The Pippin, London Road, Maidstone

Looking for a top quality Sunday lunch in a traditional pub? Look no further the The Pippin on the outskirts of Maidstone. A much extended and improved old building now boasting a conservatory and large bar area as well as a comfortable booth style dining room, The Pippin provided a warm welcome and excellent service.

The first thing that made me smile was the house beer. How many pubs have their own ale on draught these days? Well, Pippin Ale by Greene King is 3.9% and absolutely delicious. Other Greene King beers and a selection of fizzy drinks and wines are also available.

As luck would have it we chose to visit The Pippin just after they launched their new winter menu. The manager was very keen to explain the new dishes and told a delightful story about eating slow roast pork shanks in Austria while on a Harley Davidson club road trip round Europe and thinking "we've got to do this!". Well I for one am very glad he did, it was quite superb! Normally you might expect a lamb shank (they do that as well, and roast beef, all the pub classics, children's meals, etc etc, but a crackling coated pork shank with all the trimmings was just too good to pass up) but out from the kitchen emerged a large wooden trencher with a lovely looking pork joint on it impaled with a sharp knife and served with mash, roasties, parsnips, red cabbage, buttered kale, a home made Yorkshire pudding, gravy and a generous serving of apple sauce. Nicely cooked, nicely presented, well done everyone that had a hand in getting it to our table. An unusual dish, highly recommended.

If by some staggering chance you have any room left after all that, and you really can't decide which of the delightful sounding home made deserts to try then order the selection board. But make sure at least two of your friends will help you finish it, because there is plenty on it. On our board we got a kilner jar of ginger and red fruit cheesecake that was light and tasty, a chocolate torte sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts that was thick and rich, a huge apple and fig crumble that was delicious and piping hot, and a selection of Loseley ice creams and some creme fraiche. It was all absolutely delicious and rounded the lunch off perfectly.

In summary then, nice atmosphere, friendly service, great food, good beer. What more do you want? We'll be back there again soon, I'm sure.

Froggies at Timber Batts, Bodsham, Kent

My apologies for the long gap since my last blog entry, I hope it won't be this long until my next one!

Timber Batts is a lovely old country pub between Ashford and Canterbury on the road out of Wye.  It's tucked away in the tiny village of Bodsham (no, I'd never heard of it before either!) and it's well worth the effort of finding it for yourself.  There is plenty of seating inside at an eclectic mix of tables, but if the weather permits you might want to sit outside and enjoy the rural views from the quiet garden to the side of the pub.  Froggies is, as you might expect from the name, run by a French father and son who have done well to retain the traditional English pub feel while adding their own Gallic charm to the place.  There are a number of wine case lids from some of the grand estates decorating the beams, and every shelf and sill is covered in empty wine bottles that span generations and vineyards of the world, mostly having been drunk by the owner!

We stopped in for a quick lunch (and maybe a swift half!) on the way home and were genuinely delighted with the food.  Although the lunch menu is short, it is full of good options including a home made burger (more on that later), various baguettes and sandwiches, moule frites, or simply ham egg and chips.  Something for everyone then!

I was feeling pretty hungry, so I went for the homemade burger, which comes with french fries and a small green salad on the side.  It's a good job I was hungry, because there was plenty of it and it was delicious.  The difficulty with very thick burgers is cooking them right through without letting them dry out, something the chef managed very nicely indeed.  There was a generous side order of the thinnest fries, and the salad had a light drizzle of house dressing that just helped cut through the big flavours in the burger.  The ham and chips looked very good too, the ham was lightly smoked and thinly cut, while the baguettes were big enough to feed even the hungriest mouth.

One of my favourite things to finish a meal is a café gourmand, usually a shot of espresso with two or three mini deserts just intended to give you something sweet to finish your meal, so I was delighted to find it on the menu.  It came with a couple of home made macaroons and a glass of café liegeois (espresso coffee poured over coffee ice-cream and topped with whipped cream served in this case in a shot glass).  A close second choice for me was the trio of deserts, which included an apricot tatin, panna cotta,  and a raspberry melba.  The desert for people unable to decide what to have, but delicious none the less.

Easy to find?  No.
Worth the effort?  Certainly.
Worth the price?  Yes, I think so.

Ultimate egg and bacon

I have stayed away from posting recipes on this blog until now, mostly because there are so many others doing that sort of thing and I wanted to do something different.  That said, I tried something recently that was so simple but so good I thought I had to share it.  You might think there isn't much you can do to improve the classic bacon and egg combination, but try this out for size...

