The Kent seaside is a lovely place to visit, especially on a cold but bright winter’s day. Yesterday we made a snap decision to enjoy the sunshine and head for the sea. I think it’s watching that new drama-soap Moving Wallpaper / Echo Beach that’s making us yearn for some sea air but anyway, off we went, making a bee-line for the Royal Native Oyster Stores. As usual it was excellent, we had 1/2 dozen Whitstable natives and potted shrimps, then I had a crab, Scrap the squid with chips and Rob a beautiful seabass. Sadly, the service was slow and it all took too long when, really, we wanted to be outside. With a £100 bill - £3 for 75cl of San Pellegrino - we could have gone to The Wolseley and got real linen and silver.
Anyway, we realised that we were fairly close to Margate where Rob’s brother has just bought a house and 25 minutes later we were there and Scrap got a chance to race his bike along the brilliant sandy beach just before the sun set. Margate is the new Brighton according to Simon and you know, I think he’s right. And I think we’ll be spending a lot of our future summer weekends in his spare room.
5 comments:
Food pisses me off sometimes...like it thinks it's the only industry that can get away with overcharging people..
Can you imagine going to see a local singer-songwriter perform in a pub round the corner, and being faced with a poster that would say" Live! Tonight! Someone you've never heard of, he's local, he's great, so it'll cost you more than going to Wembley to see someone big!"
If we really want people to cherish and support the wonderful variey of local produce that we can supply, then snobby eateries and stylish interiors will never do it. We need pints of prawns to be not just as cheap as chips, but cheaper than Chicken Cottage.
:)
I don't know that the food industry are the only ones to over charge ludicrously. I booked some flights last night with Ryanair, and they charged me £14 to check a bag in, and £2 to actually check in.
Although £3 for a pellegrino is a touch steep.
Iain: I agree and now I want a pint of prawns for my tea...
James: £3 for a great big old bottle of Pedras, fine. But this made me unhappy...
Pint of Prawns: the official tea of champions! I think the chap in your previous pub pic should be having some with his beer and crisps, ya gotta get the food groups in fella :)
Forget Margate. Come to Sunny Southend have some Jellied Eels and a pint of Guinness. The real food of Kings.
Post a Comment