Kwizeen
47–49 King Street Blackpool FY1 3EJ
A rare oasis of contemporary cuisine in Blackpool, Kwizeen takes honest-to-goodness Lancashire ingredients and gives them a Mediterranean twist, courtesy of Catalan-born chef and co-owner Marco Calle-Calatayud. This means taking things like fish from Fleetwood, Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire cheese, Bury black pudding, Goosnargh duck and organic salt-marsh lamb and then rolling with the seasons on the menu – so a summer meal might give you the choice of tea-smoked duck, cheese souffle with tomato fondue, loin of lamb with wilted greens, or a pork chop with spiced paprika and chorizo risotto. Off the boat depends more on the catch, but crayfish, squid, monkfish, prawns and salmon are regulars, while the whole menu changes every five or six weeks. It's a handsome dining space, all fairly restrained for Blackpool, and nice and informal to boot – it helps that the restaurant is a fair way from all the seafront shennanigans, up at the top end of the town centre. Prices are decent, but a changing two- or three-course "Lancashire Market Menu" offers an even better-value bite in what is probably Blackpool's best gastronomic choice.
