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.

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. 

Imaginative, fun, interesting food at last! Mu Mu's in Maidstone

At last! Really fun, really tasty food - and it was right on my doorstep all the time! Last weekend I went out to help a couple of friends celebrate their birthdays. When they told me they were holding it at Mu Mu's nightclub and bar in Maidstone I thought twice about going, I'm not really a nightclub person, but a few people told me the food was really good and how can you say no to a birthday bash, eh?

At first I thought £35 for three courses was a bit on the steep side, but actually it turned out to be an absolute bargain. We had a couple of drinks in the bar while we waited for everyone to arrive, draught Japanese lager seemed the best bet from a fairly limited choice, then we were shown to the restaurant in what was once a pub next door. The birthday girls were seated in gilded thrones in the middle of our long table, in a room decorated in a gothic style - could have been a bit tacky, but it wasn't and I loved it.

We had chosen our food in advance, so things started to come to the table fairly quickly. First of all we were given a tall glass of rum and fruit punch each (included in the price of the meal) and then a waiter came along with a massive teapot. He poured us all cups of cucumber water to refresh our pallets during dinner. A bit odd....and we did wonder if it was for cleaning our fingers with rather than drinking, but as it was served in an eclectic mix of bone china teacups on mismatched saucers we eventually plumped for drinking it.

I had chosen fish cakes on wilted spinach as my starter, which arrived very quickly. It was nicely presented, and very tasty indeed. As soon as the smoked chicken wings starters began coming to the table I knew I'd chosen the wrong thing. They were on a wooden base with a long metal frame attached, from which hung a skewer of wings. On the base was a little jar of barbecue sauce and a large lidded jar full of smoke. Yes, you read that right, smoke! The idea being that you tip the smoke onto your wings to make them as strongly smoked as you like. Great fun!

And the fun didn't end at the starters, either. My burger came on a large wooden board covered in interesting stuff. The burger itself was big and juicy and came on a brioche style bun with a heap of coleslaw, some salad, cheese, crispy bacon, a tub of sliced pickles, a dish of ketchup and a little bottle of burger sauce - allowing you to build the burger just how you like it. There were a a couple of crispy onion rings and a mini frying basket of absolutely delicious chips on the side. The basket looked just like the ones they get cooked in, but a fraction of the size! Paul said his burger was a bit dry, and it did look like it was a bit more well done than mine, which was just about medium and tasted lovely. I would order the burger again without a moments hesitation.

Desert was also a fun take on a classic dish. I had a selection of three mini cornettos, served in a little lacquered wooden rack, with a selection of toppings to roll them in. There were little piles of hundreds and thousands, chocolate vermicelli and finally (and best of all!) popping candy. The three chocolate waffle cones each had a little scoop of a different flavour ice cream inside. Don't ask me what flavours, I don't know, and it doesn't really matter because they were all very tasty.

The staff were friendly, the food turned up in a timely fashion and was both interesting and tasty, and the meal finished with an ice cold glass of limoncello liqueur. We weren't exactly rushed from our seats, but we were aware that there was another party booked in after us so we didn't linger at the table. The £35 per head covered the rum punch, three courses chosen from a fairly short but interesting menu, the glass of limoncello and entry to the nightclub afterwards with use of a private booth big enough for all of us.

The birthday girls had a great evening, everyone enjoyed their food, and one or two of us had a glass or two too many in the process. It's a long time since I enjoyed a meal this much. I've eaten fancier food, but nothing as interesting or as much fun as this. Go and have a look for yourself, order the wings and the burger, enjoy yourself and see if you laugh as much as we did.

A day out in Hastings - including Webbe's Rock-a-nore

Webbe's at the Fish Café in Rye came very close to impressing us but somehow fell short. This is particularly galling because, as previously mentioned, their ethos really appeals to me. When we found out that Webbe's have a restaurant right next to the net drying huts at Hastings, one that specialises in fish landed from boats not 50 yards away, we had to give it a try. So at the first sign of a bit of sunshine on a rare mid-week day off together we jumped into the car and ambled off down to the coast through the back lanes to check it out.

