I eat in far too many beige- and oatmeal-coloured dining rooms, almost as if no one involved could commit to an actual colour. But in this current restaurant landscape, where so many play it safe with the decor, The Blue Pelican in Deal, Kent, is definitely not a subscriber. It’s more like walking into Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa, a cacophony of tasteful blues, chilli pepper-coloured chessboard floor, striped cushions and, on one wall, a large mural of that very same wave, though this one is not by Hokusai but by local artist Tom Maryniak and it laps against the Deal seafront.
Rarely do I mention a restaurant loo so early in proceedings, but at the Blue Pelican they’ve painted the tiny, under-the-stairs space such a vivid, fiery terracotta and lit it so gorgeously that it’s very possibly the prettiest place to spend a penny in 2024. You may not be surprised to learn that one of the founders, Alex Bagner, once worked for Wallpaper* magazine, or that, alongside her husband, Chris Hicks, they also run Deal’s Rose hotel and restaurant, which is equally aesthetically pleasing. Their new venture, meanwhile, is a Japanese-inspired, seafront townhouse restaurant and boutique yoga studio.
