Chandlery is a restaurant, wine bar and wine shop on the harbour at Wells-next-the-Sea, the work of Bert Blaize, who looks after the wine, and Harry Williams, who leads the kitchen. Its windows look out across the saltmarshes and harbour of the North Norfolk coast, a view that works as well over a glass at the bar as over a long dinner.
Inside, the dining room is pared back and coastal: white tongue-and-groove walls under heavy black beams, with a long dark-painted banquette running beneath tall sash windows that frame the boats on the harbour. Wooden tables set with tealights line the banquette, bentwood chairs and high stools gather around taller tables on a jute rug, and pleated-shade wall lights, framed prints and a shelf of wine bottles keep it feeling more like a home than a dining room. The bar is the more casual side of things, with drinks and snacks, and well-behaved dogs are welcome there, though not in the restaurant.
In the kitchen, Williams cooks simple, ingredient-led food around Norfolk produce, with a menu that shifts with the seasons. The menu is built around sharing plates, with dishes including mackerel with lobster sauce, whole roast brill and lemon butter sauce, and Cornish tuna with cashew cream and ponzu. There's also a focus on British cheese and charcuterie. At lunchtime there’s a regularly changing set menu, and groups of six or more eat from a family-style sharing menu, which takes the hassle out of ordering for a table. Children are welcome, though there’s no children’s menu.
Wine is the other half of the story. Blaize’s list moves between classic regions, cult producers, exciting new winemakers and bottles from further off the beaten track, all picked to drink well with the food and the view, and it changes regularly.