12 minute read
England’s Seafood Coast
ENGLAND’S SEAFOOD COAST
From Cromer crab to Essex oysters, there’s far more to the English coast than fish ‘n’ chips
Advertisement
If you’re planning a UK coastal break later this year, fear not about missing the seafood and fresh fish of the Med; you can find a huge variety of wonderful culinary delights right here on our very own shores.
“England’s Seafood Coast offers some of the best produce in the world. Passionate chefs are transforming fresh and local ingredients into fantastic dishes all around our coastline,” says Samantha Richardson, Director National Coastal Tourism
Academy.
“Many of our food producers use traditional and sustainable methods, while fish markets, boat trips and cooking experiences are on offer all over the coast. This is the perfect year for a foodie break and discovering the excellent cuisine and seafood this country offers.”
Nowhere is seafood better served than on the English Riviera in Devon, home to the world-famous Brixham Fish Market where more than £40 million worth of 40 species of seafood is landed annually including lobster, crab, scallops, hake, brill, sea bass and much more. Local chef and seafood ambassador Mitch Tonks believes there’s no better catch: “I’ve eaten seafood all over the world and the quality and diversity of the fish caught off our coast is the finest anywhere.
“We have a long-standing fishing community in Brixham, who work hard to pioneer responsible fishing. We also have some world-class seafood restaurants and chefs and surely the most glorious views to enjoy while eating your seafood. If you’re heading to the coast this year, don’t miss the chance to discover the outstanding produce available right on your doorstep.”
Check out top seafood dining hotspots on booking tool and coastal guide englandscoast.com, which lists seafront restaurants, and foodie experiences all around our coastline.
Oysters have been grown in the creeks off Mersea Island in Essex since Roman times,when they were a food staple and a vital resource. It’s said that the Romans loved oysters so much that they used to tow them in nets behind their boats all the way back to Rome. There are two varieties of oyster; the Colchester Rock Oyster, available all year round and living naturally on the seabed and the Colchester Native Oyster, harvested from September to May in the shallow creeks off Mersea Island.
For those wanting a true taste of the oyster experience then there’s no better way than getting onto the water with Lady Grace Boat Trips. Enjoy a Two-Hour Picnic Trip and gently cruise along Salcot Creek, where you’ll hear distant curlew calling and find egrets wading along the shoreline and oystercatchers flying overhead. Pre-order your picnic platter from the West Mersea Oyster Bar and tuck into native oysters and a variety of locallysourced seafood.
In Yorkshire, herring are transformed into kippers in smokeries that have changed very little in hundreds of years. >>
In Whitby, Fortune’s Kippers smokehouse and shop is famous for its tasty kippers which land on the breakfast plate for a low calorie, high protein start to the day. The aroma of oak wood smoke fills the air as you reach the smokehouse, located on the picturesque east-side of Whitby and nestled beneath the ancient cliffs. For over 150 years this authentic smokehouse has been run by the Fortune family and kippers are made in the same way, by hand-gutting fish which are then smoked over a series of fires made from a mixture of oak, beech and softwood, the fragrant oak and beech smoke gently permeates the fish to add flavour and to colour them naturally. It usually takes about three fires and 18 hours to complete the smoking process in order to achieve the delectable oaky smoked flavour and the distinctive golden-brown colour of a Fortune’s kipper.
Cromer Crab from Norfolk is in demand around the world, famous for its delicate flavour. Head to the northern coast of Norfolk to find the flavoursome, meaty and tender Cromer crab found in the nutrient-rich waters. These delicious brown crabs have been caught in the region for centuries and crabbing is still done in a traditional and sustainable way today, using pots to catch live crabs, checking them for size and throwing any back that don’t meet legal requirements, thereby none go to waste. The annual Crab and Lobster Festival, which celebrates the seaside destinations of Cromer & Sheringham, will next take place in May 2022. Eat at Wells Crab House and enjoy a changing monthly menu, including garlic buttered lobster and cockles with cider vinegar, washed down with Callooh Coastal Gin with Seaweed In Dorset, the natural environment is perfect for food foraging, a skill that’s helped many of us get outside and connect with nature during the pandemic, to open our eyes and to seek out the food that is growing around us. Kayaking and wild food organisation Fore/Adventureoffer courses including seashore foraging and bushcraft skills to turn the foraged finds into a feast. Their half-day Coastal Foraging Course, based on the beach in Studland includes a seashore foraging walk where you can investigate and learn about sea vegetables, sea weeds, crabs and cockles. You’ll learn how to identify and prepare wild foods, and how to make the most of nature’s very own larder, whether in the sea or on the shore.
In Devon it’s all about variety – more than 40 different species are auctioned at Plymouth and Brixham Fish Markets alone, while Teignmouth is the only place in the country where you can try sand eels, brought ashore by one lone fisherman in his boat. Brixham Fish Market’s auction – the largest in the UK - attracts buyers from all around the UK and Europe due to Brixham’s unmatched reputation for landing high-quality fresh fish and shellfish. The fish ends up on plates in some of the finest restaurants in the UK, including Mitch Tonks’ Rockfish seafood restaurant, which sits in the market and overlooks the boats as they land their catch. Alfresco diners can sit on the terrace and look directly down to the fishing fleet, and from 5pm you can see the boats come in with their haul of fish of all shapes and sizes coming ashore.
For more information on planning your visit to one of England’s coastlines visit.englandscoast.com
AN INTERVIEW WITH...
RAJ & SANDEEP SHARE A SLICE
Share A Slice is a social enterprise restaurant aiming to combat hunger suffered as a result of growing poverty across London. For each pizza purchased, Share A Slice donate one to those in need via their charity partners and weekly food drives. Since launching in 2019, they’ve donated a whopping 10,650 pizzas (and counting!). Editor Nicola discusses what inspired Raj and Sandeep to launch their pop up and why supporting the local community is at the heart of their business along with great pizza.
