Amble Updates

The recent “strange times” have provided us with a great opportunity for a 2 week house/petsitting assignment in Amble, Northumberland. We have come to love it here over the past few years; visiting family, spending Christmasses etc. We also wanted to spend more time in the “great outdoors”, so this was a dream gig!

You may remember the blog we wrote last summer detailing all our favourite places, well here is an addendum of sorts. Not everything here is new to Amble, but mostly new to us. So here is a round up of our latest favourite spots;

Brewis Beer Co - set in a unit on an industrial estate on the outskirts of town, Brewis calls itself – “a family run nano brewery”. It’s a simple place with friendly hosts who welcome you right in, with a smile.

This feels like a place built of a love of great beer, rather than a “concept”. You can see beer being brewed before your eyes and there is an ever-changing board of what’s on offer. In addition to great beer, they also stock local wine and have a regularly changing food offer (usually in the form of a visiting food truck).

Our visits coincided firstly, with “Gunther’s Memories of the Black Forest” food truck and his authentic wurst based offer – just the job for beer fuelled afternoons… Then there was a pretty special first outing from “Sushi Discovery”. On this ocassion the food was being prepped behind the counter and we were lucky to be sat just next to it, (our favourite spot). So we could (discretely) watch this great husband and wife team in action. (Reminding us of our days running Andaluz!) The food was intricate, super fresh and delicious! We feel certain that Sushi Discovery are destined for great things.

It is true they will make you feel right at home at Brewis. You may not want to leave for some time!

The Rusty Pelican Grill was a one man band that pitched up by the town square, on a weekend. The guy running the stall told us some snippets about his cheffing career in NZ (where he acquired the stall’s name from) and an interlude in Morocco.

He had 3 killer products, (well, we tried 2 and they both were. So safe to assume the chicken souvlaki was too). All £5 a pop (we love a simple offer!) Brian went for an Amble Burger in brioche with the works and reported it was very fine, indeed. I went for the grilled Warkworth mackerel, with foraged samphire and salsa verde and I have to say it was truly delicious.

My only issue with any of this is – when will he reappear? We love an intriguing backstory and he was definitely a man of mystery…if you can find him, grab him and get him to grill you a fillet of mackerel!

Fish Guy in the harbour – This chap sets out his stall in a unit on the harbour most days (when there is something to sell, no doubt). From what I can see you need to get there earlyish to avoid disappointment. We’ve bought some great halibut, monkfish and what we would call langoustines (but are known as prawns here) over the last couple of weeks. The quality has been consistently excellent. As have prices. Highly recommended.

Independent Food & Drink store  – I generally love anything with the word independent in it and this little beaut of a shop located on Queen Street (not the High Street, as I keep calling it), is no exception. One of just 2 “branches” (the other is in Seahouses), it just sells great local produce; fruit and veg, local cheese, honey, eggs, some handy storecupboard essentials ( I always seem to need spices), wine, beer and some nice kitchenware. I popped in a few times and found the staff to be helpful and the produce, really good. Everything you would like a local shop to be.

Mocha Mondo Coffee claim to make seriously good coffee - and they do! Located in one of the cute retail pods in the harbour village, you will find home-roasted single origin coffee from around the world. You can buy it buy the bag or by the cup and sit outside by the harbour to enjoy it. Look out for the special RNLI Lifeboat blend, where £1.50 from each pack helps to fund the local crew. Oh, and they also produce chocolate bars, from the bean too…..

So, that’s my latest roundup from Amble. Its true to say that there are many other interesting, independent businesses here too: from “boutique ice cream parlours” to the Geordie Banger Co - purveyors of sausages on sticks. There is also just about everything else in between. Many of which we have yet to try. However, one thing is certain, this much-loved little piece of northumberland heaven won’t remain a secret for much longer.