Mitch to open third restaurant

By gware ginny ware gware@heraldexpress.co.uk

TV CHEF Mitch Tonks is expanding his seafood business with a second restaurant in Dartmouth.

The leading seafood expert, fishmonger, chef and restaurateur has bought the Waterfront Cafe on the town's South Embankment.

His new premises are a few doors away from his successful Seahorse Restaurant, which recently received rave reviews from The Times critic Giles Coren.

Brixham-based Mitch also runs the Rockfish Grill in Bristol and is bidding to run the new restaurant on Brixham Fish Quay.

He has bought the Waterfront Cafe, overlooking the scenic River Dart, with business partner Mat Prowse and the duo plan to turn it into an informal family seafood restaurant.

Mitch said: "The new place will be relaxed and informal and serve the best in local fish, with fried fish with chips or fresh cracked crab.

"This is yet another reason to come to South Devon for the best fish in the world."

Mitch hopes to emulate fellow chef Rick Stein, who put Padstow in Cornwall on the foodie map.

The new restaurant is expected to open in June and will comprise 70 covers where families can eat in less formal surroundings than Mitch's highly-praised Seahorse Restaurant.

Touted as an upmarket fish and chip shop, Mitch plans to create a light and airy mood in his new restaurant using faded wooden features, lit with small ships' lights.