It really is in the perfect location, right opposite the new Jerwood Gallery and the fantastic old fisherman's huts and net drying sheds on the front near Hastings Old Town. We walked around the huts and saw a lot of fresh plaice, lemon sole, Dover sole, and lots of fish I didn't recognise for sale from little kiosks right next to the boats that caught them. It's a great part of Hastings and well worth the journey on its own. There is a fishing museum, what used to be a Sea Life Centre but is now an independent aquarium, the East Lift funicular railway and a smugglers museum all within a five minute walk of a large car park. And after lunch I recommend taking a stroll along the old High Street and a rummage through the antique and junk shops found there.

Talking of lunch.....Webbe's presents itself very well. It has the look of a Spanish Taverna on the outside, but don't be fooled because it's a good mixture of classic and contemporary inside. All the tables are ranged across the front of he building, so half are in the windows. If you prefer, you can perch yourself on a stool at the bar and eat oysters and drink champagne, whatever takes your fancy. We were shown to a little table in the window at the right hand end of the dining room. Rather like the Rye Webbe's, the pass and some of the food prep areas are on full view and diners are encouraged to watch their dishes being assembled.

The menu held very few surprises, given the location. A fairly short list of main courses speaks to me of fresh produce and minimal use of the freezer, there were a handful of meat dishes, a couple of salads and ten-ish fish dishes on offer. The refreshing surprise on the carte was a selection of taster dishes on the list of starters, an imaginative idea that we were keen to try. Our waitress explained that each dish was two mouthfuls, or two fillets, and is designed to give you a taste of something without you having to order a whole dish. We chose five different tasters to share as our starter, picking a few slightly unusual things (for us, anyway!) to try. We had salt and pepper squid with chilli jam, potted brown shrimp and toast, sardine fillets with gazpacho dip, soused herring in honey mustard sauce, and tempura cod with sweet and sour sauce. It all looked very good indeed, and we were generally very pleased with our choices. The squid and the sardines were certainly the high points, both perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. The shrimp and the herring were pretty good, but the cod was very disappointing indeed. It was tasteless and obviously unseasoned, not what I expected from a specialist seafood kitchen.

I'll come back to the selection of starters, or tasters, or whatever you want to call them later. For the main event I went for a seriously local speciality, plaice fillets with brown shrimps cooked in butter, and Dee chose smoked haddock fish cakes on creamed leeks. The waitress advised us that although the fish cakes could be considered a dish in its own right, my plaice came on its own and that I should probably order some side dishes to accompany it. I chose triple cooked chips and a plum tomato salad (at an extra £2.50 and £2.00 respectively) and sat back to wait. As with our starters, the food arrived quite quickly and was nicely presented. My fish was tasty and perfectly cooked, and there was plenty of it. The chips were really good, crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside, I almost wished I'd ordered the classic fish & chips, but not quite. The plum tomato salad, on the other hand, turned out to be a sliced tomato with olive oil drizzled on it. More of that later as well.

Dee's fish cakes were so overpoweringly smokey that neither of us were very keen on them when we tried them in isolation, but when eaten with the creamed leaks the dish as a whole made sense as the flavours worked very well together. The portion was enormous and even with our combined appetites we couldn't finish it all, each cake was the size of a pool ball.

We shared an absolutely delicious chocolate mousse with espresso cream and caramelised banana for desert, along with a very good cappuccino for me and a good quality pot of tea for Dee. Again, desert was nicely presented and each element was perfectly executed. The tiny ball of pistachio ice cream linked the textures really well.

Over all then, a really good meal, you'd think, right? Well.....yes....and no. This is our second visit to a Webbe's restaurant and it is the second time we have left feeling a little disappointed but without really being able to put our fingers on exactly why this should be. Having thought about it for a couple of days, though, I think I'm groping towards the answer.

