Sotirio's in Hythe

Friday night a bunch of us from work trooped off to Hythe for dinner to celebrate the retirement of our Inspector for East Kent, John Conway. After 42 years in the industry we thought he'd earned a bit of a rest! We met up in The White Heart pub in Hythe High Street, had a swift pint of excellent beer called "Number 5", then headed for the restaurant.

Although I was reminded of a rather old fashioned hotel dining room, the atmosphere in Sotirio's was comfortable and the food was very good. We all ordered from the £20 for three courses menu, which offered enough variety to ensure something for everyone. My duck liver & orange pâté starter was clearly home made, very rich and as smooth as silk. I took a bit of a chance, ordering the lamb knuckle for main course. Who knew lamb had knuckles? Well, it was tender and tasty, the meat just fell off the bone, cooked long, low & slow. The only slight disappointment was the veg, and I'm really being picky here because the mange-tout and sauté potatoes were very good (there were sliced courgettes as well), but that was it for veg. Had there been some carrots or something with a little more colour & texture it would have been spot on.

Deserts were chosen from a large trolley (further enhancing the old fashioned hotel feel) and all looked superb. The banoffee pie was in no way, shape or form a pie, but who cares. It was fresh, home made, light and delicious, and there was plenty of it.

It is not easy to get all the food out to a large table all at the same time, but the kitchen managed it very well. Particularly given that as well as our table of 16 there was another group of a similar size in at the same time.

There was live music while we dined, a very pregnant singer gave good renditions of classic songs. I was a bit concerned at first that this would mean conversation might be difficult but actually it was just loud enough, but not intrusive. Later on, the owner "treated" us to a few songs if his own, which were....different. The food was very good and reasonably priced, this is definitely one to come back to next time we're in the area.

The Red Lion, Milstead

We consulted the Michelin Guide to see what other recommended pubs were within easy reach, it's been a looooong week and neither of us fancied the formality of a restaurant so this seemed a good compromise.  We both liked the look of The Red Lion in Milstead, just south of Sittingbourne, a very short distance from the middle of nowhere.  The Guide says "Simple, cosy country pub, ever changing blackboard menu offers French influenced country cooking" amongst other things....sounded ideal.

From the outside the pub is nothing to look at, screened from the road as it is by bushes and trees.  The flat brick side that greets you from the car park isn't particularly inspiring, but that soon changes as you walk through the door into the small bar area that felt immediately warm and comfortable, despite there only being two other customers there when we arrived.   The only draught ale on offer was Wells Bombardier, which was very good indeed.

The Michelin Guide isn't joking when it says "blackboard menu", there is one fairly large blackboard at the end of the bar, from which you choose starters and main courses.  We were seated quite close to it, so we had little difficulty, but every other group that came in had to sort of mill around between it and our table while they decided what to have (which became a real drag when a relatively elderly group of four came in and struggled to make decisions!).

Dee chose goats cheese on rustic bread with air cured ham and salad to start, while I opted for Coquilles St. Jacques (scallops & prawns in mashed potato served in a scallop shell, in case you were wondering).  Yes, I know....scallops again!  What can I tell you, I love them.  After a very short wait the starters arrived and they were both nice enough, but that's about all we could find to say about them.

I had high hopes that the main courses would blow us away though, so with great enthusiasm I tucked into my bowl of bouillabaisse.  It lacked nothing for ingredients, at least three different types of white fish, scallops, king prawns, huge mussels, assorted unidentifiable shell fish and a rich, smokey soup/sauce.  It was very good, but no better than the bouillabaisse I had recently at The Horseshoes (see a previous blog entry) which was almost exactly half the price.  I still think I came out ahead of Dee though, her smoked haddock fish cakes weren't up to much at all.  Barely browned in the pan, more fish stodge than fish cakes, which is a shame because they were clearly home made and actually quite tasty.  I'm not sure who thought serving them with mashed potato was a good idea, given that the majority of a fish cake is already mashed potato, but there you go.

