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!