Dines Out: Perchance to Perch

With the arrival of the sun came an invitation to join Ms C with her mum Mrs O for a spot of lunch. They have been telling me about Perch on Lancing beach for some time now so it was a great opportunity to discover if their praise is justified.

I am pleased to report that it certainly is. Perch is the kind of seafront cafe that you dream of finding, one where you can actually see the sea and relax with some decent food, and the food is more than decent and very well priced.

One of the keys to a successful outing with Mrs O is access, not as spritely as she once was, we needed easy wheelchair access, which it has. Secondly it helps if it is dog friendly, she loves dogs and they put a big smile on her face. Perch is dog lover’s heaven.

We were seated in minutes, even though it was very busy, very for a Wednesday lunchtime. A lot of eateries would be happy to be that full on a Saturday night, so it is clear that this place is a real hit with the locals. The format is great, a restaurant area, cafe area and a bar too. It means that if you want to dine you can, if you just want coffee and a cake then you have that option too.

I chose mussels, plump and generous

We wanted to dine and both ladies wanted the fish and chips with mushy peas. I was pleased to see that they were mushy peas too and not the lazy route of squidging frozen peas, not good enough in my book. These peas looked good as did the fish in crisp batter. The chips are great but oddly shaped, almost scoop like. I like them as there was a nice big crispy surface area, and they were well seasoned and dry too.

I chose the mussels, a kilo of them cooked with leeks and bacon in cider with a dash of cream. Absolutely lovely, nice and plump and generous. They came with chips and bread, again good chips but sadly dull bread, I suspect that bake-off stuff that can have a rather claggy crumb. Claggy crumb does not suck up mussel broth, not that it stopped me trying.

Tea came in an enamel pot and my ginger beer was a quality brand and icy cold, perfect as the sun was streaming in from the sea-facing windows.

I have to agree with my friends, Perch is rather good and I will certainly return.

Lancing Perch, 28B Brighton Road, Lancing, BN15 8RA
01903 520317, lancingperch.com