Review
Lunch at The Crabshell Inn

The Crabshell Inn is one of those great seasonal restaurants – and not just menu-wise. You can watch the seasons while you enjoy the local seafood and daily specials. The restaurant is located right on the quayside in Kingsbridge, so diners get to see the tides come and go and boats drift by from the impressive, multi-layered terrace.

Inside the restaurant, rustic wooden tables and chairs are surrounded by thoughtful nautical-style fixtures and fittings that make it feel seaside-y and welcoming. We were seated at a lovely window table and perused the menu while soaking up the ambience.

I started with what later turned out to be something of a Crabshell signature – the panko-coated squid rings with sriracha mayo. They were gorgeously crisp and more-ish, to the point where I put three on my husband’s plate so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat them all in 30 seconds.

Luke started with slow-braised pig cheek, which he said was soft, tender and worked well with the three bonus calamari rings he’d just acquired. We ‘ummed and ahed’ about the mains for a while because they all sounded tempting and we were so hungry: creamy fish pie, tempura soft shell crab burger, or the Crabshell poke bowl.

I went for the poke bowl because it sounded quite healthy and filling, but then I also ordered a side of fries, because, well, you’ve always got to have a side of fries, haven’t you? The balance was good. The lightness of the crab, smoked trout, rice and green veg in my poke worked well with a few crunchy, salty chips on the side.

Luke went for the crab sandwich with crispy claws, lemon mayo and fries (so he couldn’t pinch mine).

We realised afterwards that we actually had a pretty summery kind of lunch in a top waterside location – a little ray of sunshine on a wet day.