Tell us about your background and what drew you both to start a pizzeria with a difference?
The idea for Share A Slice was born from a conversation I had with a homeless man outside the office of my old job in Old Street. A chance encounter turned out to be the catalyst for us wanting to start providing pizza with a purpose. We asked where he was able to have a hot meal and realised, we could do something to help this community. As such we wanted to create a pizzeria where if the customer knew it or not, they were helping feed someone other than themselves. It was at this moment that Share A Slice was born! Since then, we have continued to work using our one-for-one model, so for every pizza bought, we donate one to someone in need via our charity partners.
Ingredients are a key element of each of your pizzas, how do you achieve that authentic Italian taste?
A product is only as good as the ingredients that go into making it, plus a whole lot of love and passion. We had abundances of the last two so needed to make sure we had the right ingredients. During our training in Naples, we learnt the importance of having simple but high-quality ingredients as such, we have our cheeses, flour and tomatoes flown in from Naples transporting you to the sunny streets of Naples with every bite!
Where did you learn your craft of pizza creation and who inspired you?
As far as inspiration goes the motivation for us to go to Naples and learn the art was very much inspired by Aziz Ansari. Odd right? Well, for us it started whilst watching an episode of Master of None on Netflix in which he travelled to Modena to learn how to make Pasta. We thought it would be an amazing experience to learn how to curate food in its home. So, we decided to pack our bags and travel to the home of Pizza, Naples. To ensure we knew what we were doing, we managed to convince Master Pizzaiolo, Enzo Coccia of Pizzeria La Notizia, to show us how it was done. Over the course of six weeks, we learnt everything that there was to learn from making fresh dough daily to learning how to tame a 450-degree wood fired oven! The rest as they say was history! Thanks Aziz if you are reading!
The importance of community is evident in the ethos of Share A Slice, where did this come from and how did you build this into your business?
Community is at the core of everything we do. Be it the local community, the homeless community, those in need or even the foodie community. The driver was the collective power of communities to share ideas and to make change, however big or small. With the challenges of the pandemic, we wanted to do our bit and give back to our local community in South London and we launched our 12 days of Christmas Campaign in which we donated 1200 pizzas in 12 days to front line staff working during the pandemic.>>
Our weekly food drives and partnerships with charities to donate hot meals to our community has become the key part of our business.
What have you got planned next?
Here at Share A Slice we are always looking to collaborate with innovative and different organisations to maximise our social impact whilst providing high quality Neapolitan pizza. We are always open to new ideas for spreading our message and carrying our ethos across London - watch this space for our next exciting new venture!
We all want to know your favourite pizza topping and who would you Share A Slice with?
For Raj, it has to be the Nduja pizza, it is a smoky Calabrian sausage with has an almighty kick of spice. It would be great to Share A Slice with Aziz Ansari, just so that I can thank him for the inspiration! For Sandeep you can’t beat a classic Neapolitan margherita, although he would like to share it with our teacher Enzo Coccia, probably just to show off how good he has become!
Pop Brixton, Brixton Station Road, SW9 8PQ
Rooftop, Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4ST
popbrixton.org/members/share-a-slice/
DRAKE & MORGAN
Dust off the glad rags and celebrate in style with Drake & Morgan, brand new, all-singing, all-dancing brunches to keep spirits high and social calendars jam-packed this summer.
Disco isn’t Dead at Devonshire Terrace
Grab your five favourite groupies and boogie on down to Devonshire Terrace for its Disco Brunch – running every Saturday from 29th May. With tables available to book from 12pm-4pm,outdoors on the covered terrace and inside, expect smoke machines, disco balls, throwback tunes and plenty of glitter! Enjoy 90 minutes of bottomless cocktails and fizz as well as your choice of brunch dish: avocado with poached eggs, crispy duck salad, or buttermilk chicken waffles.
From £34.95 per person which includes bottomless Prosecco, Bloody Marys, selected beers and one main dish.
West End Drag Brunch at The Folly
Sashay down to The Folly with your five fabulous queens and experience more sequins, feathers and sass than you can imagine at The Folly’s West End Drag Brunch. Launching on 30th May and featuring drag queens exclusively from West End shows like Kinky Boots and Priscilla Queen of The Dessert - it’ll be a day of dancing, death drops and dazzling performances. Expect knockout entertainment with a DJ and live vocals, hosted by the fabulous Ruby Murry from Pikes Ibiza and the legendary Miss Demeanour. You’ll enjoy 90 minutes of bubbles and bottomless cocktails alongside an “unlimited” selection of grazing plates, including fiery slowcooked pork ribs and smoked aubergine & mozzarella arancini. Available 1pm-4pm,
every Sunday. From £49.95pp for 90 minutes, including bottomless Aperol Spritz, Pornstar Martinis, Mimosas, Bloody Marys and grazing plates. Champagne and extended time upgrades available.
Gospel Motown Brunch at The Anthologist
Let The Anthologist raise your spirits every Sunday with its new soulful Gospel Motown Brunch, featuring an incredible gospel choir and live Motown singers. Show some R.E.S.P.E.C.T to the greats and sing along to everything from Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder to Sister Act and Beyoncé. Belt your heart out to all the classics whilst sipping on bottomless cocktails and tucking into brunch dishes including pancake stacks, eggs royale and braised short ribs with polenta mash. The brunch you’ve been praying for is launching on 30th May and runs every Sunday, from 12pm-4pm.
From £44.95pp for 90 minutes, including bottomless Bloody Mary’s, Prosecco, Rum Punch, selected beers and a brunch dish. Add on 30 minutes extra for £10pp – maximum sitting 2 hours
