East Mersea, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

“It’s always fun to eat the freshest seafood” at this waterside Mersea Island institution, which lives up to its name, and has a long menu of cold dishes ready to eat and a shorter menu of freshly cooked items (including potatoes sauteed in butter, but not chips). The business has developed over more than 40 years, since Heather & Richard Howard, a seventh-generation oyster fisherman, bought the Tollesbury and Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Company’s former purification shed, built in 1876; it’s now run by their daughter Caz. Top Tip – you can BYOB for a £6 corkage charge, but these days they sell three white wines from the nearby Mersea Island Vineyard by the glass or bottle, along with local beers and a couple of imported reds.