Review: The Club House, West Bexington

Palaver! We decided to stop at Hive Beach Cafe – one of our favourite spots on the coast – for a seafood lunch on the way home from Devon. Then, kablooie, one of the tyres on the car went pop. We ended up in a lay-by off the A35 waiting for the AA man. Who was brilliant, by the way, putting a temporary wheel on the car and phoning around so that we could limp into Bridport and get a new tyre scarcely an hour after the blow-out. Don’t ask why we don’t have our own spare wheel.

Sadly, even the hour meant that lunch service had finished at Hive Beach. But miraculously, their sister restaurant in West Bexington seems to have all-day service! The Club House, as the name implies, is laid out a little more yacht-club chic than the Beach Cafe. This caused us to indulge in a glass of their house bubbly (made down the road at Castlewood in Devon); a really lovely drop of summer fizz, with some nice biscuity notes as well as clean peachy flavours.

Then, both yearning for crab, we both picked their “loaded nachos”. These turned out to be beautiful, big, fried wheat tortilla chips that were sturdy enough to hold up under a mountain of crab meat, white and brown, dressed with a luscious brown-meat sauce along with salsa fresca, creamy guacamole and a hefty squirt of lime juice. The crab was beautiful and fresh, the whole dish perfect for a breezy summer’s day, well worth £17.

So now you know: The Club House is just as good as Hive Beach Cafe, and even keeps slightly more generous hours. Next time you’re on the Dorset coast, eh?