I went to eat at Bognor's award winning oceanfront restaurant - and it was amazing

An oceanfront restaurant with sea-views, a small seasonal menu and regularly rotating specials, The Landing Place was the proud recipient of a Lux Life award earlier this year and, walking to our table with my partner, it was easy to why.

It’s not just the view – although that is incredible; the kind of sweeping panorama you catch yourself looking at even when you should be eating, squinting at the thin haze that divides the blue of the sea from the blue of the sky – it’s the everything else. It’s the spotless decor, the fresh, contemporary design, the little touches that remind you of the season without beating you over the head with it, and the quiet confidence of the service staff that you are, without doubt, in good hands.

My partner didn’t fancy a starter – though not for lack of choice – but I couldn’t resist the house-cured gravlax, served with micro-herbs, beetroot puree and harissa oil, which was light and tastefully complex, the earthy sweetness of the beetroot pairing perfectly with the salmon.

For mains, my partner picked the pan-fried gnocchi, served with sir fried vegetables in a peanut and miso sauce, turned out to be the kind of vegan dish so rich, so indulgently creamy you wonder why anyone bothers with butter and cream at all, if this is what you can do without it. I’d have been jealous if my own teriyaki duck weren’t every bit as good. Piled high with egg noodles and stir-friend vegetables, it was probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, with meat so tender I could pull it from the bone with just my fork, and enough noodles to leave me happily full, without feeling stuffed.

But not so full, of course, that we couldn’t make room for desert. My eyes practically popped out my head when I saw sticky toffee pudding on the menu; it’s a personal favourite, and a must whenever I see it on the menu (which, unfortunately for my waistline, is all the time), so my partner and I shared a slice.

A good sticky toffee pudding is light, fluffy, and gorgeously indulgent – and this was no different; served with a bowl full of custard, it was the perfect end to an already excellent-meal, and both of us are keen to go back.

All in all, it was a treat from start to finish. If a restaurant is the sum of all three of its parts, the combined impression left by the food, the service and the setting, then it’s hard not to give The Landing Place top marks across all three. If you want to spoil yourself without breaking the bank, if you want to celebrate something, if you want impress someone, if you want to be looked after by a team which – without a doubt – knows how to do it, this is the place to be.