Ambiance
A new addition to West Wickham High Street, Wickham Bay has a fresh, chic, beach-style décor with a takeaway fish and chips counter to the front, and a long bar and restaurant dining area to the side and back. Families and couples were enjoying meals when we arrived and returning customers could be heard singing their praises at the takeaway counter.
Service
The staff are like one big happy family – welcoming, friendly, and all seemed willing to do all that they could to ensure everyone was having a nice time. We visited on my birthday, and was presented with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ from the whole team at the end of our meal with a candle in our dessert, a very nice and welcome touch.
Food
A good selection of fresh fish (skate to cod) is available that you can choose to have either battered and fried or grilled. On a Sunday, a seafood platter is available, and there are also alternative options to fish, such as pies (meat or veggie) or a burger. To start, our favourite was the big, juicy king prawns coated in a light, bubbly batter and served with a small pot of homemade tartar sauce. For main, I opted for the grilled halibut – a deliciously meaty piece of fish that was cooked to perfection and served on a bed of new potatoes, baby carrots, broccoli and pureed parsnip. The dish was beautifully presented (not what you’d expect from a restaurant serving takeaway fish and chips), and all of the vegetables were fresh and well cooked – no soggy, over-cooked veg here! My dining partner opted for the cod, chips and mushy peas – the cod was fresh, succulent and coated in a delicious crisp batter, and the chips had a different texture to what you’d normally expect, with an almost chewy but quite addictive outside. I asked how they cooked them to obtain the effect and they said that they simply blanched the potatoes in water, then fried them in groundnut oil. For dessert, we shared a sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. The pudding was moreish and rich in flavour, but light to eat. A lovely end to the meal.
Drink
We were a little disappointed to hear that Wickham Bay hasn’t been given its alcohol licence yet, but then soon perked up to find out that we were welcome to ‘bring your own’. The restaurant supplied us with wine glasses and an ice bucket to keep our wine chilled, and are expecting to obtain their licence very soon – check before you go to find out the current status.
My overview
A welcome addition to West Wickham high street offering fresh fish and great service.
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