Tuesday 6 August 2013

Whitstable: A Day at the Seaside

Today was one of the few days this summer my family has all been in the same place at the same time and so we took the opportunity to hop in the car and visit a bit of the English coast. We ended up at Whitstable, a small seaside town in Kent, famous for its oysters.





The town was delightfully twee, full of independent shops and restaurants such as a wonderful little juice bar. We had a lovely time browsing through the shops before retiring to the town's tiny but famous oyster bar, 'Wheelers'.




The restaurant was amazing! Personally I'm not really into sea food, but even I found something to nibble on. We were seated at the bar overlooking a full counter of fresh fish. You would think this would make it easier to chose what to eat but there was so much choice! Mum eventually went for a number of dishes, including carpaccio tuna, sea bass in a grapefruit salad and of course, half a dozen oysters! My sister and I were initially a touch more reserved, both opting for soft-shell crab tempura, but then were drawn in by the amazing puddings. Lu and I ended up picking identical dishes in the end, opting for an incredible raspberry soufflĂ© with salted caramel ice cream (the best I've tasted) and a mini eton mess.





Wheelers was (unsurprisingly) incredibly popular. The entire time we were eating locals were popping in and out looking to purchase fresh fishy produce, while others were asking for tables and being met with a firm "I'm sorry we're fully booked today" even though it was mid day on a Monday. So if you're planning a visit, you may want to book in advanced. Then again, you may be lucky like us and just manage to squeeze in!

We happily munched our way through piles of food before eventually rolling ourselves out of the door to wander down to the harbour.









We loved looking at all the different boats and the restored 'fishermen's shacks' which lined the sea front. There was even some interesting street art to peruse along the way as well as more wonderful little shops.




Eventually it was time to return to our car. We'd had a brilliant little day trip to a place we'd vowed to return to.



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