Rocky Bottoms is a seafood restaurant in a nineteenth-century brick kiln on the cliff between East and West Runton, a few miles along the Norfolk Coast from Cromer. The crab and lobster are caught off the north Norfolk coast by Richard Matthews, who runs the place with his wife, Alison. The kiln was built to fire bricks and long outlived the job. The Matthews family converted it and opened the doors in May 2015. It has since made the Good Food Guide. Outside there's decking and a big lawn, both facing the sea, and on a warm day that's where everyone ends up. Crab and lobster carry the menu. There's lobster thermidor, crab pasta, oysters and a seafood platter for the table. The crab came out of Richard's own pots, and you eat it within sight of the water it came from.

Which local producers do you source from?

Rocky Bottoms is its own main supplier. Richard Matthews fishes for crab and lobster off the north Norfolk coast, and his catch comes to the family's restaurant at West Runton. That covers the crab and lobster on the menu, from the crab pasta to the lobster thermidor, and they're the reason most people make the trip.

Do we need to make a reservation? If so how do we do this?

Booking is recommended, particularly at weekends and through the summer. Tables can be reserved online through OpenTable.

Awards and Recognition

Included in the Good Food Guide. Beyond that, what sets it apart is simple: the crab and lobster are caught by Richard Matthews off the north Norfolk coast and served in the family's own restaurant, a nineteenth-century brick kiln on the cliff between East and West Runton, opened in May 2015, with sea views from the decking and lawn.

Social Media

https://www.instagram.com/rockybottoms.uk/

Check availability and book

https://www.opentable.co.uk/r/rocky-bottoms-cromer

Signature dishes or seasonal menu highlights

Lobster thermidor, made with lobster from Richard Matthews's own pots. Crab pasta and crab salad, with crab from the same boat. Oysters and mackerel among the starters. A seafood platter for sharing, built around the family's crab and lobster from the north Norfolk coast.

Our sourcing story

The sourcing here is short enough to explain in a sentence: Richard Matthews fishes for crab and lobster off the north Norfolk coast, and his family cooks it at Rocky Bottoms. The family took on a nineteenth-century brick kiln on the cliff between East and West Runton, converted it and opened in May 2015. Of course, not everything on the plate comes from Richard's boat. But the crab and lobster that most people come for do, and that is rarer on this coast than it should be. When you order the crab here, you're buying it from the people who caught it.

Website

https://www.rockybottoms.net

Address Summary

West Runton, near Cromer, Norfolk, NR27 9QA