At the beginning of third year, me and my housemates made a promise. We would make the most of our final year and try a different restaurant every two weeks – despite our dwindling bank balance, AND our weight. For my birthday, I chose Chapman’s Seafood Bar & Brasserie.
I had always been curious about lobster and its big price tag. I had also never been to a proper fish restaurant before, which made no sense considering I’m a huge fish lover. On my 21st birthday I wanted to do something special, and eat something ridiculously expensive.
When we entered the restaurant, it unsurprisingly smelt of fish. To some people this may have been their worst nightmare, but for me, I wasn’t fussed – it only reinforced my excitement for lobster. The interior was beautiful, and we were sat candlelit, by the big windows, overlooking the high street. Although it was beautiful, I have only one criticism. For five minutes a man stood at our window staring in. That was pretty weird, and awkward.
To my surprise, when we went to order, the waitress brought us a bottle of champagne – my dad had rang in and surprised us.
We were then given olives on the house, which were wrapped in anchovies. Olives can be confusing vegetables. Many love them, many hate them, many can’t figure out what they think of them. Personally, I love them. The anchovies deterred my fellow housemates, who refused to touch them. I, however, eat anything and everything, so I got the whole pot!
The time had come to try my whole Lobster Thermidor. It came with crispy chips. I ate every single speck off the plate and loved every minute of it. The lobster really was amazing.
To my relief, the lobster had been halved, so it was easy to scoop the fish out of the shell. My housemate, however, had ordered a fully shelled crab, which meant she made a huge mess and took a long time to finish.
For dessert, two other housemates and I ordered a Chocolate Eton Mess – that too was amazing. My fourth housemate ordered a Chocolate Fondant. Although she enjoyed the dish, she wished she had copied us. During this time, we were presented with yet another bottle of champagne, paid for by my dad.
At the end of the meal, they told us our entire bill had been paid for. I was almost brought to tears by my dad’s kind gesture – or more likely, I was just drunk by this point.
The atmosphere, service and food was all incredible. Forget you’re a student for once, and splash your cash – there are no other restaurants like it in Canterbury!