Kent Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: A “great selection of well-presented fish” is the reason to visit this seafood restaurant on the village green (originally part of the neighbouring inn, which houses their sister restaurant, Oak on the Green).

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”.

Fans are “sad to hear that the Pitchfords are selling up” when it comes to this village restaurant with rooms – run by David and Rona Pitchford since 1977 and “a go-to for special family events” for many in this part of Kent. “The menu is conservative but the food always of a very high standard”, with items such as ‘A Prawn Cocktail the way we used to do it back in when we opened’. It went on the market for £3m in April 2023, but we’ve left its rating untouched in the hope that any purchaser maintains its “traditional excellence” – “always, a treat especially the soufflés”.

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.

2021 Review: “Huge portions” of “good wholesome food” make this “cheap and cheerful” Gallic outfit serving bistro classics “amazing value for money”. There’s a good selection of “fine wines”, but the place is “very noisy indeed”.

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.

Former rock drummer Graham Garrett’s quirky 16th century restaurant-with-rooms in a “lovely village” in the Kent Weald has been beating off the competition since back in 2002. The set menus showcase some “very good cooking” based on “top-quality ingredients” – and while “just a few tables can mean there is a certain formality to it all”, it’s “none the worse for that”.

This “delightful country pub” has a characterful fifteenth-century setting and five modern bedrooms in a converted nuttery above the gardens; it won praise this year for its “interesting and well-executed” locally sourced cuisine – served across five different dining areas – and even one reporter who had an off-visit rated it “very good”.

2023 Review: This former coaching inn “offers a good range of well-cooked dishes in its small dining room” – “pre-booking is advisable as it’s close to Sissinghurst Castle and Gardens”. In the summer, “a pop-up pizza hut is open in the garden for a more casual dining experience”.

“Pretty much my idea of gastronomic heaven”: Stephen Harris’s “tricky-to-get-to old-looking pub” represents “a friendly and pleasurable approximation of perfection” for its enormous fan club and – as one of the top-5 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll – is viewed by many as “simply the best pub-orientated restaurant in the UK”. Set out on the salt marshes by the Thames just outside Whitstable, “don’t be fooled by the external décor” (which makes it look like any old seaside pub). Inside, it “still retains its original charm” and its unforced style makes it “a place to return to on a regular basis”. “The local produce mirrors its estuary-side position”, with each “simple but magnificent” component of the five-course menu “representing the best of the locality at that time of year”. “The cooking itself is a revelation” with “prodigious attention to flavour” and the most often-cited offerings including excellent fish, oysters and lamb (including, of course, the signature slip soles). “The wine list reflects the tastes of the Patron who only lists wines that he would choose to drink himself”. “Many pilgrims make the journey but you have to book months in advance”. “A joy to visit before or, preferably, after a bracing walk on the beach” (and with it being “just a short step to their delightful self-catering cabins, what could be more romantic?)”

You couldn’t ask for a much better location than this characterful Victorian pump house attached to Chatham dockyard, whose outside terrace enjoys fine views of the Medway. Converted into a distillery seven years ago by the Russell family, it has relatively recently added a restaurant and cocktail lounge serving “interesting” cooking.

This modernised village inn “never fails to please” with an attractive brasserie-style menu that’s “great for a casual lunch”. A covered garden adds to the package.

2023 Review: The dining room “upstairs in a rickety old pub, with wonderful views over Whitstable Bay”, offers a “good mix of innovative food” – including “beautifully cooked fish” – “and homemade pub classics, served by staff from the kitchen on the floor below”. “Eaten there many times: the ambience is excellent and always found the food good”.

“Tiny but perfectly formed!” – The very first Wheelers (est. 1856, and the original and last branch of an increasingly forgotten chain that ceased trading in 2014) is a “quaint but charming” venue whose “magical qualities make it a memorable and special place”. “There is a counter at which you can order items to take away (to the nearby beach) or sit in the very bijoux parlour” – a “really lovely, family-run space where the attention to detail and freshness of the seafood is second to none”. “Exceptional oysters” are the headline attraction on a “wow of a tasting menu” that “is of course centred on fish”. “It’s made even more affordable by their BYO policy” – “just pop to the offy over the road for a great bottle of wine” (“there’s a small charge for corkage”). Top Tip – “book well in advance”.

“An unrivalled seashore location” right “on the beach at Whitstable” and “with plain wooden tables” sets the scene at this “very popular” destination. “It’s not fancy cooking, but the quality of the fish is very good” and “simply and ably prepared, although prices are not cheap”. “Best to go when there is an ’r’ in the month, when natives are available as they are fantastic”.