Herne Bay, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

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”.

“It looks like a typical pub from the outside but what a surprise inside” – Daniel & Natasha Smith jointly run the kitchen at this riverside pub that they purchased in 2017, and which nowadays is one of the top-100 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll. “There’s not a false note in the memorable experience”: “polished and attentive service delivers a succession of superb dishes – cooking of sustained excellence that’s worth every penny”. “In the summer, there are a few tables by the river and it’s delightful watching the passing boats”.

A “real bright light in an otherwise scrappy pedestrian high street”, this polished and “very well-run” hotel dining room takes the original name of the hotel that stood here back in 1892 and brings a rare fine dining option to the centre of Canterbury; add in “wonderful” cocktails, and it’s “a treat” for its many local fans.

“On top form since chef-owner Dev Biswal closed his Margate and Rye outposts to focus on this establishment” in 2022 – and gave it a Chaucerian rebrand, focusing on “fine Indian dining using mostly locally sourced and seasonal produce”. Those who loved it in its Ambrette days say it “never fails to deliver interesting and delicious food at reasonable prices”, be it “savoury toasted sandwiches of spicy potato, chicken tikka finger sandwiches, and fried sweet potato” or “spice-enriched scones with jam and cream” (all with Biswal “present to explain” the dishes’ origins).

This “lovely gastropub in a pretty Kent village” with “well-kept beer and very good food” – including “unusual dishes such as a celeriac and truffle tart” – is part of Saga heir Josh De Haan’s Pickled Egg group. Top Tip – “enjoyed a drink in front of the log fire while looking at the menu”.

“Bravo!” – “Everything always seems to work so well at Stephen Harris’s exceptionally popular spot in the north Kent marshes”. It’s one of the top-20 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll and also one of the best liked, inspiring nothing but the most enthusiastic comments from diners. “The ideal thing to do is take a good walk along the beach beforehand to get the appetite brimming with anticipation”. Thereafter, “it’s the combination of relaxed atmosphere and stellar cooking that makes for an unforgettable visit”. It helps that “nowhere in London can get close to the sort of quality vs price ratio here”, even though there’s no longer an à la carte option and the only choice now is the “memorable five-course tasting menu” for “£80 per person”: “food that’s exquisite and beautifully presented, not at all ostentatious”. “You really feel that everything is thoughtfully and lovingly prepared and the service is always with a smile”. “The rooms are pretty excellent too”. Top Menu Top – “superb local produce – Whitstable oysters, saltmarsh lamb, seaweed buttered slip sole – are cleverly accompanied by delicacies from further afield, such as Lobster, Old Winchester cheese, or Avruga Caviar. The wine list, personally selected by the host, is composed of classic quality wines, so generously priced, they constitute the best quality to value ratio I have seen in a British restaurant”. (“It’s been my favourite restaurant anywhere in the UK, and even further afield, for the past 20 years and I feel blessed that it is only a few miles along the coast from where I live”).

“Top-end food in a pub setting” has won plaudits for ex-Clove Club chef Daniel Smith and his wife Tasha, a pastry chef, since they took over this 16th-century former coaching inn just south of Canterbury three years ago: “there’s a nice mix of people just having a drink and those out for a top-notch meal”. Its ratings declined this year, though, due to a couple of diners who feel “prices are ludicrous for good, but far from exceptional food”. The Smiths also run the nearby Fordwich Arms. Top Tip – “the set menu represents terrific value”.

This manor house link in the Pig chain, three miles south of Canterbury, continues to elicit notably solid feedback; the dining room (which has the airs of a potting shed, courtesy of its preserve-lined walls) follows the locally sourced ‘25-mile’ menu of the rest of the litter, making the most of the Kentish produce; there were reports this year of some “exceptional” dishes which were also “very good value”. It’s possible to opt for more casual wood-fired snacks in the Garden Oven, while there’s more foodie goodness on offer if you stay overnight in one of their idiosyncratic rooms (“dunno where they get their breakfast pastries from, but wow!”).

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.

“Varied and well prepared seafood” is the “pleasing” proposition at this ten-year-old venue with “excellent views of Margate sands” – “cocktails are lovely on the terrace while watching the sunset”. Founders Nadine & Simon Morriss also “look after those who are not into fish”, and have launched a nearby spin-off street-food spot, Beach Buoys. Top Menu Tip – “monkfish curry is recommended”.

“Our go-to for a tasty bite in Margate”; the “fun” younger sibling of restaurant-with-rooms Angela’s, round the corner, “punches above its weight” by all accounts, turning out “excellent” small-ish plates based on the day’s catch (often delivered raw, cured or pickled) plus vegetables from their co-op (they also have a shop stocking biodynamic wines).

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.

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”.

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”.

A seaside spin-off from the owners of London’s fooderati-favourite Brawn that’s now three years old; it may be “another small-plates restaurant” (this one set in a low-slung red-brick building hugging the sea wall and with a “view across the harbour back to Margate”) but it’s by no means rote, delivering delicious seafood- and vegetable-centric cooking alongside a “great wine selection that changes frequently” (plus DJ nights and other one-off happenings). Follow up a visit with a mooch round Turner Contemporary, three minutes away on foot.

“A bit hidden away, right down on the south coast of Kent, but really worth the trek” – this “idyllic” 17th-century farmstead (now hotel and restaurant) is overseen by Oli Brown and FOH Ruth, the daughter of Le Café Anglais founder Rowley Leigh, where Oli used to work. Alongside its many local fans in our diners’ poll, it’s now also a “hangout for the chattering classes down from London”, who arrive at the “charming farmhouse and wander down to the bottom of the garden” to the conservatory dining room, which turns out “delicious, open fire-grilled” seasonal fare in a “magical” setting beneath the vines.