The Sea, The Sea (Hackney)
Closed. The chef's counter under the railway arch at Acton Mews stopped trading, and the business is now a single Chelsea site eight metres from where it started (Restaurant, Harden's).
Why go
Nowhere, at this address. What follows is what it was and where it went.
Alex Hunter founded The Sea, The Sea in 2019 as a Chelsea fishmonger that became a seafood bar in the evening, and opened this Haggerston room in 2021 as something else entirely: twelve seats around an open kitchen behind a resin counter, in a lit railway arch, with a walk-in dry-ageing room on the premises (Great British Chefs). Leandro Carreira ran a single omakase menu and tweaked it daily on whatever the day-boats had landed. Turbot was aged in-house, grilled over a Japanese konro and dressed with four vinegars, one of them made from bread.
In January 2024 the eleven-course version won Best Front Row Seat at the Good Food Guide Awards (Restaurant). The following month Carreira's departure was announced, amicably, and the room turned into a pop-up and residency space. The wholesale arm, which supplied over 150 restaurants with fish from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and the Scottish islands, was sold to Reach Food Group in early 2025. The lease was not renewed and the arch shut at the end of that year.
Order this / avoid
- Order: nothing here. The successor is The Sea, The Sea in Chelsea, which moved across Pavilion Road in May 2026 into a forty-cover bistro with a ten-seat seafood bar in the evening and a twenty-eight-cover terrace, with Nick Marsden in the kitchen (Restaurant).
- Avoid: any booking page still offering this address.
What locals & experts say
- Stefan Chomka, Restaurant, May 2026, interviewing the founder: "The new Chelsea site is currently Hunter's only project having closed the Hackney site of The Sea, The Sea, which was a tasting menu restaurant overseen by chef Leandro Carreira before he departed, and the sale of The Sea, The Sea Wholesale to Reach Food Group in early 2025." ref
- Joe Lutrario, Restaurant, February 2024, reporting the first stage: "A spokesperson confirmed that Carreira would be leaving his role as executive chef for the group... after March and that the decision was made 'very amicably'." The same piece records that the eleven-course chef's table "recently won the Best Front Row Seat at the Good Food Guide Awards 2024." ref
- Harden's survey respondents, on what it was: "Extraordinary food served with commitment" in a "cutting-edge omakase" format, at "a beautiful sea-like resin counter" where the chefs are "centre stage in front of diners, preparing the food as you watch". Twelve courses at GBP 150. Aggregated diner responses rather than a critic. ref
- Great British Chefs, still in the present tense, on the technique that mattered: "if you're after the best example of how this process impacts a dish, you can't do better than The Sea, The Sea." That page has not caught up. ref
Good to know
- Status: closed. This row is kept so that the closure is on the record rather than rediscovered.
- Where it was: Arch 337 Acton Mews, Haggerston E8 4EA.
- The timeline: opened 2021. Won Best Front Row Seat, Good Food Guide Awards 2024. Launch chef out at the end of March 2024, pivot to pop-ups and residencies. Wholesale business sold early 2025. Premises shut at the end of December 2025.
- Where the business is: 243 Pavilion Road SW1X 0BP, Chelsea, since May 2026. The original Chelsea unit was 174 Pavilion Road SW1X 0AW.
- Hygiene: the FSA record for this premises is FHRSID 1405812, rating 5, dated 10 November 2021. That is the last inspection on file, which is what a stopped premises looks like. ref
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: none. His raw saved-places export carries an empty Note against this row, which it lists as "The Sea, The Sea - Hackney". The master line "Fish-focused chef's counter and dry-ager" is curation text; both halves were true and both are now past tense.
Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)
listed — Do not go, because it is not there. The chef's counter under the Haggerston railway arch at Arch 337 Acton Mews is closed, and the master list still says otherwise. What it was is worth knowing, because it was one of the rooms that pushed dry-aged fish in London: twelve seats around an open kitchen with a resin counter, a walk-in dry-ageing room on the premises, turbot aged in-house then grilled over a Japanese konro and dressed with four vinegars including one made from bread, and an omakase that ran to twelve courses. In January 2024 the eleven-course version won Best Front Row Seat at the Good Food Guide Awards. Weeks later the launch chef Leandro Carreira left and the room turned into a pop-up and residency space. The wholesale business was sold to Reach Food Group in early 2025, the lease was not renewed, and the doors shut at the end of that December. Alex Hunter, who founded the business in 2019, told Restaurant in May 2026 that Chelsea is now his only project. The fishmonger and seafood bar moved eight metres across Pavilion Road into a forty-cover room with a ten-seat evening bar, and Nick Marsden runs the kitchen. That is where to go.