Coast is an award-winning restaurant run by Will Holland, Chefs Guild ‘UK Restaurant Chef of the Year 2016’. Located on the Pembrokeshire coastline, Coast’s menu highlights local produce with its many seafood dishes a reminder to its patrons of the idyllic scenery in which they eat.
Rating:
Cuisine
Contemporary/European
Appeals To:
Anyone looking for some fine-dining in South West Wales: perhaps say home-counties-type holiday makers who have travelled far to the quaint Welsh coast to blow away the cobwebs but who have discovered, alas, a lack of esteemed eateries.
Also, those local to the area with deep-pockets who are celebrating a special occasion, foodies who want to sample the best of Welsh produce created into inventive dishes, or those willing to splash out for the spectacular view.
In A Word
Maritime
The Ambience
Coast is a purpose-built restaurant, standing alone on a stretch of coastline just ten minutes-walk from Saundersfoot town centre. As a couple of holiday makers, we have packed the most practical of clothing in anticipation of doing some hiking and other such wholesome activities. On asking for a table, thankfully our informal attire isn’t frowned upon in this relaxed and airy restaurant.
Our enthusiasm for the breath-taking scenery leads us to ask for pre-dinner drinks outside to watch the sun set: a little ambitiously, it seems, as we sheepishly enter the restaurant five minutes later to shelter from the fierce wind blowing off the sea. We sit instead at the bar on a couple of stools, admiring the tasteful pottery and choice pieces of art scattered around and the restaurant.
The restaurant itself is two-tiered, an open layout which works well for its size and maintains a welcoming atmosphere. The décor is deftly non-invasive and comprises of a combination of natural materials and clean whites, meaning it doesn’t detract from the main event: the food.
The Food and Drink
We choose dishes from Will’s Menu but you can also sample the Tasting Menu for £65 a head (optional £40 for matching wines), and they have a separate Vegetarian Menu too.
Appetisers
After much deliberation over a menu where I want to sample so many dishes containing techniques and ingredients I had never before tried, we settled on our starters and main courses. Gawping out onto the spectacular views, we find that we receive an appetiser on the house (you can tell how often we frequent such establishments…).
The waitress places an espresso cup brimming with orange liquid in front of me: Carrot Soup with Orange Oil we are told. I find the soup salty, though the orange oil is beguiling as it is fragrantly and unmistakably orange-flavoured but with no hint of that expected sweetness. The real treat, however, is the bread that also arrives.
One of the few foods I do not mind arriving on a wooden plank, the White Bread with Parsley and Granary Bread with Oats is gorgeously soft, fresh and sumptuous. It is accompanied by Butter with Charcoal Salt, an unsalted spread which you can self-season by taking as much of the inky sprinkling that tops it as you want: a fine-dining salt-and-shake, if you will. The bread and butter disappear with alarming alacrity.
Starters
Our starters arrive with only a small pause after finishing the appetisers: the service is quick. My Pembrokeshire New Potato Velouté with truffled confit egg yolk, wild garlic, spring vegetables and mint oil (£11) arrives with the velouté presented in a separate jug, about half of which the waitress proceeds to pour over the dish taking care not to disturb presentation of the other ingredients.
The light, frothy liquid remarkably reminds me of the wholesome taste of a fresh new potato, however once again I find it was too highly seasoned. Fortunately, it does not overpower the al dente spring vegetables, sweet and fresh, which complement the earthy notes of the truffled egg yolk.
My other half had plumped for the heartier Duck Leg Confit Terrine with rhubarb puree, stem ginger jelly, duck scratchings and toasted pine nuts (£13). The acridity of the mousse marries perfectly with the fatty terrine, and the ginger jelly is exquisite. Unfortunately, there is so little of it on the plate that it is lost in amongst the bolder flavours.
Mains
We both settle on the Freshly breaded cod cheeks, with Pearl barley and chorizo, chargrilled spring onions and smoked paprika rouille (£22). The cod cheeks are cooked well, tender but not overcooked, and amazingly reminiscent of an upmarket chicken nugget (in the best way possible!). The pearl barely has homely tones of cereal-comfort which are spiked with smoky chorizo and the peppery paprika.
The rouille (a Provincial sauce consisting of olive oil, breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron and cayenne pepper) was incredibly garlicky: as a huge fan of garlic I love the kick, but there is a little too much of the sauce on the plate resulting in it becoming over-powering sometimes. A squeeze of lemon, a burst of freshness, would have been welcome in a dish full such rich flavours.
The Verdict
Coast has an intriguing menu which obviously wants to make the most of the produce that’s right on its doorstep and wastes no opportunity in reminding its diners of the beauty of its unique location (like presenting the butter smoothed over a beach pebble: a little self-indulgent perhaps, but definitely made me smile).
There were a few details which let the cooking down slightly considering the prices: over-seasoning is not an issue I often have at restaurants as I am usually very liberal with my salting. Nevertheless, Coast occupies a gap in the market as an establishment producing refined, contemporary and exciting food in this rural part of Wales: whether a local or a holiday-maker, you’d be missing a trick if you didn’t book a table to sample Will’s latest Menu.
The Details:
https://www.facebook.com/coastsaundersfoot
Coppet Hall Beach,
Saundersfoot,
SA69 9AJ
Tel: 01834 810800