Issue
17
Page
9
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For long suffering partners who accompany conchologists to the coast the next cup of tea may be more important than identifying a shell. Beach cafes are usually uninspired offerings of drinks, burgers or ice cream. On a recent visit to Littlehampton in Sussex I discovered a gem of a beach café seated right on the promenade where you can dine inside or outside with uninterrupted sea views. This gourmet café carries an unusual design by Thomas Heatherwick inspired by a piece of driftwood. In the design you can glimpse many natural shapes of the coast – sand dunes, waves, rocks, flotsam and jetsam, and even shells. It is a magnificent piece of engineering where ribbons of steel are constructed together as if in a jigsaw. The design and completion took two men eighteen months with the café opening in the summer of 2007 to rave reviews of the design and the menu in quality press travel supplements and magazines. Folders containing these reviews and the history of the cafe are available to browse. A kiosk is incorporated in the design offering the more usual snacks, drinks and ice cream but there is plenty of outside seating overflowing to the nearby green parks or the shingle beach.
Winter opening hours cover lunch and dinner Thursday to Saturday but from 1 July are extended to weekend breakfasts and open every evening with an invitation to sip cocktails before dinner while gazing out to sea. Yes the café is licensed but organic cordials and freshly squeezed juices are also available. Soup, mushrooms, shrimps, herring and mussels feature in the Starters which can also be served as a light lunch. Main courses range from beer battered fish, chips and mushy peas to crab linguine, ham hock, steak and sea bass. Fish is locally sourced where possible but always from sustainable sources. If you are a pudding fan there is tempting brioche bread and butter pudding, rhubarb and caramelised orange trifle, hot chocolate brownie with ice cream or stilton with quince paste and digestives. After this the non conchologist will not complain of time passing as he/she gently slumbers.
It has just been announced as this magazine was going to press that East Beach Cafe, Littlehampton, is one of the winners of the RIBA awards. The judges described it as "both strange and captivating, weird but lovable". For further information phone 01903 731903 or visit the website www.eastbeachcafe.co.uk
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