Riverside Restaurant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Riverside Restaurant in West Bay

The Riverside Restaurant is a seafood restaurant located in West Bay, England.

As the restaurant only serves fresh local fish, the restaurant is closed in the December and January months (the months when the fishermen do not go out in the area due to rough seas). The building is situated on a causeway and as such the dining area is on two levels with views of the river and beyond to the sea. In 2006, The Guardian newspaper placed it at the top of the list of it's Top 5 seafood restaurants.^[1]. In 2004, it was voted one of The Observer newspaper's Top 10 Seafood Restaurants. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall also says that it is one of the finest fish restaurants in the South West, and is arguably the most child-friendly restaurant in the country^[2]. It has also received critical acclaim from indulgesouthwest.co.uk food magazine^[3] and Harden's Restaurant Guide^[4]

[edit] History

The origins of the Riverside stretch back into the early part of the last century when a tent was erected during the Summer to provide Tea and Cakes. This was replaced by increasingly enlarged wooden huts and the Post Office was located on the same site.

The business grew but West Bay became increasingly prone to flooding and storm damage and the Riverside got flooded several times a year during the 60’s & 70’s. The present owners who had been in occupation since 1964 decided to rebuild the Riverside in 1976 to a design by the Architects Piers Gough and Roger Zogolovitch. The building has had a few additions since that date but has remained largely the same.

The present owners acquired the Riverside in 1964 when the trade was limited to local fishermen, coach parties and people on camping holidays in the area. The menu was fairly basic with Roast dinners and Cream Teas the specialties. However local fish and shellfish were listed. The rebuild in 1976 coincided with the spread of car ownership and the purchase of holiday homes. The demand changed radically and we were soon offering a full seafood menu and attracting customers from far and wide. Not long after this, Keith Floyd's T.V. programs began and seafoods became even more popular and increasingly so, when, at a later date, Rick Stein arrived on the scene.