Saxmundham, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

The Pinney family’s fishy institution “hasn’t changed for 40 years, apart from the odd tweak to the menu – and why not, when it’s as perfect as this?” A “simple setting” doesn’t detract from its charms – including the fact that “it was doing local before it became a trendy buzzword, with fish (both fresh and smoked) and oysters from down the road”; “after you’ve eaten, you can wander through this impossibly picturesque village to their shop to take more home”.

A fire in May 2023 engulfed this beloved clapboard-shack-style venue with town-centre spin-off, as well as its quayside neighbours, but they were already up and running as a takeaway the following month, with plans to re-open the restaurant (for now there’s limited outdoor seating). Despite the setback, it continues to win raves for “fish ‘n’ chips as good as it gets”, featuring “crispy batter” and “crunchy/soft” chips, “all cooked in umami-packed beef dripping”; add in “a dollop or two of mushy peas as contrasting texture…and who could ask for more?”

“Excellent fish” is the highlight of the “imaginative” menu at this “delightful restaurant”, which is “probably the best place for dinner in Southwold”. The ancient building dates from 1455 and has been run for 15 years (10 as owners) by Kinga & Andy Rudd – the latter “a fun host who really cares about making sure everything goes very well”. Al-fresco dining is available in semi-private outdoor timber ‘pods’.

With its “great fish dishes – we had a whole brill for two served at the table with chips and hollandaise sauce, which was… ’bril’ (geddit?)” – this yearling from George Pell, formerly of L’Escargot in Soho, “has ambitions to be the new east coast superstar. Another year will tell whether they have made it”. Locally born head chef Tom Payne, 25, certainly made a good start, mightily impressing Observer critic Jay Rayner a week after his promotion to run the kitchen, with a ‘menu that is certain of its mission’. It’s certainly “a welcome addition locally – a treat”, and the “nice new bedrooms” and “well-made cocktails are a plus”. (It’s one of the few good legacies from Covid, as the team from L’Escargot shifted here during the pandemic).