For all seafood you buy, ask all the questions you can of your supplier. Where, when and how was the fish sourced? You want to be confident that you know every part of the journey from the water to your kitchen, and that each supplier has the right practices in place. This due diligence process should be repeated with every new menu and with any new suppliers, as stock levels are always changing. 

At Caruso’s, they work with SmartCatch, Oceanwise and Fishchoice to stay informed on what seafood is the best choice for their seasonal menus. “Working with these organisations, we prioritise accountability,” says Chef Massimo. “Every quarter, we submit our seafood purchase invoices – including the details of species and sourcing – to these organisations and they evaluate our impact on the ocean. This process keeps us in line and has been our modus operandi since we established Caruso’s five years ago. It is at the core of our seafood culinary R&D.”

At FYN restaurant in South Africa, the chefs work with Abalobi – a South African organisation that is striving to elevate small-scale fishing communities for social, economic and ecological sustainability – to source fish more sustainably and ensure that fishers are both treated well and paid well. The Caruso’s team is similarly committed to working with local fishers, which helps them to support local communities and reduce the carbon footprint of transportation.

Meanwhile, in Taiwan, Badauyao uses seafood certified with the Heart of the Ocean Ecological Label, jointly promoted by the Fisheries Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture and Taiwan Ocean Conservation and Fisheries Sustainability Foundation (TOFF). They also follow the recommendations of the Taiwan Seafood Selection Guide to serve only seafood listed under ‘Recommended for Consumption’. Badauyao only purchases fish species caught by small fishing boats; boat captains notify them when the fish is landed, and local fishmongers, who visit the Kan Zai Ding Fish Market the day before, reserve the freshest ones for the restaurant.

In the UK, CH&Co is also diligent about working closely with suppliers and collecting the right data for procurement. They’ve engaged with all their suppliers to specify that they will only purchase fish rated 1-3 [‘okay’ or ‘good to eat’] by MCS. When any fish moves into a 4 or 5 rating, the team works with suppliers to source alternative lines, removing non-compliant fish from buying lists. Crucially, they’ve translated this data into dashboards and graphs for their operators, giving them visibility into what fish they’re buying and what MCS rating it holds. Similarly, the team at Peach Pubs keeps in close contact with their fish supplier to make sure that they are always using sustainable fish from healthy stocks. They do not use anything rated below a 3 in the MCS Good Fish Guide, and will always try to use fish that is rated 1 or 2.

In 2014, Lussmanns became the first restaurant group outside London to obtain the MSC Chain of Custody Standard, which provides assurance that all seafood sold with the blue MSC label comes from a fishery that has been certified as sustainable. “We’ve kept that ever since,” says Owner Andrei Lussmann with pride. “It’s an excellent, visible way for customers to know that when they order fish in Lussmanns, we’re leaving plenty in the sea.”