The Coalhouse, Oxwich

If there's one thing that should be abundantly clear from the pages of this blog, it's the fact that I properly love my food. Sadly, my cooking leaves a little to be desired (I'm blessed - Mr. O is a fantastic chef), but when it comes to eating good food, I'm your girl.

So, you can imagine how excitedly I've been listening to news of a new restaurant, recently opened at Oxwich Bay. The Coalhouse occupies an old 19th century building, right on the beach itself. When the invite came to join the ladies of my family for lunch, they didn't need to ask me twice!

We picked a beautifully sunny day for it and the weather really made the restaurant sing. Light and airy, with some quirky decor thrown into the mix, the indoor space felt welcoming and relaxed with other diners close enough to create an atmosphere, but not so close that you could hear peoples' conversations. It really reminded me of beachside restaurants in Australia, a fact helped by the large doorways opening up onto the outdoor terrace. We weren't lucky enough to bag a table in a window, so we ate our lunch indoors before moving outside for coffee and dessert.

So far, so good. The only downside for me was the food itself and, unfortunately, for this I have no one to blame but myself. Coalhouse's menus focus on (very!) locally sourced fish and seafood and so for someone with an aversion to both, as you can imagine my choices were a little limited. I went for the club sandwich, which looked great and tasted fine, but it was a very standard cafe lunch. The fish dishes chosen by my sister, mum and grandma though looked incredible and - I'm reliably informed - tasted incredible too. I was left feeling that they've rightly focussed on what they are passionate about, but that it would have been great if the non-fish option didn't seem like quite so much of an afterthought in comparison.

For dessert we shared a Creme Caramel and Marmalade and Frangipane tart. Both were delicious! We loved eating them overlooking the sea and soon wished we hadn't decided to share.We also were big fans of the mustard-coloured tea cosy that came our way.

Service during our visit was fine, though I've also heard others say not so great things, though hopefully these are just teething problems that will settle down quickly.

Other than that, it's great that Coalhouse seems to be taking what its doing so seriously and that there's another restaurant in Swansea where good food is matched by great surroundings. So often in this city you'll come across places with no ambition and no thought behind what they're offering and so this new restaurant is a really welcome addition. I only wish I liked fish.

The Coalhouse, Oxwich Beach, Gower SA3 1LS

UPDATE: A few months on and there seem to be more meat options on the menu! Hooray!