Highlights from Eastbourne & the journey there through Kent.

With a new regular segment of things available everywhere in the UK!

May 10, 2023

Hi!

After last week’s newsletter, I thought I’ll add a regular section with products that are available to those of you not in or near London!

Though this week isn’t about London either.

If you’re planning a UK sea view adventure this year then add Eastbourne to your list and file this newsletter somewhere safe.

Let me tell you why:

It’s been seven years since I last stayed at my aunt (and then uncle’s) flat in Eastbourne (they mainly live in London) and the food game has been upped.

The Best Bakery in Eastbourne

To the Rise Bakery opened in 2020 by local pastry chef Lauren Pollard. From her tiny space in a garage in 2019 it grew so quickly in lockdown that Lauren brought her two sisters, Josephine and Morgan, into the business and I was served by her mum in the bakery. A sweet family affair.

I loved both the sweet and savoury muffins (made with laminated dough, what other bakeries would probably call cruffins) that I sampled and I relished in the umami hit of the cheese twist with Everything Bagel seasoning I bought (pictured above - £2.50).

Everything Bagel seasoning?

Equal parts white sesame seeds, black sesame seends, poppy seeds, sea salt, dried minced garlic and dried minced onion, created to roll the bagel dough in before baking for a properly savoury bagel.

Various people compete over credit for its creation, including marketing guru Seth Godin, who apparently used to work in a bagel factory in the late 1970s.

Martha Stewart suggests stirring the seasoning into melted butter and pouring it over freshly popped popcorn so that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend.

The Best Coffee in Eastbourne (+ cakes)

There’s a roastery just north of the station called Nelson Coffee Roastery and that would be top of my list. They bake some of the cakes in house too and I really loved the cherry bakewell cake slice. The brunch menu looks excellent and it’s a cute, nicely designed and welcoming place.

The coffee at To The Rise is also great, as it is at Foundry Coffee. I was also recommended to the coffee, breakfast and cakes at Beanzz (thank you, Caroline via Notes) but that will also have to wait until the next visit.

If you’re going with kids

Eastbourne’s “beach” is covered in stones which will always be disappointing to someone who spent year’s living near sandy Australian beaches. Luckily I have a daughter who, like most children, is obsessed with rocks. It also means sand doesn’t end up all through your house. Swings and roundabouts.

Speaking of swings and roundabouts, there aren’t any playgrounds within a short walk of the main section of the beach, but there are several further out and on the pier you can see in the picture above there’s pitch and putt and arcade games. A little further along the coast at Treasure Island there’s soft play and more mini golf with an outdoor section opening soon.

If it’s sunny, I definitely recommend the Minature Steam Railway and the playground there if your kids are 10 or under. It’s a 10 minute drive from Eastbourne station. Just don’t sit near the front of the train. I thought the coal lining the teenage driver’s face was part of his costume. It wasn’t. 😳

There’s also Drussila’s Zoo Park - also a 15 minute drive out the town - that’s apparently the best small zoo in the country. There are rides too. We might go next time.

Hotels in Eastbourne

We stayed at my aunt’s but her neighbour is planning to do holiday lets in his two bed (one double, one twin) so if that works for you feel free to reach out.

Without kids there is a Leading Small Hotels of the World - the Grand Hotel - if you’re after 5-star with indoor pool etc and the Port Hotel which is an elegant boutique hotel. Both are on the seafront with views directly over the sea from some bedrooms that look dreamy and reasonably priced for weekends in May and June. I always find Premier Inn’s have reliably comfortable beds and clean bathrooms, too, if you’re only using the hotel to sleep.

Bakeries between London and Eastbourne

If you’re driving… plan these stops:

Halstead Bakery are professional chefs Av and Pierre baking from their backyard and selling at markets or through a locked box outside their house. We collected from the box and devoured our flaky pastries in the car in their drive while the rain teemed outside. The flakes rained across our seats and in the footwells, but they were so worth it. The kind of croissant that still tasted amazing two days later when I was polishing off (of course I overordered knowing I might not try them again for a while).

This cinnamon swirl with a tonka custard filling was my favourite.

Between them they’ve worked at Silo, E5 Bakery, Dandy, Pavilion and Yeast. An impressive pedigree. These were some of the best viennoiserie I’ve had outside of London in a long while, maybe even since last September at The Palmerston in Edinburgh where Darcie Maher was making viennoiserie - she’s still there at the moment but due to opens her own bakery, Lannan, in Stockbridge in Edinburgh soon.

Check out this page for cafes Halstead are stocked in and their schedule of markets. They spoke highly of the restaurant at the Water Lane Walled Garden so I’m hoping to get there this year, too.

We drove five minutes down the road to Eat’n’Mess’s outdoor cafe for excellent coffee. I loved the brownie I bought too. It was so good we stopped on the way back for lunch from their brunch menu of pancakes, toasties and crumpin sandwiches. I can’t resist a place where the food and drinks are made with this level of care and commitment and love and the owners Matt and Danielle and their co-baker Lauren have this in spades. I loved chatting to Matt and the local gin distiller about fermentation and coffee and bakeries.

Finally, I was recommended to Bicycle Bakery in Royal Tonbridge Wells by Matt at Eat’n’Mess but we were already stacked with cakes and pastries at this point - even I have my limits - and they weren’t open as we returned on Monday.

WEEKLY SEGMENT:

Delicious Things Available Anywhere!

Oh boy. I wrote a really long piece about one of my favourite condiments only to find when I went to give you the link that they’re currently not available to buy… Argh. I’ll let you know all about them when they are.

And then… I wrote again about a hack product I use for savoury shortcuts only to look for that one’s website and find the business now closed.

My brain is tired so here’s one easily accessible product you might already know that’s usually in my fridge (yes, I went to my kitchen to see what I had worth telling you about!) and if you haven’t already tried it, you probably should:

Cocos Organic Natural Yoghurt.

This is so creamy. It comes in flavoured versions too, but I like the versatility of this. With frozen berries (I like French organic frozen brand Picard) squashed into it, it makes a semi-freddo “dessert” that’s DELICIOUS and low in sugar. It also works brilliantly to make curries and soups (especially dahl) creamier and more delicious.

It retails at £5.25 for 400g on Ocado so it’s a lot more expensive than other coconut yoghurts but it’s in a totally different league.

I also really like their Mango Passionfruit Coconut Kefir. It reminds me of a lassi I used to always get at an Indian restaurant my oldest brother would take me to in Melbourne. We never went out for meals as a family so it was the hugest treat for my older brother to take me to a restaurant - even if for him it was totally transactional because he didn’t enjoy or have time for cooking. I remember he’d want to leave as soon as he’d finished eating and I was desperate to linger and luxuriate in the experience.

I’m sure you already know this, but a lassi is an Indian yoghurt-based drink that is an effective antidote to a spicy curry, and also delicious, if sometimes too sweet. It typically has fruit and/or spices (especially cardamom) added, sometimes salt, too (then described as a “salty lassi” which kind of makes me think of a Scotsman describing someone he met at a bar…).

The funeral for the friend I mentioned a few weeks ago is on Friday and we’re staying overnight near Oxford so next week’s email will also be non-London spots.

Thanks for being here! If you have any recommendations for Oxford or surrounds, please let me know.

The Next Delicious Thing