Andrew's tour of the South East Head to the shed

Date Published:

22/10/2008

Jennyb, Carolyn Hobbs-Waller, Colin Hart, Christine Sharp, Andrew Pitkin and Channel 4's very own Tommi Miers have all added The Company Shed to the Map, so they must be doing something right. I went to find out more

If you're reading this and turning to your loved one saying, 'this place sounds ace - let's go this weekend, Honey', my advice is this: go early. In fact, skip breakfast, maybe don't even shower and be banging on the door when it opens. The Company Shed is very popular, particularly at weekends. Unless you're there early you will queue, as I did, for over an hour.

The key is to enjoy this and go with the flow, treating lunch as the half time of an entire day spent walking around the marina, paddling on the beach and generally taking things easy. In their defence, the staff do take names, there's a leader board to show your position in the queue and in the waiting-hour you can have a nice walk into the village and stock up on bread and wine.

Indulge your inner sea dog

Why so popular? Well it seems we all love to eat in a simple, rustic, no-frills seafood joint. It's the call of the sea, the whiff of ocean, the flapping of sails. Here you get to indulge your inner salty ol' sea dog. Fingers and kitchen roll are pressed into service. You sit where you're told - often sharing tables with complete strangers - and tuck in to the fruits of the sea. It's a noisy, cramped, seafood shack and is just perfect because if it.

As co-owner (along with mum, Heather) Carolyne Haward explains: "If you want table service, you can get that elsewhere." Despite being on the coast it would be naive to expect everything to be sourced from the ogin outside. After all there's not many salmon in the Colne estuary. Native Colchester oysters, however, are - in season - provided by Caroline's dad, Richard. In fact, the family can trace its history in the area back over 100 years.

Platters that matter

And so to the food.... Most people opt for the seafood platter; it's a good all rounder giving you a bit of everything: salmon, prawns, cockles from Whitstable, mackerel, crab and mussels from Norfolk, all for £8 a head - bargain. There's also an interesting selection of hot food: oysters topped with cream and Parmesan, moules marinare. "We get through 50 stone of crab a week," says Carolyne. That's over 300kg. What's more, you know it's fresh because, at the back of the shop, the crabs are kept in trays, ready for the pot. There's also a fish counter so you can take things home, too.

Finally, there's just something about eating seafood that ensures you have to drop your airs and graces, and I defy anyone to crack and eat a crab in a sophisticated manner. Go early, pre-armed with bread and booze, and you'll have a whale of a time.

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