Celebrated Yorkshire chef Martin Shaw opens the Dockside in Bridlington

Martyn Shaw is a terrific chef. I’ve eaten at (I think) five of his places. Every meal has been not only excellent and memorable but also imaginative and – in some ways – miraculous.

Miraculous because Martyn thrives on confinement. I’ve seen him turn out an 8-course tasting menu on a four-ring electric stove in a former charity shop. I’ve seen him chopping firewood for his stove on the floor of a kitchen because his one-room eatery had no outside space and I’ve seen him take on a vast pub in a tiny village far too wee to realistically provide him with a viable living. He is both talented and (in the best kind of way) recklessly determined.

I can best illustrate his distinctive culinary style by recalling the last time I ate with him.

It was in a barn in a field somewhere in Holderness. His kitchen was a former turnip shed so he decided his ambitious seven course tasting menu should feature turnip in every dish, even the desserts. An idea which seems ridiculous on the face of it, but proved to be triumphant.

The review of that restaurant, by the way, was stymied by the pandemic, which also saw off the restaurant and is the reason Martyn has been MIA for a while. Licking his wounds, earning a crust as a jobbing chef. Surviving, basically.

He now, unexpectedly, comes surging out of convalescence in Bridlington. Not a place – fish, chips and lobsters aside - renowned for great food. There are signs of improvement, though. A decent looking tapas place, a Greek with good pedigree. I make a note to visit more often as I travel upstairs to Dockside, Martyn’s latest attempt to conquer the culinary world. It’s above a would-be craft ale pub, slap-bang in the heart of the town and is minimally-staffed and deliberately languorous.

The menu warns that your evening will be slow and your food served when it’s ready, so settle in.

The menu is a bobby dazzler. Suiting a restaurant that needs to both attract the tourists during summer and the locals when the nights draw in, it’s slightly less imaginative than I’ve come to expect from Martyn, but it’s still one of those that leaves you wondering which of its enticing offerings you have to defer till your next visit.

Bridlington Bay lobster thermidor potato skins is basically a posh name for jacket tatty with chunks of lobster, but it proves a cracking opener. Unknown and difficult to identify are the herbs mixed into the dish (fennel, maybe? dill?) but they’re very well selected and implemented and the lobster – landed just a few yards away that morning – is beautifully deployed.

More fancy, but no less delicious, is warm herb-rolled pork with celeriac remoulade and smoked apple compote. A sizeable portion for a starter, the pork is meltingly droolworthy and the choice of accompaniments inspired. We’re off to a winning start.

I went pork again for mains with a cider-brined pork chop served with a charred wedge of hispi cabbage and a chunk of beautifully soft black pudding. For the price, the chop is generously large and thick. Bigger than anticipated, perfectly cooked and covered with pickled onion, gherkin, thin slices of radish and a cider jus. Chuck a few chips on the side (as I did) and you’ve got a plateful that would keep you satisfied through the night and well into tomorrow.

Across the table, more local lobster. This time, claws mounted atop a healthy portion of pan roast monkfish, served with late summer greens and – a marvellous touch – seaweed butter. The taste of the sea is immediate and unavoidable. A truly handsome, wholly-Bridlington instant classic.

We’re already stuffed, but my dedication to thorough research demands we sample puds of passion fruit tart with vanilla ice cream (simple, lovely) and white chocolate ganache with East Yorkshire strawberries, gin and crushed flapjack. I struggle to identify how the gin was inserted into the dish, but I can definitely taste it and it adds an intriguing note to a deceptively complex-tasting dish. I found myself thinking about it a couple of days later and wanting to eat it all over again. Always a good sign.

There are three or four other options on each segment of the menu, some fancier and some simpler. Something will definitely appeal to everyone and I’m convinced all will be satisfied with their choice. And that’s the key to whether or not Martyn will succeed in his latest venture.

Dockside has only been open a few months and he’s already entering a period of insane energy prices and non-existent disposable income and – crucially – summer is gone.

No more tourists, so the well-heeled residents of Brid (of whom there are surprisingly many) need to discover Dockside and discover it quickly to help it through the potentially fatal latency of Winter.

Apparently word has begun to spread, with Sunday lunch proving a regular sell-out. I hope this continues and expands into the rest of the week. Brid needs places like Dockside and the world needs Martyn Shaw out there, walking his unique tightrope, with his undoubted skill, his admirable work ethic and his enviable imagination. The only confinement pressing on Martyn this time may be the inability of his neighbours to realise what they’ve got on their dockside doorstep.

Open: Thurs 12-3:30, Fri & Sat 12-3:30 and 5:30-8:30, Sun 12-4

Above The Yorkshire Tap. 3 Bridge Street, Bridlington, YO15 3AH

Tel: 07544 760633

www.docksidekitchen.co.uk

Welcome 4/5

Food 5/5

Atmosphere 4/5

Prices 5/5