A seaside treasure

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I KNEW straight away that the Sand Dollar was a popular place because they wouldn’t let us in.

At first, I thought they just did not like the look of me, but they said politely they were fully booked for the night. Drat! I knew we should have booked.

We hung about, looking forlorn, until the two lads running the front-of-house service took pity on us. One disappeared to talk to the chef and, hey presto, our luck was in. He came back with a smile on his face and said they could just fit us in.

A few minutes earlier, we had been strolling along the beach esplanade, taking in all the sights and sounds out to sea and around the beach on a pleasant early Saturday evening. We could almost shut our eyes and guess what particular eatery we were passing just by the aromas which were swirling around. The smell of food on the breeze was giving the bracing sea air a run for its money.

All sorts of interesting diners and cafes now pepper the beach front in the shadow of the big wheel at the fair. You could almost miss the Sand Dollar with its narrow frontage. Once inside, though, it opens out into a longish dining-room with a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Maybe it was the drink, but our minds began to drift as we gazed out from the Sand Dollar towards the sea, and it was almost as though we had been transported to somewhere exotic, like Florida or the Mediterranean.

The Sand Dollar has a split personality; by day, it serves the passing breakfast and lunch trade, but for a few nights a week it also offers an a la carte menu.

An interesting, but not over-elaborate, set of meal choices gave us plenty to talk about. For starters, my wife went for marinated seared king prawns on bruschetta while I chose pan-seared fresh scallops with crispy bacon, sage, puy lentils and green salad. Both these dishes looked great on the plate. They were simple, yet full of taste and colour.

For mains, my wife tried the eight-ounce sirloin steak while I selected the eye-catching roasted fresh monkfish wrapped in Parma ham with sun-dried tomatoes and basil and served with lemon mash and fresh vegetables.

We were really pleased with our choices. My wife’s steak, with its accompaniment of chunky potato wedges, was tender and succulent.

My monkfish dish was a collision of tastes and textures which combined well, and the lemon mash was delicately flavoured rather than overpowering.

We were admiring a collection of striking paintings for sale which decorated the walls. It turned out that they were the work of a well known local artist. Our waiter then confided in us that the artist himself was sitting at the prized window table with some fellow diners. We gazed towards his group. I could not help noticing that they appeared to be quite nicely framed in the window.

We rounded off with a couple of delightful puddings – old-fashioned rhubarb trifle topped with pecan nuts and served with cream, and apple and sultana pudding served with vanilla creme fraiche. These were definitely not your run-of-the-mill desserts and made a pleasant change from the usual pudding menus we have seen elsewhere.

The restaurant was now filling up with a lot of those pre-bookings I mentioned earlier. Even so, director/chef Suzi Millard came out of the kitchen to move around the tables to talk to guests. It was obvious some were regulars, but she knew we were first-timers and made a special point of welcoming us, which I thought was a great touch.

Our bill, with several beers and glasses of wine, came to £73.

After bidding farewell, we strolled along by the beach. In some parts of the world, you might find a Sand Dollar, a small marine creature related to sea urchins and starfish, wriggling about in the sand. In America, youngsters find their discarded shells on beaches and, due to their unusual shell pattern, think they look like coins – and call them Sand Dollars. On this beach in Aberdeen, however, the Sand Dollar restaurant itself is the real find.

The Sand Dollar Cafe and Evening Bistro, 2 Beach Esplanade, Aberdeen. Phone 01224 572288. Visit www.sanddollarcafe.com