Tenterden, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Former rock drummer Graham Garrett swapped his sticks for chef’s knives and learned his new trade from luminaries including Nico Ladenis and Richard Corrigan, before launching his own restaurant with his partner Jackie 20-odd years ago in this 16th-century weaver’s cottage. They offer “high-quality food and wine in a lovely setting with relaxed informal service” to an appreciative crowd – “we’ve been regular customers for many years and it continues to deliver a great night out, time and time again”.

“A wonderful, characterful village pub” (with rooms) dating from circa 1420, and which has survived the potential loss of charm that comes with doubling in size over the years. While it might be an “unpretentious” sort of place, that’s only “until you meet the food” – “nothing complicated, everything excellent”. The boozer is handily placed for a stroll to Sissinghurst Castle, the former home of Virginia Woolf’s lady love, Vita Sackville-West, with its famously lovely gardens. Top Menu Tip – “the homemade pâté and chutney can’t be bettered”.

The “delightful dining room” with “friendly service” at former Gusbourne boss Ben Walgate’s biodynamic wine estate is just the place for a “truly memorable special occasion”, whether it’s a “superb relaxed lunch” or a “delicious celebratory dinner” (“we went on my wife’s birthday”) – while you’re there, you can “enjoy an entertaining wine tour” or stay overnight in “a really lovely room”.

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”.

Set in a row of Georgian shops, Martin Peacock’s neighbourhood bistro (est. 2010) has become a real beacon for locals and visitors alike (“our trips to Rye are worked round whether we can get a table here”). On the menu, local Romney Marsh lamb or “super-fresh” fish landed a few hundred metres away (including the gurnard which lends its tail to their logo) are cooked in a pleasingly unfussy way, all at “reasonable prices”.

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.

This increasingly fashionable adults-only wellness retreat in a converted 1960s motel behind Camber Sands serves ambitious and “interesting” menus from MasterChef contestant Nico Fitzgerald, accompanied by what is said to be the biggest selection of English wines in the country.

“A beautifully considered menu, cooked to perfection in idyllic surroundings” delights all comers to chef-patron Will Devlin’s attractive spot in the ‘Garden of England’, where many of the ingredients are grown on their own farm. “We were given an interesting pre-lunch tour of the garden, and the chef serving the tables was unusually informative”. You can choose between ‘Full Acre’ seven-course (£95 per person) or ‘Half Acre’ five-course tasting menus (£75 per person), with a three-course option at lunch (£55 per person). Wines are all organic or biodynamic, and include a “very good paired English wine flight”.

“Paul Webbe’s original restaurant is still a pleasure to visit” almost three decades after opening, the farmhouse venue having since spawned a clutch of fish-centric spin-offs alongside a cookery school in Hastings. “Reliably old-fashioned (in the best possible way)”, it combines “superb service and some first-rate cooking” which, as per the name, is focussed on foraging, including “a marvellous set luncheon with a very large choice for each course at a reasonable price in this day and age”. For several reporters this is a place to “go back to on special occasions as the quality is very good”.

“Home-grown seasonal produce” means meals “as fresh as food can get” at this daytime café-restaurant (plus dinner on Friday & Saturday) at a long-term project, the restoration of a Victorian walled garden in the High Weald using organic no-dig methods. It makes a “super setting” for lunch or a “slice of lovely cake”.

“Top-quality small plates” based around seasonal ingredients from local suppliers are to be found in this quaint 15th-century former pub that “seems to improve with each visit” – it’s hidden away down a cobbled lane off the main drag in this attractive seaside town.

Named after the coppiced woodland upon which it sits – Flimwell Park, an über-modern 46-acre sustainable community – this three-year-old is the third venture for Will Devlin, whose nearby The Small Holding holds a Michelin Green Star. “The standard bearer for excellent, locally sourced food” – small and large plates served in the “well-designed but canteen-style” interior or (preferably) on the stunning terrace overlooking the forest – it’s “pretty unbeatable for a fixed-price lunch”, though they’re also now open until 20.00 on Friday and Saturday night.

This black-painted wooden pub, reminiscent of one of the net huts in nearby Hastings, had lived many lives (cowshed, hotel, potential care home) before couple Olivia & Henry took it over in 2022. The kitchen turns out “lovely food that’s more than just pub grub”, taking the seasonal route and giving it a Sussex spin.