The Company Shed

Best Seafood Outside London


If there's one thing you must do on a sunny spring or summer weekend, it's head to The Company Shed on Mersea Island, which is surprisingly in...Essex. Eat fresh seafood to your heart's content then go for a stroll around the harbour, or more likely, pass out on Monkey Beach.

So there are two ways to get to The Company Shed from London - train and then bus or taxi or car. The first time I went I got the train but with the changes I had to make because of engineering works, it took about 4 hours. Arrrgh! On my second visit, I took the car and it was an hour and a half journey. The only disadvantage of driving is not being able to have a boozy lunch.


Anyway, when I arrived at the wooden shack just by the harbour, I was surprised at (a) how much publicity this modest little canteen had received and (b) how busy it was and (c) despite the above, the value for money!


On my first visit I was lucky enough to get a table without having to wait long. The excitement of eating was so overwhelming that I ordered a seafood platter consisting of cockles, green lip mussels, unpeeled king prawns, peeled prawns, cockles, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, a crevette and half a crab, a side salad, jellied eels (I'd always wanted to try these but had never had the chance before) and oysters, all of which I reluctantly shared. Then we scoffed it all without even thinking to take a photo of the spectacular array. Ooops. Afterwards, to take home, we also bought some mackerel pate and smoked mackerel fillets.


It's a "spit and sawdust" kind of place but they have things like cutlery, glasses, drinking water, salt and pepper so all we needed to bring with us was:

• Bottle of white wine
• Shallot vinegar
• Mayonaise
• Butter 
• French stick

Boom!

The food counter inside the company shed

My second visit, whilst more successful journey-wise, was less successful table-wise. We arrived at 12noon and because bookings are done by way of waiting list as and when you turn up, we were looking at a 2 hour wait...So just before we left, disappointed, I thought fast and asked if we could recreate our own seafood platter to take away. Upon hearing we could, I ordered just about every item in the fridge in front of me (much to the dismay of the long line of customers behind) and it was all packed neatly into tubs and paper. I even managed to get a box of oysters, which they cut open, ready to eat. Our next stop - the beach to enjoy with wine, bread and condiments. 


So, for not much more than £20 I managed to get a tub of peeled prawns, a large bag of unpeeled prawns, a tub of smoked salmon pate, a tub of smoked mackerel pate, a couple of smoked mackerel fillets, half a lobster, a dozen oysters, some green lipped mussels and a side salad. WOW!!

Lobster 

Prawns and smoked salmon pate

Oysters

Smoked mackerel fillets

On the way to the beach

Towards the sea

OK, so a few tips for if you're planning a trip to The Company Shed:

1. Go on a sunny day in case you can't get seated and have to take away - there's a lovely beach just down the road to picnic at.
2. Call in advance to ask if they can reserve you a seafood platter as these get sold out!!
3. Bring your own drinks/bread/condiments.
4. Arrive early e.g. 10am to get a table for lunch. You can always go for a coffee at one of the pubs down the road.
5. Try anything you've been curious about before but never tried before - it's probably the cheapest place you'll get to do this near London and if you don't like it, it's not that expensive that you feel bad about throwing it away.

The Company Shed, 129 Coast Road, West Mersea, Colchester, CO5 8PA, Tel: 01206 382 700