Daunt Books, with its long galleried room, is a few doors away on the High Street for a browse.

Address: FishWorks Marylebone, 89 Marylebone High Street, London W1. Restaurant hours: Monday to Saturday 12:00 to 22:30, Sunday 12:00 to 22:30. Nearest Underground: Baker Street or Regent's Park. A discretionary 12.5% service charge applies in the restaurant.

Ask the Karpo APP to put together a Marylebone afternoon with Regent's Park, a browse at Daunt Books and a sea bass lunch at FishWorks.