Ashford, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: Afternoon tea at this deluxe Elizabethan country house hotel can be a “great experience in beautiful surroundings”. Other aspects of the trip, however, “don’t always live up to the ambience”.

“Delighted with the food matches and the quality of the produce” – chef Allister Barsby and manager Alice Bussi’s are celebrating their fifth year at this “lovely little restaurant… their Michelin star is well deserved”. All reports this year are unanimous on its “consistently fabulous cooking, with service and wines to match” which provided some diners with their best meal of the year. “I might have given it 5/5 for food, service and atmosphere had there been more guests creating a warmer atmosphere”.

This 16th-century weaver’s cottage in the Weald was opened by former rocker Graham Garrett and wife Jackie in 2002. The “warm and cosy, ancient beamed dining room” turns out set menus that are “quite expensive but worth it” and are accompanied by “professional and charming” service from “members of the chef’s family and others”; stay in one of their “very quiet and comfortable rooms” and there’s an “excellent breakfast hamper” as a bonus. Top Menu Tip – “lovely amuse-bouches (brick tube stuffed with chicken parfait, Parmesan churros). Standout dishes include ‘Egg and Bacon’ (leek ballotine, quail’s egg, smoked eel and crispy pancetta), and a slice of braised and grilled Wagyu beef cheek with anchoïade”.

2023 Review: This low-key daytime-only wholefood eco-store and café (with Thursday evening ‘supperclub socials’) started out 10 years ago as a pop-up street stall and now occupies a century-old joinery workshop in a mews. The “hearty” breakfasts, light bites and lunches win consistently good ratings.

A “great” 15th-century pub (with four rooms set atop the nuttery in the garden) that’s situated in the heart of the Weald, and just a short stroll from Sissinghurst Castle, the old home of Virginia Woolf’s beloved, Vita Sackville-West, and whose gardens are run by the National Trust. “They always have good beer on” and, having extended over the years, there are five different dining areas in which to enjoy the “typical” but very sound gastropub fare, much sourced from the local area.

2024 Review: This Grade II listed Georgian pub near Oare Marshes Nature Reserve is “a lovely spot on a warm day to sit and enjoy lovely grub on the outdoor terraces” – “while it does not outshine its near neighbour The Sportsman, it’s cosy, well run, with excellent food and great service – all without having to book weeks in advance and much easier on the wallet”. It has seen “a resurgence in the standard of cooking under new management” – experienced ex-Londoners Tom Gravett & Renny Peret.

“On top form since chef-owner Dev Biswal closed his Margate and Rye outposts to focus on this establishment” in 2022 – and gave it a Chaucerian rebrand, focusing on “fine Indian dining using mostly locally sourced and seasonal produce”. Those who loved it in its Ambrette days say it “never fails to deliver interesting and delicious food at reasonable prices”, be it “savoury toasted sandwiches of spicy potato, chicken tikka finger sandwiches, and fried sweet potato” or “spice-enriched scones with jam and cream” (all with Biswal “present to explain” the dishes’ origins).

2024 Review: A “real bright light in an otherwise scrappy pedestrian high street”, this polished and “very well-run” hotel dining room takes the original name of the hotel that stood here back in 1892 and brings a rare fine dining option to the centre of Canterbury; add in “wonderful” cocktails, and it’s “a treat” for its many local fans.

This manor house link in the Pig chain, three miles south of Canterbury, continues to elicit notably solid feedback; the dining room (which has the airs of a potting shed, courtesy of its preserve-lined walls) follows the locally sourced ‘25-mile’ menu of the rest of the litter, making the most of the Kentish produce; there were reports this year of some “exceptional” dishes which were also “very good value”. It’s possible to opt for more casual wood-fired snacks in the Garden Oven, while there’s more foodie goodness on offer if you stay overnight in one of their idiosyncratic rooms (“dunno where they get their breakfast pastries from, but wow!”).

“Top-end food in a pub setting” has won plaudits for ex-Clove Club chef Daniel Smith and his wife Tasha, a pastry chef, since they took over this 16th-century former coaching inn just south of Canterbury three years ago: “there’s a nice mix of people just having a drink and those out for a top-notch meal”. Its ratings declined this year, though, due to a couple of diners who feel “prices are ludicrous for good, but far from exceptional food”. The Smiths also run the nearby Fordwich Arms. Top Tip – “the set menu represents terrific value”.

“Bravo!” – “Everything always seems to work so well at Stephen Harris’s exceptionally popular spot in the north Kent marshes”. It’s one of the top-20 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll and also one of the best liked, inspiring nothing but the most enthusiastic comments from diners. “The ideal thing to do is take a good walk along the beach beforehand to get the appetite brimming with anticipation”. Thereafter, “it’s the combination of relaxed atmosphere and stellar cooking that makes for an unforgettable visit”. It helps that “nowhere in London can get close to the sort of quality vs price ratio here”, even though there’s no longer an à la carte option and the only choice now is the “memorable five-course tasting menu” for “£80 per person”: “food that’s exquisite and beautifully presented, not at all ostentatious”. “You really feel that everything is thoughtfully and lovingly prepared and the service is always with a smile”. “The rooms are pretty excellent too”. Top Menu Top – “superb local produce – Whitstable oysters, saltmarsh lamb, seaweed buttered slip sole – are cleverly accompanied by delicacies from further afield, such as Lobster, Old Winchester cheese, or Avruga Caviar. The wine list, personally selected by the host, is composed of classic quality wines, so generously priced, they constitute the best quality to value ratio I have seen in a British restaurant”. (“It’s been my favourite restaurant anywhere in the UK, and even further afield, for the past 20 years and I feel blessed that it is only a few miles along the coast from where I live”).

2023 Review: “If only every pub was like this!” – “a quirky place” a short walk from the town centre which makes the most of its olde-worlde decor. The food is “competent and innovative”, and there’s a “good range of drinks”.

This quaint bistro in a row of Georgian shops has long been of note for its unpretentious, no-nonsense British cookery based on “local and interesting” ingredients sourced from fields, woodlands and waters. The menu may be a little “unchanging” for regulars, but then again they “know they are to be fed well” at this “always consistent” local gem.

Former Gusbourne CEO Ben Walgate’s impressive farmhouse winery sits on a sweeping 70-acre estate, incorporating casual wood-fired pizza joint the ‘Dutch Barn’ and this “delightful dining room with views back to Rye”, where you pick between a two- or three-course lunch on Friday and Saturday, or tackle a five-course tasting menu by night. Zero-waste pioneer Brendan Eades of Silo fame oversees the Green Michelin Star field-to-fork cooking, which is “not fussy but simply super-tasty” (“wow…eaten with them three times in the last few months” and “every time it’s different”). They also have “very comfortable rooms” on site and you can do a “very enjoyable” wine tour and tasting too.

2024 Review: The “historic location” (a 600-year-old building with mullioned windows and many a beam) certainly adds to the charms of this old smugglers’ inn – “a little old-school, but that’s all part of the experience”. It’s been under the same owners for three decades, and while it’s not the main draw, the “lovely food” also has its fans.

“It looks like a typical pub from the outside but what a surprise inside” – Daniel & Natasha Smith jointly run the kitchen at this riverside pub that they purchased in 2017, and which nowadays is one of the top-100 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll. “There’s not a false note in the memorable experience”: “polished and attentive service delivers a succession of superb dishes – cooking of sustained excellence that’s worth every penny”. “In the summer, there are a few tables by the river and it’s delightful watching the passing boats”.