Where to get the best seafood in Norfolk

Norfolk has a picturesque and dramatic stretch of coastline between Thornham and Cromer that provide the perfect conditions to harvest oysters and mussels, and its harbours, including Brancaster Staithe and Wells-next-the-Sea, bring ashore a range of fresh fish. Sheringham and Cromer are famous for their lobsters and crab.

A great way to get around the Norfolk coast is the coastal hopper bus service. The service runs between Cromer and King’s Lynn with Wells-next-the-Sea being a changing point. Both Cromer and King’s Lynn have national rail services.

Visit Drove Orchards at Thornham for a range of outlets that includes cafes and vintage shops, but you’re here for Eric’s Fish and Chips (deep-fried jam sandwich anyone?) and superb Gurney’s Fish Box which sells everything from freshly boiled lobster and smoked prawns to kippers and wild seabass. Most of the wet fish is landed locally. Don’t miss the Oyster Bar.

Mike Gurney started the first fishmongers on the coast road in the 1980s in Brancaster. It was a quiet backwater then. Today the destination retains its authenticity and wild spirit, but the shops, hospitality and retail outlets are top notch.

There’s another Gurney’s Fish Shop at Burnham Market, two miles inland and affectionately known as Chelsea-on-Sea for its upmarket shops.

With its working harbour, Brancaster Staithe is the main focal point of fresh seafood on the Norfolk coast.

Two thousand years ago the Romans recognised the superb quality of Norfolk oysters and mussels when they built Branodunum Fort here.

At Brancaster Staithe Harbour, The Crab Hut uses fresh seafood, crabs and lobsters from their own boat Speedwell for sub rolls and pots. They’re open daily March-Oct 10am-5pm.

The Mussel Pod, on the main road at Brancaster opposite The Jolly Sailors, has freshly prepared mussels to take away.

The Fish Shed on the Main Road at Brancaster Staithe offers a superb range of fresh wet fish and shellfish, smoked fish from local oysters to Dover sole. In season, it has bags of samphire. Known as ‘sea asparagus’, it thrives in our tidal salt marshes and is eaten teamed with melted butter.

Visit the White Horse Brancaster with Marshside Bar and you’re dining next to the mussel and oyster beds. You’ll see the lobster pots on the footpath.

The neighbouring Staithe Smokehouse is run by Phil Hartshorne, husband of Fran who is the executive chef at the White Horse.

Wells-next-the-Sea has one of the best beaches in the British Isles, with its 200 higgledy-piggledy, multi-coloured beach huts. There’s seafood to go at Frary’s Fish Stall at the harbourside.

From Stiffkey’s tidal saltmarshes we take ‘Stewkey Blues’, cockles which have inspired Farrow & Ball to name a paint colour after them. The cockles are found in shack and shops along the coast. The village is renowned for a vicar mauled to death by a lion.

Blakeney has seasonal seafood sold from fishermen’s front gardens and, in the village, Westons Fish Shop. Blakeney Quay has lots of signs for boat trips to see the UK’s largest seal colony at Blakeney but they go from Morston Quay. We recommend Beans and Bishops.

In nearby Cley-next-the-Sea, Cley Smokehouse has kippers, bloaters, red herring, mackerel, smokies, gravadlax and much more. If you don’t know what some of those are, ask owner Glen Weston.

Salthouse village has an incredible view of Norfolk Wildlife Trust Cley and Salthouse Marshes – some of the best birdwatching in the British Isles is in your view. Cookies has good seafood platters and it’s BYO alcoholic refreshment.

Cromer is the home of the eponymous crab. As distinctively Norfolk as pasties are to Cornwall and fizz to northern France. Why are Cromer’s better than anywhere else? Because they feed off the world’s largest chalk reef just offshore which makes them extra tasty and succulent. The Gangway shop in Cromer sells crabs and lobsters caught from their own boat and Davies Fish Shop has a great range.

Or you won’t go wrong with a crab sandwich from a local eatery.

For fish and chips, try Mary Jane’s Fish Bar, established in 1977, and No 1 Cromer has impressive views over the Victorian pier and world’s last end-of-pier theatre.

Cromer Museum will give you the story of the Deep History Coast - the oldest human footprints outside the Great Rift Valley in Africa have been found on this coast, almost one million years ago. Yes, the first tourists ever to come to the British Isles came to visit Norfolk.

Nearby are the National Trust Sheringham Park and Felbrigg Estate and the East of England’s highest sea view at Roman Camp/Beacon Hill. Or try Stand Up Paddleboarding and you have to visit Sheringham Little Theatre. And no visit to the Norfolk coast is complete without a trip on the Poppy Line heritage steam railway.

In Great Yarmouth, there’s a great range of locally caught fish, shellfish and traditionally smoked products - including kippers, bloaters, and herring - prepared daily on-site at The White Swan by the River Bure in Great Yarmouth. It also has a nautical-themed restaurant.