Born in 1966 Mitch spent the first 24 years of his life by the sea; sailing on it, skiing on it and fishing in it. After working as an accountant Mitch decided to fulfil his passion for seafood by opening a specialist fishmonger in Bath, a radical career change.
Mitch's career in food and seafood has been driven by an honest passion to enthuse, cook for and inspire others to enjoy seafood. The original and abiding idea behind FishWorks is to have fishmongers with tables, and Mitch's philosophy has always been to use top quality produce, prepared and cooked simply. In 2006 he was voted Tatler's Restaurateur of the Year.
The Restaurants
There are now 12 FishWorks, 9 in London with others in Bath, Bristol and Christchurch. The biggest FishWorks in Richmond also houses a dedicated seafood cookery school running cookery courses every week.
Marylebone and Chiswick jointly won the Best Fish Restaurant award in the 2005 London ITV restaurant awards, and the Which Good Food Guide has featured all FishWorks restaurants since awarding the title of "Best Seafood Restaurant" to the original Bath restaurant in 2000. New restaurants were opened in Clapham, Parsons Green, Notting Hill and Chelsea in the second half of 2006.
The shops have the atmosphere of a working fish market trading in species from all over the world, and the Bristol, Christchurch and Richmond restaurants also have a Cookery School run by the Head Chefs.
In November 2002 Mitch spearheaded the launch of FishWorks Direct at the BBC Good Food Show. FishWorks Direct is a nationwide home-delivery service, offering next day delivery of fresh fish and shellfish.
Television and Books
Throughout his career Mitch has featured regularly on a range of TV and radio programmes enthusing about his love of seafood and offering advice on sourcing the freshest fish, key preparation techniques and simple no-fuss cooking. During 2001 Mitch presented his own 13 part series with Carlton Food Network called "Fish Food." Most recently he has been a frequent contributor to BBC's Saturday Kitchen and Great Food Live on BBC's UK Food Channel as well as presenting Sky's Greatest Dishes in the World series. Mitch also appeared on BBC 2's Horizon programme; Could Fish Make Your Child Smart?, broadcast in October 2005.
Mitch's books, as featured on our recipe pages have also attracted tremendous praise, with Jamie Oliver stating that The Fishmongers Cookbook was the "...nicest fish book I've seen in ages, and it's written by a fishmonger...genius"; his first book was short-listed for the prestigious Andre Simon award and his second, The Fishmonger's cookbook, won the best fish book in the World Gourmand awards.
What the Papers have said about Mitch
“Mitch is one fishmonger with whom it’s a pleasure to strike up a relationship.” Jill Dupleix, The Times (Mar 2005).
“FishWorks…is the nearest thing in the west to noshing in Nantes”. Malcolm Gluck, Telegraph Weekend, (January 2003).
“It’s like being on holiday in fish heaven. It’s fish bliss…I love this place to bits.” Jan Moir, Telegraph Weekend, (November 2001).
About Young’s:
Young’s is Britain’s most famous name in fish.  Building on its 200 year heritage, Young’s uses both modern and traditional skills to produce a vast range of top quality frozen and chilled seafood, all sold under the Young’s brand.   Everything Young’s does is driven by its passion for fish as one of the healthiest and most delicious natural foods.   It is a pioneer in responsibly sourced seafood and a UK market leader in products made using Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accredited fish from sustainable sources.
Young’s has sales of more than £250M a year and is based in Grimsby, the natural home of British fish.
Young’s is the UK branded seafood business of the Foodvest Group.
After 200 years of specialising in fish and only fish, there's not a lot we don't know about it, but we're always keen to discover more!
Our chef team works with Mitch Tonks, the award winning fishmonger, writer and chef. Mitch was the founder of Fishworks and recently opened a new restaurant in Dartmouth, The Seahorse. His passion and dedication to the enjoyment of seafood is matched only by our own.
Mitch and our development chef Serge, have created some delicious mouthwatering seafood recipes for you to enjoy.
For more information go to:- http://www.youngsseafood.co.uk/web/recipes.

Contacting Mitch Tonks
http://www.youngsseafood.co.uk/web/recipes