First a fishmonger then a restaurant, how Applebee’s became a Borough Market staple

Joy and Graham Applebee are among the longest-serving traders at Borough Market, London, having founded their fresh fish stall in December 1999, before expanding into a restaurant seven years later. Their son Jack, who took over as CEO in 2015, along with his two brothers, is marking Applebee’s 25th anniversary by reopening after a redesign of the space and a menu revamp.

Wallpaper* dines at Applebee’s

The mood: seafood and eat it

Jack tasked interiors studio A-nrd, which most recently designed Santiago Lastra’s Fonda, with reflecting the journey of the restaurant’s produce from sea to plate. Seafood is whisked off a fresh fish counter before being licked by the flames of a bespoke live-fire grill – built by British Metal Craft in nearby Bermondsey – while counter seating surrounding an open kitchen provides guests with a bird’s-eye view of their meal being cooked. Come in fine weather and a refreshed alfresco area might almost make you think you’re in Brixham, not Borough.

‘At 25 years old, Applebee’s is one of the oldest restaurants in Borough Market, so we wanted the interior to feel transportive and immersive, in the sense that it feels truly part of the fabric of the market,’ say Alessio Nardi and Lukas Persakovas, co-founders of A-nrd. ‘We incorporated design details from the market façade into the oak trim around the base of the open counter that overlooks the live-fire grill and, of course, [this] being a seafood restaurant, it was only right to showcase the catch of the day.’

The food: sustainably sourced catch of the day

Executive chef Frankie van Loo was, until recently, head chef at Jason Atherton’s Michelin-starred City Social. Applebee’s will find him in a more informal mood, though no less thoughtful, with weekly changing menus of sustainable British seafood dictated by the seasons and whatever is landed each morning by the dayboats from Devon and Cornwall. Star billing goes to Dover sole, dry-aged in the restaurant’s Himalayan pink salt chamber to ensure the perfect crispy skin when it hits the grill, paired with brown shrimp and lemon butter. Side orders of coastal greens, from sea-vegetable foraging specialists in Cornwall, are just as carefully sourced.

Applebee’s is located at 5 Stoney St, London SE1 9AA, United Kingdom; applebeesfish.com