A look inside Pevensey Bay's new restaurant

I wrote a piece last month about Massilia Bay, and how it was preparing to open as a French-Mediterranean restaurant after years of neglect. You can check out that full piece here which includes an interview with the owner, Greg Corona.

When Greg invited me to the opening night (October 1) of course I was going to go along. The site is opposite The Bay Hotel, which is no longer running as a restaurant downstairs, so to bring something new to that corner of Pevensey Bay is very refreshing. From the outside it doesn’t give much away, but when you step inside and into the dining area it feels like you’re in a French courtyard. You walk in to a bar/lounge area with the kitchen fairly open on your left, and then head through to the dining room which has streams of fairy lights and a ‘shop window’ to give the feeling you’re outside. It sounds like it could be tacky, but it really isn’t. Greg’s business partner Stephane Larruat said how they were worried because of the lack of windows in the dining area but it really works because it takes you to another place, I definitely didn’t feel like I was in England!

We tried the ‘Big Blonde’ from their very own brewery, and although I’m not a fan of beer usually – even I liked it. My friend, who is a bit of a beer enthusiast, said: “It’s really smooth, I’m getting a bit of citrus in there which means it’s really fresh too. I’d give it a 8.5/10 – it’s very drinkable.”

As soon as we walked in we could see everyone seemed to be ordering the bouillabaisse – a traditional Provencal fish stew. We ordered one of them and a pulled lamb pitta to share. Both were delicious with bags of flavour. It felt like you were in a rustic square on holiday that locals would go to rather than tourists. The food is what Greg and his team like to eat – it’s not fancy, it’s just great flavour created from great ingredients. To finish off we had the chocolate cake and it was lovely. I was pretty full but for the sake of being able to talk about the desserts, I felt I had a duty to try one (it’s a hard life isn’t it).

The team is really friendly and the whole evening felt very relaxed. There’s no frills with this place in the best way possible. I’d highly recommend it and wish Greg and the team all the best for the future!