Jeremy's Cafe de la Mer, Windsor - 12th May 2009

I eat out in Windsor fairly frequently, as a result of working in a much-less desirable location just a few miles away. The majority of the restaurants are in the environs of the castle or central station, but it's difficult to find anywhere that isn't a chain (it's not a big place, but name a chain and it'll be here, and the McDonalds, Starbucks and Wetherspoons are right next to one another). For all recent work meals we'd opted for Bel and the Dragon, (still a chain, but only a local one, with four gastropubs in the area), where the food is undeniably good, but service and atmosphere leave something to be desired. Looking for something different, my colleagues were enthusiatic about a new seafood bar they had spotted on the high street. I'm not a big seafood fan, but I was definitely up for a new culinary experience in Windsor, so off we went...

Eating at Jeremy's Cafe de la Mer is an intimate experience. Tables had to be rearranged to accomodate the three of us, and with two diners already there, the restuarant was then full! Jeremy himself assured us that should we return with the rest of the team, there was a private dining area upstairs which would accomodate us nicely. The immaculate pale blue interiors made for the ideal chilled out atmosphere i'd been hoping for, particularly once wine arrived.

The menu was larger than i'd anticipated for such a tiny restaurant. However it soon transpired that a lot of the options on the menu weren't available. Jeremy explained how his ingredients were freshly ordered every day (from sustainable sources), and he hadn't antipated many covers on a blustery Tuesday night, and indeed, I did wonder how he competed with the many chains and restaurants geared towards tourists.

I ordered a smoked salmon starter and was quite astounded by the freshness and flavour. Leandri's seafood platter with live oyster was the most impressive dish of the evening, (although she wasn't quite brave enough to eat the oyster herself, so Astrid did the honours)...



I may have wondered how this restaurant survived, but repeat business and word-of-mouth are powerful things. His food is simple, fresh and very tasty. The starters and mains are light and healthy - which he claims increases his popularity with female clientele. Admittedly all 5 of us dining in the restuarant tonight were female, and our meal would have been healthy, had myself and Leandri not ordered two side orders of skinny-homemade -perfectly-crispy fries, and had I abstained from ordering a chocolate torte dessert, and Astrid her Bailey's ice cream (so there goes that theory!)

Overall:

Atmosphere: Intimate and calm. Potentially a good place for a date if you don't mind having a chat with Jeremy (or maybe he only does that with the ladies).

Service: Friendly and attentive to the point where we didn't mind when we were told they hadn't ordered in the ingredients for particular dishes that day.

Value for money: It can end up being very expensive here, even though the individual dishes don't appear to be over priced. We spent hours there though and the different courses and drinks, desserts and coffees all added up to a rather large bill!

Marks out of 10: I'd say 7.5/10 for the food, but that's because i'm not a seafood fan, but 9.5/10 in terms of the general experience and atmosphere. So that makes an average score of 8.5/10.