Rachels in West Bay is a fabulous spot by the harbour for lunch (and dinner) serving excellent seafood dishes in a most unexpected location in and amongst the ice cream shacks and chippy takeaways.

We were not here by chance, we had been sent here on recommendation, and while I was initially dubious as I approached the wooden shacks on the front I was to find myself quite charmed by the place, so much so that we returned a couple of days later to try more of their food

So what did we eat, that was so good?

THE MENU BOARD

The menu board was offering up a lot of great sounding plates of food! Looking beyond the obvious seaside treat of a plate of Fish and Chips we found ourselves drawn to several much fancier choices

Over the next couple of days, Bouillabaisse, Chowder, Cassoulet, and a Curry were to feature in the lunchtime of our life while here in Dorset.

Lets look a little closer

BOUILLABAISSE WITH A SELECTION OF LOCALLY CAUGHT FISH £19

The Bouillabaisse was a thin broth of tomato, onion and celery (I think) filled with pieces of cod, haddock, a crevette, and a lot of juicy mussels in their shells, or a thick soup if you take into account all of the bits of fish I suppose?

Perhaps if we consider it properly by it’s name and that it is a traditional provencal fish stew appartently originating from the port city of Marseille (thanks google). I didn’t know that is so regionally specific I just thought it was French

It is a very rustic dish, hearty and full of seafood. I loved the lightness of the soup base, and enjoyed eating all the fresh bits of fish. I could had a crab claw on top but I declined as I just knew I would struggle with something too fiddly.

I love every element of this bowl of food

The dish came served with a side of homemade focaccia and a dipping sauce or rouille made from roasted peppers and tomatoes. This was excellent, the almost spongy bite of the bread dipped into that rouille was fabulous all by itself, and the bread was perfect for soaking up the soup broth as well. I could have easily eaten several more slices

SMOKED HADDOCK, MUSSEL AND PANCHETTA CHOWDER £17

The Chowder was also a Top dish, totally classic with a rich creamy sauce, filled with salty chunks of pancetta, Smokey haddock, cubes of potato, and lots of plump mussels.

This was quite a thick broth and was actually very filling, compared to many Chowders I ate on my travels along the coastline of the states I much preferred this one as it seemed to have so much more in the bowl of interest and every mouthful was a joy

This was also served with a side of that homemade focaccia, in fact I think nearly every dish here is

COD LOIN WITH CANNELLINI BEANS, CHORIZO, SAMPHIRE CASSOULET £20

A couple of days later we came back and I picked the other dish that I had yearned for which was the Cod Loin with Cannellini Beans. This turned out to be a Great big hearty bowl of bean stew with cubes of chorizo and a loin of Cod topped with a sort of samphire pesto

It was not quite as I had anticipated or expected but it was nonetheless most enjoyable and an excellent choice. There was a lot of bean action, and lots of tomato.

The Cod was thick and meaty and plentiful, my only gripe was that it was buried beneath the beans and so the ‘crispy’ skin was no longer as crisp as it could have been but small change it was great

Once again more of that excellent focaccia was to feature

KERALA FISH CURRY WITH WILD RICE, COCONUT AND CASHEWS £18

The last dish that we sampled was the Kerala Fish curry with Wild Rice. This turned out to be two bowls one of the wild rice and one of the curry.

The Curry was very good, a creamy gently spiced sauce filled with chunks of white fish, cashew nuts and topped with a large prawn or crevette (never sure of the difference).

The wild rice cooked perfectly was just the right companion to pair with the curry.

It might look simple compared to the other dishes we ate but it was just as good and one should not be fooled by the deception of it’s simplicity when ranking all the plates on show in this tale.

Rachels can be found at 3, The Mound, West Bay, DT6 4HA

Check them out on their Facebook page and Instagram profile

In the absence of any better pictures of the harbourside at West Bay I will offer up this one of myself by the Bay looking replete after eating all of that food at Rachels a short while earlier