Top 5 seafood restaurants on the UK coast
Rocksalt, Kent
When the sun's midsummer illuminations dance on the ceaseless motion of the English Channel, Rocksalt's restaurant terrace on Folkestone harbour becomes Shoreditch-on-sea. Served up are killer cocktails (the Metropole a sublimely seasonal mix of blood orange liqueur, Cinzano and Prosecco) and signature seafood delights: taramasalata, Folkestone whelks, soused herring and salads of raw scallop with chicory and orange. A handful of rooms are right across the old Fishmarket cobbles. Book waterfront, to ensure your compact, simple, rough-luxe retreat affords views and a coastal soundtrack through open windows when you wake.
Address: Rocksalt, 4-5 Fishmarket, Folkestone, England
Telephone: +44 13 0321 2070
Website: www.rocksaltfolkestone.co.uk
Price: Doubles from £85
Coast, Pembrokeshire
Coast opened in 2014, launched by the team behind The Grove hotel, seven miles inland, in Narbeth. So, not a restaurant with rooms, more a restaurant with a hotel, which ticks all the boxes for a coast and country trip. Weathered cedar, picture windows and pale oak create a chilled vibe, with a terrace right over the sweeping strand of Saundersfoot's Coppet Hall beach. The kitchen delivers Carmarthen Bay delights from a simple snack of pickled cockles to Caldey Island lobster, grilled, with vanilla and black pepper butter, papaya and coriander salsa - summer on a plate.
Address: Coast, Coppet Hall Beach, Saundersfoot, Wales
Telephone: +44 18 3481 0800
Website: www.coastsaundersfoot.co.uk
Anna Mockford/Mockford&BonettiInver Restaurant, Argyll
Munching on mussels in a bucolic spot is the definition of Inver Restaurant (formerly Inver Cottage) on Loch Fyne, several winding miles (just as you start doubting the map) off the A83. New owner, chef Pam Brunton, comes here from The Greenhouse, Tom Aikens and De Superette in Gent from whence she and partner Rob Latimer returned, to reinterpret traditional Scottish cuisine sustainably. Expect langoustines straight from the loch and partan bree, made with Gigha halibut, crab, rice and togarashi seasoning from seaweed, dried onion and hogweed.
Address: Inver Restaurant, Strachlachlan, Strachur, Scotland
Telephone: +44 13 6986 0537
Website: www.inverrestaurant.co.uk
Northern Ireland Tourist BoardMourne Seafood, County Down
In the shadow of the Mourne Mountains, beside Dundrum Bay, the little village of Dundrum is overlooked by the ruins of a Norman castle. This is temptation enough to visit, but the simple, contemporary New England-style Mourne Seafood restaurant seals the deal. Order a glass of Kilmegan cider, hand-crafted by an artisan producer a mile away, to accompany seabass or Dover sole, served whole, and straight off a day boat. Or pots of mussels from Carlingford Lough, oysters with pickled ginger, radish and cucumber, shelled crab claws with chilli butter and seafood chowder.
Address: Mourne Seafood, Main Street
, Dundrum, County Down, Northern Ireland
Telephone: +44 28 4375 1377
Website: www.mourneseafood.com
North Norfolk's sea air works up one's appetite like nowhere else. New, for summer 2015, is this chirpy chippy on the A149 coast road at Drove Orchards near Thornham. With its colourful tiled walls, bar stools and rustic wooden seating, you will want to sit in, over grilled hake or grey mullet, scallops with lime, beer-battered haddock with black garlic aioli or spicy buffalo sauce. It's a takeaway outpost of Titchwell Manor, Eric Snaith the hotel's head chef. Which explains why you can also sip brut rose here with your trad fish fry.
Address: Drove Orchards, Thornham Road, Thornham, England
Telephone: +44 74 4488 6723
Website: www.ericsfishandchips.com