The Times
Jay Rayner had been tracking this new venture from chef Dan Smith and sommelier Elliott Ashton-Konig, the crew behind the Fordwich Arms near Canterbury, since before it opened – and found his anticipation was absolutely justified.
The menu consisted of dishes that were “more bespoke than ready-to-wear”, such as oysters with raspberry vinegar and charcoal-infused cream and unmissable pommes dauphine, “golden, airy fingers of the lightest deep-fried mashed potato, accompanied by a proud turban of deep-green dill emulsion”.
“The dish that gives the game away, the one that points up the seriousness of the kitchen here, is a so-called lobster salad, which is a salad much as a Rolex Oyster is just something by which to tell the time and a Maybach is a runabout. Rosy hunks of claw meat rest on a sweet-sour tomato mayonnaise with shiny white currants and segments of citrus, and a little more besides. It is the very best seafood shown up to its best advantage. It’s beautiful.”
Jay Rayner - 2026-08-09The Times
Tom Parker Bowles was also impressed by this “small, civilised and heavily air conditioned” restaurant, where he enjoyed “one of those rare lunches where they get everything just right”.
“The only problem with the menu is choosing what not to eat”, he said; the solution, it seems, was to sample most of it: Welsh rarebit croquettes “as good as they sound”; some “exhilaratingly fresh” sea bream tostadas; panisse with Iberico ham and pecorino cheese that were “all gone in two salty, nutty bites”; a skewer of short-rib beef, “dense, lavishly rich and gloriously fatty.”
Then mussels, “huge and plump… a dish of creamily voluptuous allure”; wild bass “beautifully cooked”; “and do not miss the lamb chops, cooked over charcoal. The fat is lovingly rendered, the flesh taut, pink and bleating of a life well lived. We gnaw off every last scrap”. For pudding, lemon meringue with lemon ice cream, “both sweet and tartly bracing”.
Tom Parker Bowles - 2026-08-09