Never mind, though.  We're two courses in, both of which were nice enough, even if they weren't staggeringly good.  Still searching for whatever it was the Michelin researchers saw in the place, we soldiered on to the desert course, purely for research purposes you understand!  Dee ordered her favourite pud, apple and red berry crumble with vanilla ice-cream, while I forced down a slice of home made amoretto baked cheesecake with toffee sauce.  Once again, I think I won this course too!  My cheesecake was a little overpowered by the toffee sauce, but the texture was good and the whole thing was a nice rich finish to the meal.  The crumble, on the other hand, was certainly not a crumble.  It was more like a bowl of very sweet fruit with a sweet crust that had been welded together with a blow-torch just prior to serving.  Such a shame.

So we leave, slightly disappointed and seventy quid poorer, feeling that while it was nice, it wasn't quite nice enough for the money.  I don't think we'll hurry back, although I'm open to suggestions that we caught them on an off night.

The Three Chimneys, Sissinghurst / Biddenden

Having seen The Three Chimneys listed in the Michelin Guide as "recommended" we thought we'd better go see if it was worth our seal of approval as well.  The Chimneys is a picturesque country pub in the middle of nowhere, just off the road between Biddenden and Sissinghurst.  Rumour has it that French prisoners were kept nearby during the Napoleonic war, they were told that although they were more or less free to roam they should not go further than the three-way junction or "trios chemins" as they called it.  The pub building pre-dates the Napoleonic war by several hundred years and certainly plays to its strengths inside.

 Ales are served straight from the barrel, tonight there was a New Zealand Pale Ale, Adnams Best and Tribute available.  The pale ale was a little too bitter for my liking, but the Tribute was very good indeed.  It's always nice when beer comes in the correct branded glass, I know it shouldn't matter but it's interesting that so many pubs (and presumably breweries) have cottoned on to this fact.

There are two bars, a bar food area and the restaurant.  The restaurant itself is split into various small niches and groups of two or three tables which gives the place a cozy, intimate feel.  There is also a large orangery which looked comfortable and inviting, I'll bet it's a delightful place to eat in the summer too.  The beams are decorated with hop bines, the walls are thick with wine labels and brewery mementos.  We sat next to a roaring wood-burning stove that proved so effective we had to switch places, a sort of turn and baste every 15 minutes exercise!  Fortunately our waiter was able to turn it down for us, it was gas powered and not a wood burner at all.  Fooled me.  (Not too difficult, i hear you cry!)

The menu changes very often, it seems.  So much so that there are no printed copies, just a large blackboard with that days offerings listed on it in chalk.  All the meat is sourced locally, as is as much of the other ingredients as possible.  We chose quite different starters, a large flat mushroom stuffed with caramelised red onion and goats cheese for Dee and deep fried brie with home made fruit sauce for me.  We were astonished at the size of the portions, given that these were only starters they were massive!  I've bought smaller chunks of brie from the supermarket, I'm sure.  Both plates were well presented and both dishes delicious, just far too big.  Never thought you'd hear me say that, did you?  No, me neither.

We both chose the braised shoulder of venison as our main course, although if I had known the portions would be so large I would have gone for the scallops.  The venison comes from a deer park near Sevenoaks, it was served on a bed of parsnip mash with cabbage and carrot, all with a splash of a rich gravy.  The meat was so tender it just fell apart.  You could cut it with the handle of your knife with little or no difficulty if you chose to.  A plate packed full of big, rich flavours indeed, but again there was simply too much of it.  I was determined to make it to the homemade deserts, so I'm ashamed to admit that the venison beat both of us.  It was that or go without the amoretto parfait, after all!

A short list of homemade deserts on another blackboard gave rise to the next tough decision of the night.  For Dee it was simple, she was beaten by the sheer volume of dinner and couldn't even be tempted to have the apple and plum crumble, so I knew she was serious.  For me though, there were a few serious contenders, but the parfait won in the end and I'm glad it did because it was fantastic.  For once the portion size was perfect.  It was smooth, creamy, tasty, and perfectly accompanied by a generous pile of griottines (small red cherries soaked in kirsch) and a few raspberries.

