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Three Not To Miss

12 Aug 2013
Openings Uncategorised
(Guest Blog-Fylde) For a relatively small geographical area, the Fylde Coast has tons of restaurants to choose from. And if you’re not familiar with this part of the world, the Fylde has much more to offer thant big, brassy Blackpool. There’s plenty of money sloshing around with expensive property prices and some of the safest Tory seats in the country. Here are my favourite places to eat in the Fylde right now: The Cartford Arms, Little Eccleston The French can do no culinary wrong in my eyes so when you have a Frenchman running a pub in a lovely spot just a short drive away from Blackpool by the River Wyre, it’s got to be worth checking out  So we did -- and have been regulars here ever since. Patrick and his English wife took over a few years back and have transformed the place, adding a quirky modern touch to an old country pub that sits next to the (still functioning) toll bridge over the River Wyre. The main dining area now has a big picture window looking out over the river and the distant fells. And in wintertime, the table beside the roaring fire is hard to beat. The menu changes periodically but old favourites such as their wonderful fish pie tend to stick around. They also have two or three interesting blackboard specials on every day. The wine list is pretty good here too which I guess is the least you would expect from a son of Bordeaux. For anything comparable to the Cartford you really need to head off into deepest, darkest Lancashire – the Three Fishes at Mitton or the Freemasons at Wiswell.
More information on The Cartford Arms, Little Eccleston Suda Thai, Carleton Back in the 1980s I met up with some friends in London and we went for a meal at a Thai restaurant in Piccadilly. At the time it was an impossibly exotic meal out but nowadays Thai cuisine is almost as ubiquitous as Indian and Chinese. The Fylde has plenty of choices but my favourite Thai restaurant is hidden away in Carleton, opposite the Castle Gardens pub. It’s all about the food here and for the longest time it was a nondescript little takeaway with Suda working her magic in the kitchen and a couple of dismal tables catering for the odd eat-in customer. Well al that has changed now – they knocked into next door and have built a beautiful new restaurant which does full justice to the lovely food (try as I might I never quite get past the Yellow Musselman curry which is a delight). My only slight gripe is with the acoustics – for some reason every time we visit Suda there seems to be a large table of tipsy women with the noise just bouncing off the walls. Don’t let that put you off though...
More information on Suda Thai, Carleton Grand Hotel, St Annes This part of the world may well have lots of restaurants within hotels but I can count on one hand the number of local hotel restaurants I would actually go to. The Grand in St Annes is a little bit different though, a thoroughly modern dining space that sits comfortably within the classic confines of this beautiful old seafront hotel. If Suda Thai is – or was – all about the food, then here it’s very much the vibe that’s the thing. It has that kind of cosmopolitan city-centre feel that’s so, so lacking elsewhere. Great care has been taken with the decor, the lighting and the sound system to create an ambience that really works. And then there’s the food. I’m not 100% convinced they quite know where they’re headed with the menu presentation (the tapas and small/medium plates are all a bit confusing; as is presenting the wine list on an iPad). But there’s no arguing with the quality and presentation of the food which really is tip-top in all departments.  And If you’re a steak lover, you’d be hard-pressed to find better locally.
More information on The Grand, St Annes

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