Camden Town is tucked in behind Euston Station and the Grand Union Canal north of Central London and overflows with a variety of colourful markets, shops, restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, theatres and cinemas and more dubious enterprises. The town attracts enormous crowds of Londoners and tourists alike, particularly at weekends. It is an edgy and at times uneven area where I hadn’t been for some time. On this occasion I was making a foray not to the Camden Road / Royal College side but to Parkway on the other side of Camden High Street which connects Camden to Regents Park.
Here at the park end of Parkway up from a well known music venue, The Dublin Castle, a tired old kebab restaurant called Tawa was reborn in summer 2009 as a stylish fish restaurant resplendent in the title of Coast Dining. I wanted to try it as it is surprisingly difficult to get fresh unadorned seafood in London. First impressions are the “look and feel” of Coast is very successful with tasteful white surfaces and bleached wood effect tables with stylish plastic chairs to give an uncluttered Beach House effect adorned with original art from Cornwall. At the rear there is the “Backroom” and an open kitchen in the Greek tradition where you can see the chefs at work. The shellfish is kept on an iced refrigerated display at the front of the house so it can be inspected on the way in. There are also two outside tables pour deux. I had somewhat laughed at the concept of tables overlooking traffic clogged Parkway but with the railings, hanging baskets and canopy they looked surprisingly cosy. The layout is modern, with a contemporary atmosphere, and music featuring strongly as a backdrop to the dining experience.
Co-owner Cornishman David Upton takes the restaurant down the sustainable route, avoiding threatened species such as cod, for example, and concentrating on British seafood. Two plateau de fruits de mer are offered - one with Dorset crab at £60.00 for two, the other for featuring a whole split lobster at £84.00 for two. Those who don't want to eat seafood will find ribeye steaks and burgers from the chargrill, marinated chicken, vegetarian risotto and soups. We ordered a combination of the daily special at £10 for two courses which is somewhat limited with two starters and two mains from which we chose a really nice Gravadlax and a Thai noodle seafood salad which was very flavoursome. The shell fish selection @ £18 was properly served on a silver cradle with a bed of crushed ice containing two rock oysters, tiger prawns, razor clams, shrimps and mussels. They were all very flavoursome and fresh suggesting Coast both sources and handles its produce well. The cheese board we shared was a selection of 3 good cheeses with a generous portion of cheese and two ramekins of pickled onion and chutney but only small water biscuits. At £8.50 I would have expected a selection but when we asked for more biscuits they were brought cheerily and quickly.
The wine list has been carefully constructed from across the world with the emphasis on harmonising the flavours of the food with the fruits of the wine. An example is the House Champagne from the well regarded producer Alain Waris et Fils from Champagne-Ardenne which is a small but reputed family producer and which sells at £36. Keeping with the St Ives connection, Coast has linked up with a co-operative art gallery from St Ives, Art Space, www.artspace-cornwall.co.uk , giving artists their chance to showcase their work in London, and offering the diners the opportunity to purchase the paintings at the restaurant.
Overall I left with a very favourable impression of Coast from our cheerful and helpful South African server, the good bread at the table, the cutlery, linen napkins and crockery which were of a very good quality and added to the excellent overall ambience. The seafood was of excellent quality and the passion for freshness shines through and in a major city like London this is expensive and I felt the starters and mains were fairly priced. The restaurant business is hard graft particularly for small proprietor owned restaurants like Coast competing against chains and having put a plate on the table restaurateurs tend to look for their profit on drinks and deserts. However I felt deserts @ £6, ice creams @ £5 and a Chilean Chardonnay at £19.50 were over egged – it was somewhat quiet on a Wednesday and the pricing on these items would push a three course meal with wine, digestif, coffees and the discretionary 12 ½ % service charge to £40/45 a head which is a bit on the high side.
However Coast is a good restaurant with excellent service and atmosphere and real passion for good food and wine which is something of a jewel on Parkway so it is very definitely worth an outing. Camden attracts such an eclectic crowd because it provides for good and for bad, most things for most people. At Coast Dining it provides excellent seafood in fine surroundings. Like Arnie, I will be back!
Coast Dining
108 Parkway, Camden, London, NW1 7AN
Cuisine: Fish Average Price: £40/45
Tel: 020 7267 9555 Email; info@coastdining.co.uk
Transport: Camden Town Tube (Northern Line)
Website;
http://www.coastdining.co.uk
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