Harry’s

The fact that Harry’s is easy to drive past says a lot about the former motel-style building opposite Camber Sands' long ridge of high dunes. Nowadays it’s a discreet and singular hotel-cum-restaurant with a strong vintage seaside vibe, its appeal as a smart, endearing bolt hole with good intentions and a big heart easy to understand when you first cross the threshold. The menu appeals widely, too. The kitchen is now overseen by former Bibendum head chef Matthew Harris, who ‘seems to have raised the bar in the best way’ and brings a robust attitude to provenance and seasonality.

The food is precisely what you want to eat, be it Wimbledon Smokery smoked salmon with crème fraîche, capers and rye bread, Rye Bay fish goujons with nam jim dipping sauce or grilled fillet steak with mustard sauce and pommes frites. On our visit, a refreshingly cold melon gazpacho made a gratifying opener on a hot day, with royal bream, its skin crisp, salty and deliciously edible, served atop samphire with a heap of lovely, juicy sweet tomatoes and a very good herb mayonnaise, proving to be simple and perfect. Desserts veered towards ice creams and sorbets, but St Emilion au chocolat is something of a signature and there has been praise for the crêpe suzette.  

Service is polite and charming, there’s a good value no-choice lunch, and an interesting wine list with a strong showing of English wines (from £53), backed by a mainly European ‘rest of the world‘ choice (from £33).