Latest review:
The dining room is all soft light and clean lines, with gentle touches of sage green, marble table tops and a gleaming oyster bar setting the tone. The whole space is built around those huge windows that claim the full sweep of the seafront, the kind of view you could happily stare at all day and long into the night. It’s coastal without the clichés; no anchors, no rope knots, just a calm, refined palette that lets the food shine. From the moment you sit down you feel genuinely looked after, not in a showy way but with warm, intuitive, quietly confident service.
The menu isn’t extensive, but there’s more than enough to choose from; the kind of line‑up that keeps things exciting without leaving you overwhelmed. Oysters come either Cumbrae‑fresh (£28 for 6) with a fiery firecracker dressing or crisped up and drenched in buffalo hot sauce (£30 for 6). Starters lean classic‑coastal: Salt and Pepper Squid (£21), a hearty Provincial Fish Soup (£18), and Welch’s smoked salmon (£22), a lovely nod to Chef Roy Brett’s long‑standing relationship with Welch’s Fishmongers in Edinburgh, and their restaurant The Fishmarket in Newhaven.
Of course, the menu isn’t all about seafood, there are some exceptional non‑seafood dishes tucked in there too. We went for the Chicken Liver Parfait with quince and a brioche bun (£19) crowned with blackberries, and it was outstanding. Silky, earthy, and utterly moreish, the parfait had that perfect richness that just melts away. The brioche was warm and buttery, the kind you tear into slowly because you don’t want the moment to end. A perfect plate, start to finish.
And then there’s the XL Orkney Scallop (£21) -a showstopper! I haven’t had a scallop this perfect since dining at Kilted Lobster years ago. Exceptional doesn’t even cover it. The outside had that gorgeous golden bite, while the centre stayed just‑past‑translucent, soft, tender, and utterly scrumptious. Paired with the smoky‑sweet bacon jam and a sprinkle of chives, it was one of those dishes you pause for, savour, and immediately wish you’d ordered two of.
Within what felt like minutes, our mains were gliding their way to the table. I’d been eyeing up three fish dishes namely, the Lemon Sole Meunière with brown‑butter shrimps and capers (£45); the deep‑fried North Sea cod with warmed tartare and chips (£26); and the Roast Monkfish Au Poivre with peppercorn sauce and buttered spinach (£40). The monkfish won my heart, and I’m so glad it did. It was outstanding: cooked so beautifully it bordered on emotional, with a golden crust on top (not the skin) and flesh that was meaty yet delicate. Every bite was seasoned to perfection.
Alongside what is possibly one of the best steaks I’ve tasted, the prime Angus sirloin on the bone (£60), this dinner turned into the ultimate surf‑and‑turf, served with buttered Rattes potatoes (£7) and sweet root vegetables (£7). Between the peppercorn sauce for the monkfish and the rosemary sauce for the steak, we were more than covered. An absolute banging meal that hit every savoury, umami spot going.
There was East Neuk lobster with garlic butter on the menu too, as well as a St Andrews cheddar galette with winter tomato and Lyonnaise onion -both dishes I’ve no doubt would have been tremendous. For dessert, we somehow managed to squeeze in (and I really do mean squeeze in) the Sticky Toffee Madeleines with vanilla ice cream (£12). Wow. What a way to finish a truly exceptional meal.
