The Four Legs team have taken over an old Finsbury Park chippie, and transformed it into a Spanish seafood bar.
And now, there’s only one takeaway: it’s excellent.
It was an almost-guaranteed hit even before the grills fired up for the first time, thanks to the teams reputation for envelope-pushing pub grub at their first opening, The Plimsoll (whose no-frills burger is regularly touted as the best in London). And now that it’s here, hoovering up critical acclaim and swarming with pavement hopefuls trying to get a seat, it’s one of the most talked-about openings of the year.
Should you successfully score a spot at the salvaged church pew counters, you’ll find yourself in a buzzy, intimate space where staff flit from open kitchen to counter, to the slightly more formal dining room at the back. The interiors have instant nostalgic appeal – which could easily feel like a masterclass in studied nonchalance, but are actually a happy accident from refurbing the place on a shoestring, retaining most of the chippie’s old features. There’s a battered chequerboard floor (as in, worn – not covered in batter); kitschy marble wall tiles; and the stately steel counter at the restaurant’s heart, no longer bearing chips and haddock but gleaming fresh veg and devilled crab fritters (which are fast becoming Tollington’s signature dish).
But then there are all the knowing touches that send you hurtling back to childhood holidays in the Canaries: spinning fans overhead, wooden crucifixes and abstract prints, aluminium bistro tables scattered on the pavement outside for standing patrons only. The yolk-coloured walls are a nice callback to the team’s pub, just up the road. With its office ceiling lights and industrial tubs of salt lining the walls, Tollington’s isn’t trying to be cool – which obviously makes it extremely cool.
And these laid-back surroundings belie what is some seriously impressive food. The day’s haul is cured, fried and grilled into a variety of dishes, changing regularly with what the boats bring in. You might get the mouth-puckering mussels escabeche, or tear the heads of prawns fresh off the plancha grill. There’s tender hake slathered in garlicky pilpil. And of course, there’s those devilled crab pastry bombs which ooze as soon as you breach the deep-fried choux.
Dotted through the menu are little winks to the restaurant’s unique cultural cross-pollination, like the fried chistorra, a kind of Basque twist on the battered saveloy, partnered with pulpy tomato on a slice of baguette. And it’s powerless to resist the chips bravas: piping hot hunks of potato crisped up with beef dripping and lavished with salsa and punchy aioli.
Going with all this is a menu of fun-sized Euro holiday drinks at low low prices – dinky Estrellas at £2.30, vermouth on tap at a seductive £3.50 a glass. It’s heady fuel for a care-free evening spent lingering on the pavement until the sun goes down with a plate of fat, glistening anchovies.
We doubt you’ll miss the pickled eggs.
NOTE: Tollington’s is open Wed-Fri evenings, Saturday lunch & dinner and Sunday 12-5pm. You can make a booking here.
Tollington’s | 172 Tollington Park, Finsbury Park, London N4 3AJ
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