Coffee in a Camper Van

When we were in Whitstable Cowie and I had a great time exploring the market on the harbour. Having guzzled some oysters and studied the Crab and Winkles’ menu for that evening we were in desperate need of a coffee.

We stumbled across a bloke selling organic, freshly ground coffee next to his VW camper van with an array of up to date newspapers and magazines scatterd across the parcel shelf.

Cowie had a super fair trade tea whilst I polished off two double espresssos whilst lounging around in the back of a camper van. This was bliss. Out of the wind drinking delicious coffee and reading all the good bits of the paper. This is the quintessential experience of what drinking tea or coffee should be… literally transporting you away from the drudgery of everyday life to a life more charming… a better place.

Have a look at Volks Coffee’s website to see where they’ll turn up next!

The Crab and Winkle, Whitstable

Browny has already given a pretty comprehensive account of Whistable, but I must just write a quick something about the Crab and Winkle.

The restaurant is found on the 1st floor above the working fishery below. Looking out over the harbour and the sea, in the summer months the view from the restaurant would be highly impressive. The decor is simple and practical but would have benefited from more subtle lighting.

Anyway back to the food….

It would have been slacralage not to eat fish at this venue. I wanted to hit the man sat opposite us who had pigeon for his supper! The chosen starters were moule marinere and pan fried scallops. Some would say an unoriginal choice, but my word they were both extremely good. My scallops were served in their shells, accompanied with a cauliflower cheese esk sauce and bacon. Very special.

For main course we felt the menu was somewhat limited considering all the fish on show downstairs. Having shot gunned the special of ‘baked sea bass with anchovies, rosemary and capers, lentils and braised fennel’, Browny thought he would play safe and go for good old fish n’ chips… obviously with tartare sauce and mushy peas… The latter of which were quite revolting!

The bass was in a class of its own. I was initially concerned that so many flavours would over power and clash with the fish, but somehow it was a magical combo. The F and C did exactly what it said on the tin; but in all honesty it wasn’t streets ahead of your standard chippy.

Cheese was next in store for Browny. The selection was a little mean in quantity but tasty none the less. Meanwhile, I was feeling pretty smug that I had managed to resist the pudding menu. However, my saintly act was soon in tatters when I decided to order at the last minute a gigantic raspberry souffle and sorbet…. Little Miss Piggy is a better name for me these days.

We were very pleased we gave the Crab and Winkle a go. A thoroughly enjoyable evening, good food and wine.. but certainly on the pricey side.

Food – 7
Service – 7
Atmosphere – 7
Abit too pricey for what you get.

Seafood in Whitstable

Cowie and I read about the joys of Whitstable in Olive Magazine a month or so ago and as usual got excited about it and booked ourselves into a BnB and started looking up restaurants and reviews…

Our main aim was to sample Whitstable’s famous oysters. It didn’t take us long to stumble across the brilliant fish market on the south pier where freshly shucked oysters are yours for 65p each! Amazing.

They were shucked for us in seconds and presented like half a dozen eggs in a small piece of dark cardboard! A far cry from the OTT mound of ice and wire rack you’d get at Wright’s in Borough Market! We sloshed some lemon juice and chilli vinegar on them before taking them outside to wolf them down. I had thrown two of the vast pieces of chilled, salty, slippy shellfish down my throat before I realised that Cowie was having a few issues tackling hers… the problem was that they were so big and fresh that she had to bite them rahter than just swallow… and they were full of salty water… I thought they were great and ate the rest of them leaving me feeling in love with Whitstable and energised for rest of the day. There’s nothing quite like demolishing a bunch of oysters for lunch and not even breaking a fiver!

The market below the Crab and Winkle is amazing. It’s so full of fresh seafood that you leave with your eyes feeling full to bursting!