Put your oven on to warm up at 200c (400f) and part cook some bacon rashers.  Take a muffin baking tray, spray it with non-stick or wipe it with butter, then cut a circle of bread to place in the bottom of each dish.  Push the buttered bread right to the bottom (and if you're either American or adventurous drizzle a little maple syrup onto it) and sprinkle some grated cheese on top.  Line the dishes with the bacon rashers and break an egg into the well this creates.  If you like, you can sprinkle a little more grated cheese on top.

Pop the tray into the hot oven to bake for around 10 minutes if you like runny eggs or 15 minutes if you don't.  When you turn them out of the tray they will be muffin shaped, and ideal to serve on a slice of hot buttered toast.  These pics don't really do them justice...but you get the idea!

 Stuck for ideas for Mothering Sunday this weekend?  Give this a go!

The Ship, Dymchurch, Kent

It seems that good pubs in Kent are like buses, you wait ages for one then two turn up together!  We had lunch in The Ship on the outskirts of Dymchurch on Romney Marsh today and it was really very good indeed.  Parts of the building date back around 500 years, and it has been a pub for most of that time.  A large number of very well known authors have stayed there over the years, including Russell Thorndike who wove The Ship into his famous Dr Syn novels.  The pub itself is steeped in Dr Syn art and memorabilia, and many of the original hidden rooms and nooks are still in place from the days of the marsh smugglers.

 The bar and main dining room are light and airy, and the selection of beers short but good.  I had an excellent pint of Adnam's Broadside, and would have had another if we hadn't ordered a bottle of wine with lunch.  The other draught real ale on offer was the excellently nutty Harvey's Sussex.

I was pleased to see a good selection of traditional dishes on the menu, everything from Sunday roasts to pies and puddings, home made burgers to fish and chips.  But there were a few original and less usual choices in there too, including chicken breast stuffed with brie, wrapped in parma ham and glazed with honey, and spatchcock poussin to name but two.  I can recommend the spicy chicken wings from the starter list and the fabulous home made steak and kidney herb pudding.  The gammon steak looked very good indeed, as did the roast beef, but the star of the show was without doubt the home made cheese and bacon burger.

To say the burger was enormous would be an understatement.  It came in a ciabatta roll with fresh salad and a pile of crispy chips.  The beef burger itself had quite a lot of herbs mixed in, so if you aren't keen on strong flavours this probably isn't one for you.  The pot of tomato relish on the side was a nice touch.

The staff were very friendly and attentive, although not very knowledgeable when it came to ordering our wine, and the food came out promptly without making us feel rushed.  I'm told the owners changed in 2010, and brought with them a desire to use local produce and make on the premises where possible, and it certainly showed as the quality was excellent.  I'm certainly looking forward to coming back to The Ship again soon, and when I do I'll be having the burger!

The Stile Bridge, Linton / Marden

How nice it is to come across somewhere new that ticks all the boxes!  Having asked for suggestions earlier in the week (see my last post) I got a handful of suggestions, many of which I'd tried before, including a couple of ringing endorsements for The Stile Bridge at the bottom of Linton Hill on the way to Marden.  It's well over ten years since I last visited The Stile Bridge, so I thought it was probably time to give it another try.

The Stile Bridge fronts right onto the road between Maidstone and Staplehurst in the middle of nowhere.  It's a welcome sight on a cold, dark, winters night, a feeling that grows as you enter to find a roaring open fire and a busy little bar.  The walls and ceilings are covered in pub, brewery and booze memorabilia, including a fine collection of miniatures in a nice old display cabinet and a collection of printed pub mirrors.  There are five real ales, several unusual lagers and one cider on draught and a selection of more than forty bottled beers from which to choose.  Sorry about the blurry picture, but you get the idea...

Having ordered our drinks (a pint of Horsham ale for me!) we were seated straight away in a cosy side room just off the bar.  The menu was short enough to suggest minimal use of the freezer, but long enough to contain a number of unusual and interesting choices.  I'd never heard of Onglet steak before, but the waitress was able to explain that it is a cut of beef taken from just behind the rib.  I'll give it a try on our next visit, sounds good.

We started with deep fried brie with cranberry sauce for Liz and chicken liver parfait for me.  The brie was rich and creamy, and the parfait was as light as a feather.  We were off to an excellent start.

As well as a well balanced menu there were a number of specials on offer, including a pie of the day.  Now, I have a real problem with what most pubs seem to think passes for a pie.  (For the record, a bowl of stew with a flaky pastry lid is not a pie!)  Imagine my delight, then, on being told that the special was a short crust pastry mixed game pie of generous proportions!  How could I refuse?  It was lovely!  If I was being hyper-critical, it could have had a bit more meat inside, but it was delicious, filling and definitely a real pie.  The accompanying veggies were cooked to perfection and the skin-on chips were crispy.

