Opened by Mitch Tonks and Matt Prowse in Dartmouth in 2008, The Seahorse has been a smash hit of a restaurant, beloved by many and a regular on the list of the UK’s Top 100 Restaurants. Fourteen years on and the founding duo have passed on the restaurant to a new, younger team, comprising Tonks’ 32-year-old son Ben, who is head chef, Ben’s girlfriend Bronte Story (aged 28), who is general manager, and 35-year-old Jake Bridgwood, who has been with the restaurant from day one and is now chef director at the restaurant.
Here they discuss the decision behind the move, the challenges of continuing a restaurant legacy, and what the future holds for the renowned seafood restaurant under its new guardians.
You're handing over the reins to a new generation...
Mitch Tonks: I have always been a fan of historic restaurants, ones that have stood the test of time and which people come back to time and time again. It is fabulous to be able to retain the restaurant because had it not evolved it wouldn’t continue. Financially we want it to continue because The Seahorse is a very successful restaurant, but the question is how do you take the spirit of a restaurant and continue it for 20, 30, 40 years? It’s not about going through a different regime of chef to chef, there is a certain spirit to restaurants that they need to retain.
What's your involvement with the restaurant now?
MT: Matt and I are still owners and investors and we remain as mentors. I eat there a lot and give feedback it’s a lot more of a directional approach. I’m certainly not hands on. When people come in and ask if I’m in the kitchen I’m amazed that anyone think I’ve been near the kitchen for about six years. This is about taking the restaurant into a new world.
Was it hard stepping back?
MT: It was difficult. For a while I had to have menu meetings and chats about food and then gradually – at no particular point - I said I was standing back. The momentum has built on the side of the people taking it on. We never made the decision that next Monday we would hand over the keys, the evolution happens gradually and you know it’s in safe hands. It was time to leave it in those hands. Now I’m a very proud observer. I visit the restaurant as a customer and really enjoy it because in the past I never really enjoyed it because I was always worrying about what’s going on.
Do you miss the day-to-day running of it?
MT: I miss it terribly. When I look into the kitchen and watch the service run like a ballet you remember what it’s like to be part of that. But life is finite, at some point you’ve got to say ‘I don’t want to do this any more,’ and have to stand back.
Do you feel pressure in continuing the legacy of the restaurant?
Ben Tonks: It’s definitely a challenge but a positive one, What Matt and Mitch have created over the years is fantastic but we all know the world evolves and new generations are into different things. They have built something amazing and now we can do the same thing for a younger generation with new guests coming to eat the food. Mitch and Matt made a lot of friends in the industry and we’re doing the same with the younger generation. It’s exciting.
Jake Bridgwood: I was employee number one at The Seahorse and I have worked underneath Mitch and Matt for such a long time that it has become a part of me. A lot of the restaurant is my identity. When you first set out as a chef the dream is always to have your own place and do your own thing but as I’ve been here for so long and the restaurant’s grown it has become a real family restaurant for me. I look at Ben at Bronte as brother and sister and Mitch as a great role model inside and outside of work. If you are part of it you want to carry it on.
How is it evolving?
BT: We will always support the local fishing industry and stay true to the restaurant. The menu is not ‘oh look at me I’m a cheffy chef’, it’s a seafood restaurant where we get the best fish ad cook it perfectly on the plancha or over fire. The Seahorse is not about the chef but the ingredients and the community and for me that’s what I think about when I write the menus. Things have changed though. It used to be a restaurant that did lunch and dinner and we’ve now agreed that it will open all day. We’ve also lost the tablecloths so it is more of a trattoria or osteria in style.
JB: Bronte has brought in tweaks to the wine list and added a few natural wines that are interesting to the younger generation. The Seahorse was traditionally old style with its wines so this opens it up to a slightly different audience. Food wise we try to stick to the basics. We’ve got a bar out on the front with a south of France vibe that we are now really pushing and during lockdown myself, Ben and Bronte started an outside catering wing to the restaurant where we designed a trailer with a big grill on the back to bring The seahorse to people. We are trying to open up the restaurant to more people.
Bronte Story: “We are finding that the children of guests who have been dining when the restaurant was set up 14 years ago are not eating here. There is a transition through these families and we are building relationships with them.
What have been the biggest challenges?
BS: The Seahorse has a very relaxed style, it is very personal and one of the biggest challenges is coming into somewhere that already has an incredibly well established customer base. Guests do feel that the restaurant is a part of their lifestyle so we have had to learn where people like to sit and what they like to order.
BT: Working with family can be hard; at home you talk about the restaurant, at the restaurant you talk about the restaurant. Bronte and I constantly talk about it; it’s a lifestyle for us not a job and we all carry the same ethos of being the best seafood restaurant in the world.
Do you have true creative freedom?
BT: Yes, there is no restriction, we don’t feel like there is anything we can’t do. I’ve put a couple less traditional meat braises such as ox cheeks and ossobuco on the menu but I’m never going to mess with the menu too much. I first worked at the restaurant eight years agio and then left to travel and then work in London. To have travelled and worked elsewhere and to then come back and have fresh ideas has been nice.
BS: We do have control. I can list whatever wines I like and Mitch is now enjoying natural wine and understanding it’s a journey. We have that control but it is also fed back to us and we will continue to discover what our contribution to the restaurant will be. We make decisions and really stand by them if we feel passionate about what we are trying to do.
Do you like Matt and Mitch checking in on you?
BT: I love it. They are the two people who taught me what I know today so being able to cook for them when they are in for lunch is a great feeling. If they’ve got something to say my ears are open, I listen. But it pisses me off when Mitch comes into the kitchen and pours brandy when you’re in the shit.
JB: It’s just like cooking for friends when they come in. The time for them trying to direct us is over – they give a little bit of feedback but that’s all.
BS: I find it incredibly comforting to have them in and feel proud of the team we have working with us. I really enjoy it... when they are well behaved.
So they never interfere...?
BT: There was one moment recently when Mitch tied to interfere. We had table in for Friday lunch who ate everything. Mitch came in at 9pm when we had three tables of six to come out and was telling us to send the table more dishes, but they’d already had everything. In the end we said we’ve got this, leave it with us.
What’s next for The Seahorse?
BT: There is definitely something on the horizon. We intend to grow, not in terms of a second restaurant but building on what we’ve got.
JB: We well improve on some of the things already in place. We will not be expanding the restaurant but we will be expanding the offer.