Located on Cadogan Gardens in Chelsea, Meat the Fish is a restaurant that surprises with its refreshing combination of ideas and influences.
Meat the Fish is a rich but not overly ornate environment that doesn’t quite fit in any category. Exactly as planned by the owners and designers. The interiors connect marine and earthy vibes and the menu, created by head chef Rachel Bado, fuses Mediterranean, Asian and Middle-Eastern
The design of the space is the work of MARIAGROUP, the Beirut, London and Dubai-based design studio led by founders, brother and sister Georges Maria and Michèle Maria Chaya, that includes also their interior designer parents among other partners. The group’s London partner is Claudia Skaff Nieuwenburg.
The restaurant occupies a 230 square-metre (2,475 sq.ft) long and narrow space
Unifying the space’s three specific zones – bar, restaurant and lounge – are the wood-panelled walls, wooden-grid ceilings and the floors of black-and-white custom-manufactured tiles by the Lebanese BlattChaya.
The most striking features of the interior are decidedly more fishy than meaty starting with a custom-designed octopus-inspired bas-relief surrounding the fireplace. The clay-toned piece of art was custom-created by Beirut, Lebanon-based architect and landscape designer Souraya Haddad who now works full-time as a ceramic artist.
The second striking feature turns out to be marine-inspired as well. The shiny, curvy bar, lit by natura; light from the skylight, takes its inspiration from the cross-section of a crab and is made of polished stainless-steel.
In the dining lounge, the five large panels of the embroidered wall mural, custom-created at by Lebanon-based design and fashion studio Bokja www.bokja.com , give off Asian vibes at first but as you get closer, the panels reveal a quirky world that includes a floating crab, a wild boar, a donkey’s head, dozens of plants, and even a cow jumping over the moon
This is the first London entry for Meat the Fish, a company that began in Beirut in 2011 as a premium home delivery business of meat and fish. There are now three outlets in Lebanon: the original shop in Beirut that has evolved into a full grocery store, a seasonal ski resort location in Faqra and a beach location in the ancient city of Batroun in northern Lebanon.
Meat the Fish group of restaurants is part of the Nothing but Love Group that was started 20 years ago a Lebanese father-son team as a B2B salmon supplier and delivery business.
In addition to the Meat and Fish operations, Nothing but Love Group now has 10 food-based brands and restaurants in Beirut. These include fish supply business Royal Gourmet, meat shop Skirt, brew bar The Backburner, contemporary restaurants Maryool and Zulu and burger place By Skirt, and sushi delivery business Naranori. The group’s first London restaurant, Japanese omakase Mayha, opened in Marylebone in September 2022. Tuija Seipell
Images by Michael Sinclair