Liz chose the lamb leg steak with rosemary butter and roasted winter vegetables.  This turned out to be a big slab of melt in the mouth lamb smothered in melted butter with a stack of mixed beetroot, potato, carrot and parsnip chips that added a lovely earthy dimension and a few unusual flavours.  We also had a bowl of the best beer battered onion rings either of us had ever had to share.  As it turns out, there was no need to order side dishes as the main meals were more than filling enough, but we'll certainly be ordering them again, maybe with a house special burger or freshly made pizza next time.

We both chose desserts from the specials board, in the hope that we'd manage to squeeze them in.  Liz fancied the chocolate pot, which was dark, delicious, and came with a lovely little filo basket of red berries to cut through the richness.  I had a blood orange posset with shortbread, mostly because I'd never had it before. It was sweet and creamy with a citrus twist, the perfect end to a very good meal.

 I think it won't be long before we're back.  The beer was excellent, the food was good, the staff were friendly and knowledgeable.  I'm told there might even be some house brewed beer on offer soon and I'd certainly like to try that.  We are very lucky here in Kent, we have a number of genuinely nice pubs that go the extra mile.  This is certainly one of them. 

Trying somewhere new

Finding a new place to try can be quite tricky, particularly if it's a special occasion.  A quick poll of the people in my office turned up a couple of suggestions of places where I had previously had very disappointing experiences.  It struck me that expectation probably plays a big part in the event.

One pub that several people recommended very highly outside Bearsted was particularly disappointing when I tried it because I was expecting such a high standard and received nothing better than "pub-grub" in somewhat uninspiring surroundings.  Is that the fault of the pub for not being better?  Or were my hopes and expectations raised by friends and colleagues who had found it to be very good?  Either way, I went expecting to be wowed and wasn't.

I place a very high premium on personal recommendation, and am never short of suggestions when asked for places to try or avoid, so with this new found insight in mind I will be less effusive in my praise of the places I felt really went the extra mile as that may not be the experience on the night you visit.

One of the places recommended to me today in Boughton Monchelsea has let itself down on both the occasions I tried it.  On the first occasion the service was so bad it was virtually non-existent, and when we eventually gave up and went to leave after more than two hours without having got as far as ordering desert, the owner eventually offered us £100 in vouchers to give them a second chance.  In fairness, the food we did get was very good indeed, it's only a shame no waiter or waitress came near us for close to an hour after seating us to find out if we wanted a drink or were ready to order our starters in a half empty dining room!  Having found the food to be very good we thought we'd use the vouchers to give the place a second try some months later.  Sadly, the same sort of thing happened again, we were as good as ignored, in spite of the owner running front of house and being well aware of why we had the voucher in the first place.  It's a shame, because the food was very good indeed, again, but I really object to being treated like that in a "high class" place.

So what is the alternative?  How do you choose somewhere new to eat?  Trial and error seems to yield at least as high a hit rate as any other method of selection.  Still....who doesn't like researching and reading reviews, eh?  I know I do!

Should you find yourself in Canterbury...

There are lots of things to see and do in Canterbury. As well as the obvious touristy things like the Cathedral and Canterbury Tales display, there is a delightful walk around the top of the city walls, a city museum, the Rupert the Bear museum and a variety of boat and punt trips are available. Canterbury is also a really great place to go for a wander round the shops, with a quirky mixture of modern new malls and ancient, beamed buildings off narrow medieval alleys. There is no shortage of choice when it comes to food either, with the usual array of Ask, Cafe Rouge, Pizza Express and so on in prominent locations on the main street.

If you fancy something a little more....interesting, then take the time to find Tiny Tim's Tearoom just down from the Canterbury Tales Experience. It's worth the effort! With traditional favourites likes poached eggs on toast and Welsh rarebit on the menu alongside cream teas and more substantial meals, there really is something for everyone. The building itself is very old and full of character, with low beams and nooks and crannies on all floors. Ok, it's not cheap, but it is worth it. I recommend the Welsh rarebit topped with a poached egg. Delicious!

Having enjoyed a lovely light lunch in Tiny Tim's I suggest a stroll round the corner and down Hawk Street to the city museum. Having had your fill of local history, it is a very short walk down the alley along side the museum to Brown's Coffee House. Go, sit in a huge leather sofa, soak up the friendly atmosphere and enjoy one of the best cups of coffee you're ever likely to try. If you have any room after your lunch, try a slab of one of the delicious cakes on offer too, you won't be disappointed. Places like Brown's are hard to find with the prevalence of Starbucks and Costa etc, so it is refreshing to stumble across a genuine, friendly, high quality coffee house offering so much more than formula menus and bought in character.