Tynemouth fish restaurant among UK best loved by Rick Stein

Riley’s Fish Shack, located on the beach at King Edward’s Bay in Tynemouth, was recommended by The Good Food Guide for its classic wood-fired sourdough wraps and chilli fish empanadas, to name a few.

The coastal Tyne and Wear foodie spot was born from owners Adam and Lucy Riley’s passion for “fresh, honest healthy seafood”.

The husband-and-wife team said they thought there was a “real shortage” of this in their hometown.

They continued on the Riley’s Fish Shack website: “There’s so much seafood caught here, much of which people don’t know is available or which of it truly is local”.

Rick Stein recently praised Riley’s when appearing on The Travel Diaries podcast and spoke about his enjoyable visit.

He said: “The thing I like about it, is as I said, it’s right down on the beach, built out of two shipping containers and it just does local fish.

“But it has this really lovely dish that I had, crab soufflé with thermidor sauce.”

Rick added: “I mean they are young people running it, you know really hard working, but it just had this fantastic atmosphere, because it was sort of impromptu.

“It was cold when we were there but they had these little sort of coal fires built in into the wall near where you sat but it just sort of had, a great atmosphere.”

But why is The Good Food Guide raving about it right now?

The Tynemouth fish restaurant named among the UK’s best

The foodie publication revealed in the review: “During the summer season, you can now hire a deckchair from Riley’s and eat their food on the beach (they will also sell you a blanket to use and take home if the weather’s breezy).

“The location – a glass-fronted shipping container facing the North Sea – is spot-on for a menu inspired by the owners’ stints as street-food vendors.

“Seasonal seafood is the deal, and the day’s dishes (and service times) often depend on the catch.

“Items are rubbed off the blackboard as they sell out, although Riley’s classic wood-fired sourdough wraps (served in their famous ‘floppy’ cardboard boxes) are a fixture – perhaps BBQ Craster kippers, bavette steak or ‘hot plate’ hake with caper butter.”

It continued: “Otherwise, the line-up might run from chilli fish empanadas via salt cod with grilled cos lettuce, smoked egg and preserved lemon to pan-roasted headliners such as turbot ‘chop’, lemon sole or brill (served with panzanella salad).

“Round off with one of Riley’s special soft-serves (wood-fired pineapple or peaches and cream, say).

“A dozen wines are served in plastic tumblers, there are plenty of ales from regional breweries and the venue also does a good line in homemade beverages (try the hot butter rum).”

At Riley’s Fish Shack, its all-day menu includes dishes such as oysters, bread sticks and seaweed butter, fishcakes, empanadas, fish rillette, smoked haddock brandade, crab souffle, Cajun haddock with remoulade and fish soup with rouille.

The day’s dishes at Riley’s often depend on the catch (Image: Tripadvisor)

Meanwhile, the lunch and dinner menus offer a variety of larger and whole fish dishes such as halibut chop bouillabaisse with mussels, cod on French onion and smoked beef dripping, whole grilled turbot with Riley’s classic preserved lemon and caper butter, whole brill with Cafe de Paris butter, the famed bang bang monkfish kebabs or monkfish curry, scallops, and langoustines.

See all spring and summer opening hours on the website (a link to which can be found above).

Over on Tripadvisor, Riley’s Fish Shack has an impressive 1,179 “excellent” reviews out of a possible 1,823.

This recent customer complimented: “What a place … still…. Never disappoints.

“There attentive, passionate and care about the customers and the food… WELL ILL SAFELY SAY THE BEST SEAFOOD IN ENGLAND!

“Its not pretentious, you dont have to be rich…its accessible for all but the quality is outstanding … what a team..”

Someone else put: “Had been so looking forward to my first visit…and it exceeded my expectations!

“Loved the whole experience. Will be back, soon hopefully!”

This happy visitor shared: “We went on a cold, windy February night midweek – open fires by our table kept us warm whilst we waited (not long enough!) for our food.

“It was incredible – great fish, great atmosphere, great staff – 5/5. We’ll be back ASAP.”

Have you recently been to this must-visit North East seafood spot? Let us know in the comments below if you have any other recommendations to share.