Overview
Location: Margate
Price per head: £60 – £80
Our opinion: Worth the money
Summary: An incredible seafood lunch at a small seaside restaurant, followed by drinks on the waterfront, makes for a wonderful day at the seaside.
Restaurant Review
We have a group of foodie friends who we like to go to the seaside with at least once a year. We eat oysters, drink wine, and try amazing food. We were very excited about our most recent trip because it was a place that we had heard a lot about. I was also very curious to visit a town that everyone keeps telling me is ‘up and coming’, whatever that means.
Angela’s in Margate is a tiny seafood restaurant that has a menu which changes daily based on what comes in off the boats. They only do seafood, but they do it astoundingly well. They don’t have much space, the front room houses around 5 tables, and their little back room has space for about 3 more. Their kitchen looks small and cramped, but they make it work.
This place books up fast, and whilst they do have some space for walk-ins, if you are making the journey to Margate to eat here (which you certainly should) then I would advise you book way ahead of time. We were a group of 5, but it seems their system never shows availability for groups larger than 4 so we had to book for 4 and then ring up and increase the number.
I grew up on the coast and have eaten a lot of seafood my whole life. I have also eaten at numerous fine dining restaurants that do all sorts of weird and wonderful things to create incredible fish dishes, so many of them memorable. For these reasons, I went to Angela’s expecting to have some delicious seafood, but was not expecting to be surprised. But I was, totally. I had, without doubt, the best plate of fish I have ever eaten.
The Food
Strangely, on this day and in this restaurant our entire group had their eyes on all the same dishes. This was good and bad. It was good because everything we ordered was unbelievably delicious, and no one was left jealous. It was bad because we didn’t get to try the full breadth of what was on offer. However, having seen the thought care and culinary expertise that went into the dishes we did eat, I am confident that any dish served here will not be anything but fantastic.
Starters
We began our meal by sharing a few starters as a group. We all liked the look of the smoked prawns and the scallops.
Prawns
Prawns are my favourite. I grew up eating them, and in my first job as a kitchen porter I got very good at peeling them. Because of this, whenever prawns are shared I have to be very careful, otherwise I will end up having eaten half of them before anyone has even managed to try one.
I had to be particularly restrained at Angela’s as we shared 2 portions of their Smoked Prawns dish. They came served with a pot of aioli and a slice of lemon, and were tremendously good.
I was a little sceptical about smoking prawns, I feared that their flavour might be a little overpowered by the smokeyness. I needn’t have worried, the flavours balanced perfectly. The prawn flavour I have always loved was there, and then the smokeyness reminded you this was a dish with a difference. The garlicky aioli on the side was fresh and well balanced, and obviously delicious. Who doesn’t like aioli?
Scallops
If scallops are on the menu chances are that either Louise or I will be ordering them. On this occasion we ordered 3 portions between the 5 of us.
The scallops were cooked to perfection. Seared beautifully whilst being just cooked through. The orange roe was kept on which I was delighted about. People can be funny about it, but the fact is it’s tasty. It was served on a bed of sweetcorn puree and topped with yellow courgette ribbons and basil. The sweetness of the sweetcorn paired wonderfully with the shellfish, and the courgette provided the perfect bit of crunch that the dish needed.
Main course
We all ordered the same dish for our main. Normally this would embarrass me a little (I don’t know why), but on this occasion I had a feeling we were all making the right decision. In retrospect, I would have hated to be the person that separated from the pack, because the dish was astonishing.
Advertised as hake and Lobster Baked Beans, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I love lobster bisque and was hoping there would be similarities. As it turned out there were. The dish consisted of a perfectly cooked, and absolutely huge, piece of monkfish served atop of beans cooked in a lobster bisque and butter sauce. A dollop of garlicky aioli was added for good measure.
The fish was wonderful. Incredibly fresh, you could really taste the sea. It was seasoned to perfection, with lovely crispy skin on top. On its own this is a standout piece of food. However, the baked beans elevated this dish to a whole new level. The deep lobster flavour, the incredible butteryness of the sauce and the softness of the beans all worked perfectly together. I can’t quite find the words to do this justice, but to me it was somehow comforting as well as stupidly yummy.
As I have said, for me, this is the best plate of fish I have ever had.
Sides
The sides looked great and the waitress recommended them so we got lured in. We got crispy potatoes and some greens. They were all delicious but frankly totally unnecessary. We were so full from our fish dish and starters so we didn’t get through them all. I’d probably suggest half a side between two.
Dessert
We shared a couple of deserts between us too. At this point we were pretty full given the size of our mains, but they looked too good to turn down.
Posset
When there is a fig leaf dessert on the menu I will order it no matter what. On this occasion it came in the form of a fig leaf posset, topped with cold custard and rhubarb. It was light, with a beautifully creamy texture and wonderful fig leaf flavour. The rhubarb worked well to cut through the sweetness. I allowed a member of the group to try a bite, but then I ate the rest myself. I was very happy.
Almond cake
A couple of the gang shared the almond cake, served with apple, caramel and creme fraiche. I got to try this as part of the trade agreement I brokered in exchange for a bite of my posset. It was surprisingly moist and light, and wonderfully sweet with the caramel. A really lovely way to end the meal.
Wine
It was our yearly trip and we were excited, so we treated ourselves to a bottle of bubbles to start the meal. We opted for the Westwell Pelergim sparkling, straight from Kent. I am sure we all know how Kent is becoming the place to be when it comes to sparklings, and this wine was a lovely way to start the meal. The bottle cost us £56 in total.
After this we all shared a bottle of white. We went for the Italian Verdicchio Di Stefano by Colle Stefano. It was light, dry and crisp and went great with the food. It was roughly around the £30 mark too, so it seemed really great value to us, so much so that we had 2 bottles.
Service
The service was relaxed and friendly, everything you would want from a seaside restaurant. We were talked through the dishes, had wines recommended, and felt very well looked after. I really can’t imagine how anyone could have a bad time at this place.
The rest of Margate
We had travelled down to Margate from London so wanted to make a full day of it. We planned to get a train back later in the evening, so we had a good few hours left to explore. After our lunch we needed a big walk so we decided to head to Dreamland, a Margate institution. Whilst there are many better amusement parks in the world, you haven’t truly experienced Margate until you have done it.
After our food went down we enjoyed the rest of our time in town by heading to a few bars. We walked along the Margate Harbour Arm where there are a few cool places to get drinks, and a restaurant called Sargasso. We haven’t eaten there before but if its sister restaurant Brawn is anything to go by then it should be delicious. We had beers and canned cocktails at the Harbour Arms Micropub, which was great. However, after a while the music blaring from The Lighthouse Bar got too much for us, so we decided to wander on to the next place.
Next stop we went to Dory’s, which is actually Angela’s sister restaurant. They are more casual and do small plates, but I am sure their food is also fantastic (we saw they had the smoked prawns on the menu too!). They have tables outside that you can stop at for a drink if you don’t go during main meal times. We managed to bag one of these, and had a cocktail each as the sun set.
After this we went looking for a last place to sit for a drink along the front. At this point it was getting very busy everywhere so we had to wander around, but we got lucky and managed to get the last big table at Little Swift. This is a great deli and wine shop/ wine bar, so we were thrilled we managed to get in. As it’s a wine shop, we were spoilt for choice and we landed on a bottle of orange and a bottle of red wine. We also ordered a charcuterie and cheese board to share. Top tip, you can also buy extra cheeses from the deli to supplement your board. We love cheese so we did!
After this it was time for us to head home, so we walked back to the station and got the train back to London, tipsy and full.
