Could Amble be the new Padstow?
ZECCA means ‘mint‘ in Italian: ace, sweet, cool, new or, more apt, licence to print money. Whoever coined (geddit?) the restaurant’s name, be it partner Chef Richard Sim or father and son business combo, Leslie and Mark Jones, judging from the trauma I had to book for dinner (I‘ve got a table at 3.45pm. Friday week…‘), one of them must have stared into their crystal ball before deciding to buck the national restaurant trend of closures and heartbreak. I‘ve often wondered why so-called experienced restaurateurs open venues in locations befitting a lap-dancing club or a Netto rather than a high-end restaurant with prices to match, and wonder why they have to close a few months down the line. But this opening in the Northumberland fishing village of Amble, isn‘t just down to inexperience, vanity or stupidity; these guys have done their research, and then some. They have tapped into reports that have indicated that Amble, its inhabitants and the tourists who manage to get lost on their w
