Casual yet classy – London Shell Co

TO the outsider, Swain’s Lane is a dreamy neighbourhood – a nirvana of chic cafés and food shops. This leafy enclave, on the edge of Hampstead Heath, has got all the bases covered. There’s a high-end butcher, florist and delicatessen stuffed with titbits.

The grocer sells rare Napoleon cherries, air-freight mangoes and milky coconuts with a straw.

Yet behind the scenes it’s been a tough decade or so for residents, who have endured a large and controversial retail redevelopment and roadworks – thankfully finished – that snarled up the street.

It was an idyllic summer evening when we swung by. I poked my head into The Duke of St Albans, just opened on the corner, which has reclaimed the site and name of a pub that can be traced back to around 1859.

Our table for dinner was at London Shell Co, a fishmonger and seafood bar that launched last year.

The venture began with a barge on the Regent’s Canal, which offers cruises and seafood dinners starring dishes such as a cuttlefish Bolognese. The owners now have a second barge moored in Paddington.

The Swain’s Lane shop is their first fishmonger, offering a stunning selection of well-sourced seafood displayed on crushed ice.

Their homemade taramasalata is a local sensation. “We have people running through the door asking for a pot of the pink stuff,” explains Eliza Rogers, the brilliant manager at the shop.

The space is bright and uplifting, with a buzzy soundtrack and a few tables outside, too.

Pop into the loos to admire their quirky sea slug graphics and tongue-in-cheek hip hop portraits featuring stars such as Flava Wave and his classic tune Don’t Believe the Pike.

The dining menu changes each day, with cold and hot plates chalked up on a blackboard.

We tore off chunks of their soda bread to dip into a gazpacho soup. Only here the dish has a visual twist: the soup is a glossy thin layer on the plate, decorated with swirls of extra virgin olive oil and large anchovies.

A Szechuan squid salad was just as intrepid: a tangle of plump mussels, squid, coriander and cucumber tossed in fragrant dressing spiked with Szechuan peppercorns, which tingle and numb the tongue.

The menu of hot plates, priced £25-£36, included butterflied mackerel, lobster rice or the catch of the day – a whole John Dory or sea bass on our visit.

We shared a chunk of fresh turbot on the bone, the white fish flesh hidden under a pile of freshly podded English peas and girolle mushrooms.

A meal at London Shell Co is a total delight – casual yet classy – driven by top quality ingredients and a lovely wine list, with many by the glass.

If you do saunter down, be sure to check out the charity shop at No 15, which supports the restoration work of St Anne’s Church just up the hill.

Open since 1981, this miniscule and eclectic shop is a real gem – and a survivor of the old Swain’s Lane.

London Shell Co­
Unit 4, Sonny Heights
Swain’s Lane, N6
swains@londonshellco.com
020 4568 8586
@londonshellco
www.swainslane.londonshellco.com