Whitstable - the home of good seafood

Summer time food trips – Whitstable

Whitstable, a seaside resort in South East England. This quintessentially Kentish coastal town, renowned for its oysters and its shingle beaches is well worth a visit if you enjoy seafood.

It was a sunny day in June when I visited but, it was just as well that I hadn’t expected it to be hot and summery. A bracing East wind was blowing off the North Sea with little between it and Siberia!

However, this didn’t really matter too much as we hadn’t expected to sunbathe and the warmth of the people more than made up for the chill in the weather.

I went with my daughter, her partner and their five week old baby, so some organisation was necessary and an acceptance from café owners and restaurants that their needs had to be met.

We went by car from Greenwich – about an hour for us. Once free of London traffic, the journey was easy. The nearby A2 merged into the M2. Look out for signs for A299 then follow signs to Whitstable. Parking was easy and inexpensive.

If you are travelling from North or Central London, take the route through the Blackwall Tunnel onto Greenwich Peninsula.

By train – a straight through train from Cannon Street Station in The City of London takes about 1 hour 20 minutes. If it suits better, you can catch a train from London Victoria which will necessitate a change at Cannon Street.

We spent all of our time in and around the beach front area. There were delightful small shops, a farmer’s market, cafes, restaurants and oyster bars on the main street. We decided to stop for a coffee in a small café called Samphire. The staff were very friendly, greeting us as we went in and ensuring we had somewhere to park our pram. It seemed that most tables were occupied by young families with toddlers and babies. All were made to feel welcome. Although we only had coffee, we could have had lunch also – the menu looked excellent.

However, we decided to move on and walked the few metres to the sea front. The busy harbour area was surrounded by cottages and chalets available for holiday lets, a sailing school, booths and stalls selling a variety of seafood – oysters, potted shrimps, crabs, etc.

For lunch, we opted for Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, a large restaurant on the beach front, which was obviously very popular as we had to book and wait for an hour for a table. It was well worth the wait! I’m not a huge fan of ‘seafood’ so opted for the local cod in beer batter – what a treat. My daughter and her partner chose a selection of seafood – potted shrimps, lobster, razor clams [that seafood of the moment which they claimed was delicious]. Interestingly, part of the basement was taken up with a large deep pool of constantly flowing water where, we assumed, they kept the lobster and crabs fresh. Do have a look if you go there and, I do recommend a visit.