A MOUTH-WATERING menu for an upmarket seafood eatery has been lodged as part of an appeal by takeaway owners against East Lothian Council’s decision to reject their plans.

East Lothian company Alandas wants to create a new takeaway on Quality Street, North Berwick – where it already has a successful ice-cream parlour further along the road.

However, East Lothian Council’s planning officers turned down the plans because they believed customers could park “irresponsibly” outside the shop.

Now family-run Alandas has appealed the decision to the local authority’s Local Review Body, complete with a menu which sets out plans to serve grilled seafood and lobster rolls.

The company’s agent said they wanted to make it clear that the new takeaway, which will be at 43 Quality Street with their current Gelateria already established at 1 Quality Street, would add to the hot food already offered in the seaside town’s centre.

A statement to the review body said: “It is far too simplistic to call it a fish and chip takeaway and in conjunction with… other takeaways this will add further variety to the local offer and not simply replicate it.

“It is our considered opinion that such investment and variety should be encouraged.”

The menu offers up dishes of crispy tempura king prawns, chargrilled langoustines, hand-cut new potatoes with parmesan and truffle oil, and salads of smoked salmon with warm bulgar wheat and split lentils.

East Lothian Council’s planners said they believed “the proposed hot food takeaway use would be likely to lead to irresponsible parking and waiting outside the premises, including on double yellow lines, on the footway or double parking”.

Officers said that the irresponsible parking would block visibility for drivers coming out of the junction next to the takeaway and create a hazard to pedestrians in an already busy area.

However, agents for Alandas argue that there is plenty of on-street parking nearby, adding that while they were confident the business would be successful, they did not anticipate people travelling to the town just to visit it.

The firm wants to move into a vacant building on the corner of Quality Street which was once offices.

The building’s external walls have paint peeling off and it appears rundown.

It carries a plaque in honour of pioneering golfer Alexander McLaren, who was one of the founding members of the PGA and lived there.

The appeal will go before the review body in May.