When I pay this much for a meal I want the chef to have done more than just cook what I order. I want him to put a dish of food together that features elements that compliment each other. The customer should not have to do this part of the process himself! For example, a good chef knows that balance is necessary, and that each dish requires sharp notes to offset rich flavours, saltiness to balance sweetness and so on. So if I have to choose my own vegetables and so on, how do I know what will best compliment the main component? This strikes me not only as simply another way to charge each customer an extra fiver, but extremely lazy on the part of the chef and the establishment! So to return to the taster dishes, how do I know what is likely to go well together, and also compliment my choice of main course? By all means, offer the tasters like tapas, as a stand alone thing perhaps, but if you have pretensions of fine dining I'm afraid you must work harder before the customer walks in the door. Sorry, Webbe's, it was an excellent effort but I don't think we'll be back. There are just too many really good places in Hastings doing really good fish & chips for a lot less money. True, the surroundings might not be as classy, but the fish probably came off the same boat.

On our post-lunch stroll round the old town we stumbled across a little bakery that over-delivered on just about every level. Judges Bakery, as it turns out, is a bit of an institution in Hastings. Fantastic little fruit pies, big fat flapjacks, crusty bread, huge Italian meringues, a fat boy's heaven indeed! Having chosen a couple of little apple pies to have for supper later, we turned to look at the rest of the little shop and found it packed with unusual and interesting produce. Fresh fruit and vegetables, local organic meat and sausages, big slabs of cake, it all looked delicious. Not the place to do your weekly shop, perhaps, but certainly somewhere to visit for ingredients if you're planning something a bit special or simply fancy a treat. Probably not worth the effort of going all the way to Hastings just to visit this shop, but if you're here anyway, walk up the Old London Road and find it. Pick something nice for later, eh?

The Landgate Bistro, Rye Scallop Festival Weekend

Oh no! Surely not more scallops? I'm afraid so, folks! Last ones for a while, I should think, I'm pretty much scalloped-out!

Our second visit to Rye this Festival, this time to a little bistro we know quite well already on The Landgate. If you only visit one place during the festival week, make it this one. As well as their usual a la carte and set lunch menus they offer a special choice of scallop dishes available as starters or main courses. There were eight of us in the party for lunch, which must have been a bit of a challenge on the last weekend of the festival as the little dining room was full, and indeed our meal was not a swift one, but that was fine with us. The food came out hot and everyone got theirs at the same time.

The Landgate Bistro is a delightful little place on the very edge of Rye, essentially made out of two small cottages. The set lunch menu is excellent value at £12.95 for two or £15.95 for three courses. I recommend the potted rabbit with homemade piccalilli and sour dough toast, it is tasty, light, and different enough from the norm to be worth a try even if you're not keen on rabbit. It is pretty to look at and absolutely delicious!

The jewel in the crown here during the festival is the trio of scallops starter with fortified wines to accompany them. This includes a scallop in red & green pepper sauces with a glass of Madeira, scallop tartar with lime juice and tomato with a glass of oak chipped white port, and a bacon wrapped scallop on caramelised onion with a glass of pale sherry. Our waiter made sure we all understood which glass went with which scallop, this turned out to be important because each was chosen very carefully to match and enhance the various flavours of the dish (which were quite distinct, but came together very nicely). You could order three of any of these as a starter in its own right, or six with a selection of seasonal vegetables as a main course.

We thought we'd be a bit unconventional in our ordering, which can't have helped the kitchen but they took it entirely in their stride. Some of us ordered the trio, then a starter, then a main course, but some ordered just a single dish from the light-bites section of the menu. Can you guess which group I was part of?

We liked the sound of the potted rabbit, so we slotted it neatly between the trio and our mains, and this proved to be an excellent decision. Now, I like piccalilli, I like rabbit, I like toast, so I was clearly onto a winner here. It was as light as a feather, creamy but meaty, and topped with a sweet sauce a lot like hoi-sin. Lovely!

Between us we ordered an awful lot of scallops on Saturday. Several of us (me included) chose the main course versions of the scallop starters, but my Mum went for Romney Marsh lamb done in a Moroccan style with couscous, Anthony had fish cakes, and Bex went for fillet of sea bass so there was quite a variety of flavours, colours and textures on the table at once. Needless to say, the scallops were perfect, the bass had crispy skin and lovely white flesh and the lamb was just pink enough to be really moist.