It certainly wasn't a cheap meal, but it was all beautifully cooked and presented.  Starters were between £6.50 and £9 and most main courses were £16 - £20.  I am sure we'll come back here again, but perhaps we won't eat for a day or so either side of our visit.  All in all a lovely place with friendly staff, great atmosphere, good food and excellent beer.  Well worth the trouble of finding it, wear trousers with an elasticated waist though!  The highly sought after Fatfoodie seal of approval is indeed awarded.

Shameless attempt to get votes in the Dorset Cereals competition!

The lovely people at Dorset Cereals are having a "Little Blog" competition and I'm in it! If you've enjoyed reading my meandering entries please take a moment to vote for me by visiting www.dorsetcereals.co.uk/fun-stuff/little-blog-awards
and choosing the food and drink category, then searching for Fatfoodie and clicking the vote button. Who knows, you might even win a case of Dorset Cereals for your trouble!

Hopefully there will be two new reviews posted this weekend or soon after, so watch this space!

Return to The Horseshoes, and new owners at The Bull

Just for a change we had dinner at The Horseshoes a couple of Fridays ago.  I was glad to see that the guest beer (Brains SA Gold) was still on, and still delicious.  I noted with great interest that the second pint was just as delicious as the first.....and the third.

Our timing was good, the new autumn menu had just been produced and for the most part the changes look positive.  I was a bit sad to see the fillet steak on a toasted brioche with duck pate removed, but some of the new dishes could well make up for it.  I like the idea of a scallop dish and a mussel dish of the day, plenty of scope for the chef to do something a bit unusual if the mood takes him.  Of course I had the scallops, which came with chorizo and lentils (one of my favourite combinations) and aside from requiring a tiny bit of seasoning they were splendid.  Dee opted for deep fried brie (always one for the healthy option!) which actually turned out to be very good indeed.

For main course I had one of the new dishes, slow cooked belly of pork with mashed potato and braised red cabbage.  Great autumnal dish, warming and filling.  The pork had been cooked long and low, so it was tender and moist.  Some home made onion rings gave it all that bit of texture that would otherwise have been missing, good addition.  Dee had the mussels of the day, a huge bowl filled to the brim with mussels in a basic cream and white wine sauce that needed nothing more added to it.  A little bowl of thin chips on the side and Dee was in her element.  The only thing lacking was a chunk of bread to soak up the sauce!

 A little individual lemon meringue pie for me (delicious!  Sharp lemon and sweet meringue) and summer berry and lemon sponge with custard for Dee just rounded off another comfortable evening nicely.

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Last weekend we wandered into what I guess could be considered our "local", The Bull in Barming.  Again, our timing was good!  We only really popped in to see if they were planning to do a quiz night soon, but the barmaid said they had only taken the place over a week earlier and were still deciding things like that.  She also told us that the kitchen was being refitted and if we came back the next night they would be doing food for the first time.  The same people also own the Redstart (see earlier blog post) and the Fox and Goose on Weavering Street in Maidstone which is apparently well known for its food.

After an encouraging start the next night (pint of Doombar for me, one of my favourites and very well presented it was too) and a chat with the chef and new landlady who were enjoying a glass of wine in the bar, we had a look through the menu.  Now, even taking into account that it was the first day the kitchen had been open and presumably they'd had to cobble the menu together a bit, it wasn't what you'd call inspiring.  We asked if the steak and ale pie was actually a pie, or one of those bowl-of-stew-with-a-flakey-pastry-lid efforts that you see so often, and were told it was a real bona fide pie.  Faced with options such as a burger, hunters chicken or sausage and mash, we both went for the pie.

It was massive!  It came with chips, peas and carrots and I suspect all came out of the microwave, but it was cheap enough and certainly filled a hole.  It's a bit of a shame though, because as we have already seen, it isn't that hard to do pub food really well.  This felt like pub food of the late 80's and might explain why we were one of only two tables dining on the opening night.  It's a particular shame, because the beer was excellent and it's a nice enough pub, but slightly sticky tables and below average food make it hard to recommend it.  We'll give them a while to settle in and try again, but if there's even a hint of scampi in a basket.......  On the plus side....the quiz starts next week!