Seashells. St Raphael Hotel

GC:EAT

SEASHELLS ST RAPHAEL HOTEL BEACH - LIMASSOL

Tel.25 834200

Normally I would follow the advice of the late great Anthony Bourdain and never eat at a hotel restaurant and review it, however today is an exception to the rule. It was a baking hot day, with the thermostat touching forty degrees celsius, which is around 110 degrees in American. Along with this a hungry child in the back of the car who needed their belly filled up with food.

When we first came out of the lockdown, myself and my daughter would often find ourselves down at the St Raphael beach next to the jet skis, and other various mechanical water based activities which my now middle aged body could easily break a collarbone on.

After finishing our swim we always had an ice cold slushy, which for readers not familiar with this drink is a frozen crushed ice drink with various coloured chemicals added to it to make it taste something which closely resembles either strawberry or raspberry.

Moreover, If you are looking to live a little dangerously, mix them together and watch your child hit that sugar high.

The great thing about the location is that you can go for a swim with your child to take the edge off the slushy, and bring them down slowly from the inevitable tweeking from excessive sugar consumption with a swim in the sea and pretend that you have seen some fish.

With both of us owning empty stomachs we hungrily surveyed the menu of the seashells restaurant which much to my surprise is vegan / healthy choices. Now anyone who has taken a hungry child out for food will know that it is incredibly rare that they will opt for a vegan restaurant as their choice to eat at. Quite often you will be limited to choices in their selection as it will no doubt have ‘bits in it’ which will automatically disqualify itself from a child’s plate. WIth our food delivered promptly, I was pleasantly surprised that the hotdog (meat free) that we both chose, looked visually like its meat based cousin. Moreover, it was covered in several pieces of popcorn (not a mistype) and what seemed to be some type of honey mustard sauce.

Normally when the both of us eat on a beach trip, I like to go for minimum fuss food that does not come on a huge plate

that can feed five people or have a huge complex looking meal. A simple rule of life is, when you eat at a beach, don’t eat a meal with 5000 calories in it as you have to swim and not sink in the next 45 minutes. You want it delivered fast and be filling, not a three star michelin arrangement on your plate where you want to savour every mouthful.

Also don’t feel like this is just a hot dog and burger joint for those who want to wear the vegan badge of honour, the Seashells menu is incredibly extensive including salads, wraps, sushi and pastas which no doubt all taste very nice and you can continue with your day with no issue.

The venue and decor look very nice for what it is (a beachside fastish food place), which has a nice bit of greenery and fans to cool us off on a scorching hot day. It is nice to have a bit of a change from the heaviness of what restaurants now want to sell you a burger based on height and the 8000 toppings that go with it. This is no good if you are about to go jet skiing or something, as you will probably sink like a stone.

It is well worth a visit if you are looking to visit the beach without having to take huge hampers of food to satisfy your families needs. Take a trip to the beach and combine it with seashells, you wont regret it.