I'm sure there were lots of different deserts on the menu, but I declined the chance to look as I decided I was quite full. It therefore came as a bit of a surprise to hear myself about a minute later agreeing to share a chocolate brownie with pouring cream! The waiter told us that the brownies were made to order so there would be about a twelve minute wait for them, which suited me just fine. Let me tell you, I'd wait an awful lot longer again for a chocolate brownie as good as that. It was supposed to come with brandy soaked plums, but they had run out of plums and were serving it with kirsch soaked black cherries instead. I don't think it's over stating it to say that this was the best brownie I've ever tasted. Gooey in the middle, a light crust on the outside, rich, light, tasty....mmmmm! Wish I'd ordered my own, to be honest.

Still my favourite place to eat in Rye then, The Landgate Bistro looked after us very well indeed. We weren't rushed at all, despite being the last table to leave. Not the most formal restaurant, but very welcoming, very friendly, and well known for serving excellent local produce. We'll be back soon, I'm sure.

My birthday day out in London.

Saturday was my birthday, so Dee took me up to London for lunch, shopping and a good mooch round the West End. We caught the high speed train to St Pancras, then jumped a tube to Piccadilly Circus. At this point I still wasn't sure where we were going or what was in store as Dee had done a great job of keeping me in the dark. We walked round the corner into Haymarket, then turned right into the start of Jermyn Street. Jermyn St is probably best known for its tailors and shirt makers, but there are a number of cute little arcades, shoemakers and cafés as well. Well worth a stroll along if you're in the area and fancy seeing how the other half live!

At the far end of Jermyn St is Franco's, a very upmarket Italian bistro and café where Dee had booked us a table for lunch. We were greeted just inside the door by the hostess, who knew it was my birthday from the booking and made just the right amount of fuss of us as she showed us to our table in the main dining room. The restaurant has a very light, modern take on the 1920's look, with beautifully dressed tables and plenty of space for diners. Much of this space is achieved by the careful and clever seating arrangement, where no diners are required to sit facing a wall. We were sat against one side wall on a table that was a generous size for two, and would have been a cozy fit for four, but because we were sat next to each other we were both looking into the room, rather than opposite each other as is usually the case.

We had a glass of limoncello each to warm us up a bit while we chose from the menu (which had a slightly retro feel and look to it, although the dishes themselves were modern takes on Italian classics). Without having discussed it first, it turned out that both of us had decided to order things we wouldn't usually choose. And yes, before you ask, there were scallops on the menu and no, I didn't order them! I figure we'll have our fill of scallops at the Rye Scallop Festival at the end of the month. Prices ranged from around £8 to £20 for starters and from £16 to £30 for main courses which in Kent would be quite pricey, but here in the West End of London is remarkably good for high quality food. There was a very well balanced selection of dishes to choose from for each course, with seafood very much in evidence along side pigeon, beef, veal and lamb dishes. The waiting staff were almost all Italian, which is usually a good sign, and they were clearly keen for us to enjoy our meals. We ordered our starters, a lobster, cous cous and black truffle dish for me and beef carpaccio for Dee, and chose a bottle of 2006 Barbera to wash everything down with from a very good wine list indeed. My dish was packed with chunks of lobster and had plenty of black truffle shavings on top, like all the best Italian dishes the flavours were simple and elegant. Dee's beef just melted in the mouth, and the pepper flavours from the rocket salad and the truffle shavings were balanced by parmesan shavings and really high quality, wafer thin slices of lean beef.

We both went for really traditional main courses, pasta for Dee and risotto for me. Dee followed my lead from the starter and had lobster linguini. Like all good Italian restaurants, Franco's makes all its pasta fresh every day and it really shows. The linguini was cooked to perfection, just the right side of al-dente with enough bite left in it to give good mouth-feel, and packed with flavour. There was no shortage of lobster meat here either, and with a little very light tomato and pepper sauce to pull everything together the whole dish was perfect. My Atlantic prawn and lime risotto was absolutely delicious too, but was a very different type of dish indeed. If I'm absolutely honest, I couldn't pick out the lime at all, although it is possible that the lime is just there to stop the dish becoming too stodgy and if that's the case then it certainly worked. There were very few pieces of prawn, but the prawn flavour ran deep through each mouthful and was strong on the finish. It was one of those dishes that you're disappointed that there isn't more when you get to the end, even though the portion size was generous. As is often the case with risotto, it wasn't much to look at but is certainly made up for that in taste and texture.

