The Crab - Bournemouth Reviews

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“The Crab is a fabulous brand which started off as a...”

★★★★☆

written by degbert on 26/08/2010

The Crab is a fabulous brand which started off as a converted pub in Chieveley, in darkest north Berkshire, specialising (as the name suggests) in fine quality seafood. The Crab prides itself in the quality, variety and taste of its dishes and has a fantastic reputation, winning countless awards along the way. Deliveries are daily from the Devon coast. The hosting, ambiance and wine list are also exceptional, and at least one of the staff will act as a Sommelier if you need it.

Recently, the Crab has branched out and opened a new restaurant, called the Crab again, in Bournemouth. Location is good too, as the incumbent restaurant at the Park Central hotel, which is across the road from the BIC Conference Centre.

They also are taking this seriously too, having parachuted in their Maitre d' from their flagship Chieveley restaurant to oversee the first few weeks personally.

They have also not bitten off more than they can chew either, the menu being slightly tethered back from its bigger brother, limiting choices to half a dozen dishes for each course (though they also let you mix and match). But for sure you won't be stuck for options, as each entry is delicously described, beautifully presented and - it turned out - delicious.

We threw a stern test at this as well, with 6 adults and 5 kids all demanding a tea-time service - also requiring a quickish turnaround to have us gone before the evening service. Which was all achieved very adeptly, the staff still finding time to play with the kids and keep them from being bored.

The wine list is not quite as extensive as the wonderfully varied one at Chieveley - but it is quite sufficient for most tastes. The entry level variants are very good, there's a delicious selection of seafood friendly whites, including a good range of Loire dry whites. The Menetou-Salon is especially good.

On the food side, try the softshell crab tempura if you're undecided, it's a belter. For a main, we couldn't really fault anything - and that was all six of us eating something different. OK you won't need to add further salt to your Moules... but you shouldn't be anyway!

Price-wise yes it's quite expensive - you won't be going every night. And there are probably some further training sessions the Maitre d' will be loking to run with his new team which they will benefit from. But it's great to see they were able to branch out and even greater to see the job they've done so far.

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