Shipbourne Restaurant Guide

The “tops in town” – even if that town is “a bit of a culinary desert”, a “buzzy” and “fairly new” corner bistro, which was set up in 2022 by Stuart Gillies, ex of Le Caprice and NYC’s Restaurant Daniel, ‘entre autres’, and his wife Cecilia. The “interesting” modern European-meets-trad-British fare includes a “very good” Sunday lunch (Tuesdays it’s BYOB), while the Gillies are “very visible and ensure high standards”, though it can be “noisy when full”.

Sierra Leonean chef, Maria Bradford launched this June newcomer (the name means ‘fancy’ in the Krio language) to showcase Sierra Leonean and Afro-fusion cuisine – a development of a supper club and online store she started in 2017. Dishes on the opening menu include: lamb belly, palm oil, and African five spice; bone marrow, kankankan puffed rice, and fermented honey chilli flatbread; and moringa millefeuille, benne cake, and sheep’s yoghurt ice cream. It opened after our survey had concluded, but in his July 2025 review, the FT’s Jay Rayner declared the interesting cooking “deeply savoury” and very much more than just a novelty. Jay’s Top Menu Tip – “I would go back… solely for Bradford’s flaky, golden flat bread, a little like a paratha, sliced thickly with honey and the warmth of fermented chilli”.