Maidstone Restaurant Guide

Set in a converted stable block that was once part of the neighbouring coaching inn – now their sister venue, ‘The Oak on the Green’ – a “lovely village restaurant with real talent in the kitchen”. As per the name, it’s all about the “very good quality fresh fish” which fans proclaim “a bargain” (particularly the “excellent value lunch”).

This “independently owned and managed” old village inn “in a lovely setting” has been thoroughly stripped out and modernised, providing a comfortable venue for an upbeat menu that features oysters, Cornish caviar and a 500kg Chateaubriand steak to share.

A “seriously dramatic room” plays host to meals in the restored 1873 pump house at Chatham’s historic dockyard on the Medway, which has been converted into a distillery and restaurant by Bob Russell and his sons Matthew & Stephen. Top Menu Tip – “amazing roasts on Sundays”.

“A country pub with an above-average menu” and "consistently good food” from chef-patron Lee Adams that’s generally agreed to be “a cut above the others in the area”. (The unusual name references First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived in the village.)

“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”.

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”.

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 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”.

“Good-quality food and friendly service” at this village pub, which was rescued in a rundown state by entrepreneur Sir Keith Mills and his wife Maureen a dozen years ago, and is run by well-known chef brothers Chris & James Tanner. “It’s great for families – you can watch the chefs at work in front of you!”.

“My wife took me here for a “date lunch”… it was superb” – Richard Phillips’s well-known destination occupies an attractive and central Regency Villa and is “excellent for a special occasion” for which it provides “formal dining in the traditional manner with unusual nibbles and interesting flavours” and a high quality selection of wines. There is a luxurious à la carte menu (with mains around £40 each) or a seven course tasting menu for £95 per person. Top Tips – something of a favourite for business lunching hereabouts, they provide a lunch menu with two courses for £28 per person; “lovely terrace for outdoor dining in summer”.

With “high-quality food and very tasty cocktails”, this modern British venue from chef Tom Genty and co-founder Terry Brouet, who runs the front of house, offers what locals agree is “the best dining experience in the area by a mile”. Opened in 2021, its kitchen focuses on seasonal local ingredients, often fermented to intensify the flavours.

“Superlative food from an aspiring young chef” draws an appreciative crowd to this community-owned pub in a “lovely Kent village” – Alex Yates sends out “notably creative dishes chosen for flavour not curiosity”, while his wife Grace heads the “friendly, engaged and well-informed” FOH team. It’s very much a family operation: his father David, a former Balls Bros wine merchant, advises on a drinks list which offers “strikingly restrained prices”, while his grandmother provided the name – her family, the Bowleys, ran pubs in Kent. Top Menu Tip – “guinea fowl with an outstanding jus”.

“Still a favourite in Tunbridge Wells by a mile” – Rob & Donna Taylor’s Southborough five-year-old occupies an attractive site and “is that rare treat – a top restaurant in Kent!”. The “staff are so sweet and friendly and always know so much about the menu” that it creates a “lovely, warm and relaxed atmosphere” and the food itself is “very thoughtful and well-prepared from a monthly-changing menu”. Dishes are priced individually à la carte, or you can order a tasting selection for £90 per person and there are “excellent matching wines”.

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”.

2023 Review: “Absolutely delicious coffee and pastries” – all made in-house – are on offer at this “bakery with a couple of tables” – “and you can leave with a perfect sourdough loaf”. Founder Jamie Tandoh was the first independent sourdough baker in Tunbridge Wells when he opened in 2014. Top Tip – “the best croissants”.

A “lovely recent edition to Tunbridge Wells” from Robin Read, who honed his pastry skills with the Roux brothers, before racking up a super-starry CV including time at Le Gavroche, then alongside Nico Ladenis and Marco Pierre White. The “intimate” dining room opened in May 2024, and quickly won the favours of Grace Dent, who proclaimed it “hard to fault”, although some reviewers this year did have a few quibbles, namely the “shockingly memorable” wine prices and less memorable food – even if these were counterbalanced by more positive reports of “really excellent” and “delicious” dishes (relayed via five- eight- or ten-course menus at £60, £95 or £125 per person, respectively, or a less ruinous three-course lunch for £40 on certain days).

“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”.