SHEERWATER RESTAURANT, HOTEL DEL CORONADO, SAN DIEGO, USA

The ridiculously picturesque and photogenic Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Beach in San Diego is a historic, white wedding-cake of a wooden building, located literally on the sand overlooking the ocean. We are seated ringside, best seat in the house, on the covered terrace at Sheerwater, The Del’s all-day, elegantly casual dining restaurant that presides over this mesmerising view. We tear our gaze from people watching California-style to peruse the menu and order suitably summer-flavoured cocktails. My Peach and Grapefruit Margarita is refreshing with a punch and the pleasant sting of a salt-rimmed glass reflecting the salt water metres from where we sit.

The menu is heavy on fresh seafood, seasonally driven, from delicate sashimi to the full blown ‘Grand Seafood Tower; salads with bold flavours, a leaning toward Mexican influences and with delicious options for nonseafood choices. There is also an expansive buffet breakfast available and a kids menu.

The service is attentive, knowledgeable and friendly and we have taken our cue from the coastal cuisine theme and ordered a dozen oysters (with two dipping sauces; cocktail and house-made spicy with piquant jalapenos) and for me, the

Del Seafood Salad, too good to pass up, offering fresh chunks and claws of chilled lump crab, shrimp and fish on a bed of romaine lettuce, with avocado, heirloom tomatoes, and crispy bacon and a delicate ‘coronado island dressing’.

For dessert, we decide that sharing the rich Madagascar Vanilla Crème Brulee topped with fresh berries, means we are being virtuous and not wantonly lacking in self-control. Indulgent for all the senses, Sheerwater epitomises a mantra usually reserved only for real estate; location, location, location.