BILLINGSGATE TOUR

CATCHING THE PRE-DAWN RUSH AT BILLINGSGATE FISH MARKET IS A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE, PARTICULARLY IN THE COMPANY OF CHEFS FROM JAPANESE RESTAURANT DININGS SW3

LONDON •

DININGS.CO.UK/SW3

“Watch your backs!” “Your legs please!” “Watch those toes!” Warnings in Cockney accents ring out from all corners as we snake our way through Billingsgate Fish Market. It’s a 13-acre maze of forgotten practices and interesting quirks, and at one point I almost collide with a huge filing cabinet full of eels.

I’m being led by the team from Japanese restaurant Dinings SW3, including executive chef Masaki Sugisaki (pictured above) and head sushi chef Mika Yoshinaga, whose fish and seafood is sourced here. The UK’S largest fish market remains a vestige of old London, wedged alongside the vertiginous towers of Canary Wharf, in the east of the city.

Established in 1699 in a location just west of its current site, Billingsgate feels like a secret society of handshakes, polystyrene boxes and white coats. Men — and it’s mostly men here — gather around phones with notepads, taking orders from restaurants while trying to entice passersby with their fresh catch. It’s a playful process that’s stood the test of time — although, as with many markets, Billingsgate is threatened by rising rents, modern methods and demands for more sustainable practices. I spy shark for sale at one stand and wince.

The market opens at 3am and, an hour and a half in, the pace is beginning to slow. But not so for fish supplier Sumitaka Hirata, who’s walked the slippery aisles of Billingsgate every day for the past 30 years and acts as a middle man between restaurants like Dinings SW3 and the market. He darts between stalls, checking produce with the chefs, who point to huge crates of bright langoustines and gleaming mackerel like children clamouring for presents from a parent.

Orders placed, it’s time to step out into the black of the continuing night and watch as vans are loaded, ready to supply the capital’s restaurants and fishmongers.

Hopping into taxis, we head across the stillempty streets to south-west London. Here, on a cobbled mews, sits Dinings SW3, dimly lit and welcoming.

Inside, the team start prepping. I sit at the sushi counter as they make an unforgettable seafood breakfast from the langoustine, sea urchin, scallops and more they’d picked up at Billingsgate. All the while, they answer questions, from how to spot a good oyster (an undamaged shell means it’s been treated well in transit) to what exactly they’re doing (marinating mackerel in vinegar, and searing bream on one side to char the skin while keeping the flesh raw, sashimi-style). Tomorrow’s breakfast has a lot to live up to.

The Dinings SW3 Billingsgate experience costs £500 per person, including a market tour with Masaki Sugisaki, transfers, a masterclass and a tasting menu. However, as government guidance changes, so may availability and details of the tour. Josephine Price