Birchington Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “The best pizzas by far with wafer-thin crusts and interesting toppings” are the draw to this seafront venture whose “set-up is pretty basic but the friendly staff compensate” – “oh and a lovely view of the beach (especially at sunset)” also helps.

This “lovely seafood restaurant” is a “good find in Margate”, with an “extensive and varied menu” that features fresh oysters and “delicious seafood platters” but also “includes local meat and vegetarian options”. “Staff couldn’t be friendlier” and “the whole experience is very enjoyable”.

The “little sister to Angela’s”, a seafood restaurant-with-rooms round the corner, “never fails to satisfy” with its menu of “creative, unique fishy small plates” that are raw, pickled, cured or smoked. The owners run a co-op producing their own fruit and veg, and this site also has a wine shop stocking bottles from England and beyond.

“Stunning seafood within walking distance of the Turner Contemporary gallery and Margate seafront” has won fame for Lee Coad’s “tiny” sibling venue to Dory, that he opened in 2017 with his wife Charlotte Forsdike and chef Rob Cooper. “Gorgeous fresh fish is served in a very relaxed dining space”: “a café-like setting that’s enjoyable if not special”. “Service is fabulous too”, helping to account for why this is nowadays the most commented-on venue in town in our annual diners’ poll and “booking is essential” (“having finally landed a table, the memory of the roasted turbot skin will remain with me for a very long time!”)

Herald of the new, cool, foodie-friendly Margate scene, this Old Town venue (Grace Dent is a fan) showcases the produce of Foglianise, where co-owner Simona Di Dio’s family runs a farm; the food (meatballs, caponata, gnocchi, etc.) is “delicious as are the wines” – and if you want to learn to pimp your pasta, they also run the next-door Margate Cookery School.

2021 Review: With its “deep red walls, low lighting and candles”, this “romantic” basement dining room has a “lovely, old-fashioned and cosy ambience, and is decorated with framed covers of old editions of Empire magazine”. Craig Mather’s modern British menu focuses on “unfussy dishes, where the local seasonal ingredients are the star”, in particular “fish that comes straight from the small boats which ply the harbour”.

2022 Review: In a “great” harbourside setting, chef Craig Mather’s collaboration with hotelier James Thomas namechecks the heroic homespun flotilla of the Dunkirk evacuation, also echoed in the decor. The food, mostly sourced within 30 miles of the restaurant, is reliably “solid”, not least the “lovely fresh catch of the day with interesting saucing”.

Ben & Sophie Crittenden’s tiny 12-seater “is a unique example of how a small, focused team can delight the diner”, with “superb cooking” and “terrific” six-course tasting menus that “never disappoint”. The couple opened the restaurant eight years ago so they could spend more family time with their three children; they closed their nearby tapas bar Dos at Christmas 2022 in the face of escalating costs.

2023 Review: “Spanish-influenced small plates” – “especially delicious fish dishes” – dominate at this well-established venue under the historic York Gate, while “in winter, their Sunday lunch is epic”. “The outlook over Broadstairs beach to the sea is spectacular and sitting at the bar is simply divine”. Next door, the new Flotsam & Jetsam has been split off from the original site, serving “super-creative fish ’n’ chips”.

2022 Review: “A good find”, with “surprisingly good pizza” – although perhaps that would come as no surprise to those who know that this pizzeria was the first in the UK to achieve certification from the Associazione Verace Pizza in Naples. There’s also a full list of starters and pasta dishes, and kids get a three-course meal for £7.50. It can be “very noisy when full”… but have you ever been to a busy pizzeria in Naples?

This “lovely gastropub in a pretty Kent village” wins praise for its “good menu selection, including unusual dishes like homity pie” alongside the more standard burgers, steak and fish ’n’ chips. It is part of Saga heir Josh De Haan’s Pickled Egg pub group.

“Each time we come we are impressed by the attention to detail and outstanding quality of the food at this well-regarded gastropub” – Daniel & Natasha Smith purchased this “beautiful old pub on the River Stour” in 2017 and has become one of the most commented-on venues outside the capital in our annual diners’ poll. “The style of cuisine is that of fine dining with locally sourced produce and the flavours bring out the best in the ingredients”. “Tables are well-spaced and the staff certainly know their stuff” – “incredible value”. Top Tip – “Lovely wisteria-covered terrace by the river on a sunny day”.

You get “the Mediterranean diet writ large” at this “relaxed, informal, spacious and friendly” outfit opened in 2000 by cook Nikki Billington and her partner Paul Watson, originally in their own home. It’s “the perfect place for a leisurely lunch, with delicious and mostly healthy cooking” including “the freshest tapas fish dishes”, along with “professional and charming service” that ensures “every visit feels memorable and special”.

2023 Review: This “fantastic little bistro hidden away in Deal” is “well worth trying” for the “very high standard of its classic French cooking” – although there is some pushback against its “London prices”. Owner-operators Benoit & Sarah (respectively the Frog and the Scot) also run Le Pinardier wine shop and bar a few doors away.

This “lovely little pub” on the high street has had quite the history: it was long under John Matthews, owner of Thompson & Son brewery; in 2016, his great-grandson Christopher Hicks took over, and has transformed it into a very stylish hotel replete with Emin artworks and a tandem bicycle for guests. The “really good, mostly local produce” is “beautifully done” and features an “excellent value lunch” as well as popular Scandi-style breakfasts.

“You deserve a break after the pier walk” to reach this four-year-old establishment which, though technically not afloat, “makes you feel like you’re on a boat”; watch out for their “surf ’n’ turf weekend evenings”, and “healthy” bottomless brunch (if your idea of healthy is unlimited prosecco, Bellinis and Bloody Marys!).

“Above the farmers’ market, cheese shop, and wine merchants in a converted goods shed”, a “lovely” destination where “the menu is determined by what local produce is available just a few feet away”; it’s “very romantic in the evening”, when they do formal candlelit dinners.