I’d been looking forward to checking out The Seaview Restaurant in Saltburn for a while after seeing Fred Sirieix and Nadiya Hussain visit in the Yorkshire episode of their Remarkable Places to Eat programme.
Having booked a table during a holiday to Staithes in August, I was disappointed when we had to cancel and return home suddenly after my wife’s elderly mother had a fall.
Finally returning on a wet, windy, stormy, autumn evening in October we found a busy restaurant with walk-ins getting turned away at the door. The Seaview is in the old Victorian seaside town of Saltburn by the Sea. (There is still a takeaway fish and chip shop which I remembered from 30 years ago when we used to head up to the coast to surf).
The restaurant is situated across the road from Saltburn’s famous Pier – Yorkshire’s last remaining Pier built in Victorian times to encourage day trippers when the railway finally came to the town.
Once we were shown to our seat, there were great views out to the stormy sea and the 206m long Pier. The restaurant was light, seating not too cramped with industrial lighting and a marine theme. Along the walls were a number of wonderful lobster paintings by Rob Shaw who used to live up the coast in Staithes.
Onto the food. For starters – I had chosen the Chargrilled prawns but was told they had run out. I think this must have been fate as I plumped for the Scallops instead.
This was something really special. Three plump scallops seared to perfection. But what made this dish was the pea and wild garlic risotto it was served with. This was as good if not better than the scallops themselves which is saying something.
Scallops are often served with pea puree but this was so different. Thicker and a wonderful texture, with sweet petit pois, fresh garlic and lemon mixed up to make a bright green bed for the scallops to sit on. Outstanding.
Both myself and my wife decided we had to try the dish featured in Remarkable Places to Eat. We went for the Saltburn Crab Brioche.
This consisted of a mixture of white and brown crab with crayfish tails and celeriac remoulade, topped with fresh leaves, pickled cucumber and a Bloody Mary ketchup, all served with skinny fries.
This was lovely and worth the wait to finally try it. Very tasty, plenty of crab and quite lite. Presentation was great and flavours combined well. It was a very, very posh crab sandwich!
At £16.95 for this dish, it made me wonder how much you would pay for a dish like this, which had featured on TV in “that” London?. Very reasonable for what it was.
Service was quick and friendly, we were in and out within an hour and fifteen so didn’t have to leave the dog for long.
Décor was great, themed and lots to look at, even when it was too dark to see the Pier. We will definitely be back.
Let's hope Fred and Nadiya get up to Yorkshire again soon and help us discover some more remarkable places to eat!