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Riverside Restaurant

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Cuisine: Other
Average price for a meal for two: £80

West Bay, Bridport, Dorset

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Follow the fish

Last Thursday the sun made a few half-hearted attempts to come out from behind the clouds. Holidaymakers sat stoically, their tracksuit tops pulled tightly around them, beneath the cliffs on the long stretch of West Bay beach. A few of the truly brave swam in the sea. We talked about a dip, scuffed our feet in the sand and then made straight for the Riverside Restaurant.

Originally a tent, then a hut, then a café serving fish and chips, roast dinners and cream teas, the restaurant, in the same ownership since 1964 and re-built in 1976 by architects Piers Gough and Roger Zogolovitch, serves the catch from local waters in agreeably simple style.

A booking made the day before had secured us a table tucked away in the lower level of the ground floor, where the children with us could mess about without annoying others. Friendly staff take children in their stride. An order of hot chocolate as a first course for the threeyearold was produced without an eyelid being batted.

The adults' attention was drawn to the Daily Specials, which included local lobster, local line-caught plaice, whole gilthead bream, fillet of brill and Lyme Bay Dover sole cooked and served on the bone among the main courses. We started with crab salad, which was squeaky-fresh, and home-made mayonnaise which seemed to have been whipped up in the food processor without even a drop of olive oil, delectable grilled scallops and deep-fried skinny rings of calamari. "Since the point of calamari is really the batter and the aïoli," said its recipient, "slicing them finely makes very good sense."

Plaice fillets served with chive beurre blanc were unusually thick for a flat fish and had concomitant depth of flavour. Grilled fillet of brill with sorrel sauce and crispy spinach delighted someone new to brill. The Lyme Bay Dover sole was sensational. It was huge, as befitted its price of £24.75, perfectly timed and seasoned, and so hot it must have been rushed from the kitchen.

Desserts including Knickerbocker Glory are apparently a draw in themselves. A rather lacklustre lunch at Fishworks in Marylebone a few days later made me realise that it is better to go to the fish, than have the fish come to you.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

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