By now the restaurant was about three quarters full and the atmosphere was building nicely. There were several tables of Italian diners (another good sign!) and some young family groups as well as several other tables of two. There were plenty of members of staff around, so the dining room filling up had no impact on our service and each passing waiter glanced towards us and our table to make sure we were ok. Dee ordered tiramisu to finish, which turned out to be about the size of half a house brick but light as a feather. The coffee liqueur in the sponge base was far from overpowering, and the sheer volume of cream meant that Dee was unable to finish it. After a long and agonising internal debate, I chose the chocolate torta caprese with home made pistachio ice cream for desert over affogato (a shot of espresso poured over vanilla ice cream), which turned out to be a mistake. Torta caprese is a sort of dry, dense sponge cake, a bit like a dry brownie. This one was a little too dry for me and the tiny ball of ice cream did little to change that despite being delicious because the whole thing was smothered in icing sugar so thick that I had to tap it off each fork full before I could eat it. Such a shame, because up to that point the food had been excellent. The presentation was spot on throughout, with my torta served on a glass dish decorated with piped chocolate saying "Happy birthday", a lovely little touch.

We ordered tea for Dee, a strong cappuccino for me, and a plate of petit fours to finish off. Tea in restaurants is such a hit and miss affair that Dee's expectations weren't high, particularly as the Italians are better known for coffee, so it came as a lovely surprise when the pot of tea that arrived was just right. This cheered me right up, because if the tea was that good I had high hopes of a really good cappuccino and I wasn't disappointed. Strong, rich, full of flavour, what a way to end a meal. Another slight stumble though, as the petit fours did not arrive with the drinks. We reminded the waiter, who was most apologetic and rushed off to sort some out for us. We finished our drinks, and still no petit fours. The maitre d' was quite embarrassed, particularly as it was her that took the order in the first place. So much so that she made sure they weren't on the bill, but put a selection in a little box for us to take home.

All in all, we had a wonderful lunch that was packed full of simple flavours and interesting textures excellently prepared. The presentation was excellent, the restaurant itself was delightful (and if you eat from the set lunch menu, very reasonably priced indeed!) and but for one or two tiny things, our meal would have been perfect. As it was, it was the best Italian meal I have had outside of Italy itself, and better than many I have had inside.

Posillipo Ristorante Italiano, Broadstairs, Kent.

Having decided to go to the new Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate today it didn't take us long to decide where we should have lunch while we were down there. Last time we were in Thanet we stopped at Broadstairs for fish & chips and spotted a very promising Italian restaurant called Posillipo and filed it away for future visits. Since I mentioned it in my previous blog entry a couple of people have said it's worth a visit, and since Broadstairs is right next door to Margate it would have been rude not to!

As I mentioned before, Posillipo is right next door to a large, empty branch of the Prezzo chain. To be fair to Prezzo, it looked like a really nice place, so why was it so empty? Well, it must be hard to compete with genuine Italian food being cooked right next door when you are only able to offer "formula food" no matter how good it is. Right from the word go we loved Posillipo. We were made to feel very welcome from the moment we opened the door to go in. The long dining room was about three quarters full, mostly with families, and had a real buzz about it. The building backs on to the sea and has a small conservatory on the back that was just big enough for two tables of four, and steps down to a large decked area that will be a lovely place to eat in the summer. We sat at the end of the main dining room and still had a reasonable view of the sea. The dining room itself is decorated in a homely way, lots of terracotta paint, bottles of herbs in oil on little wooden shelves....very Italian in feel and style. As a whole, Posillipo couldn't be further from a "fancy" restaurant. No tablecloths, only paper napkins, wicker based seats, but it all adds to the authentic feel! I had a good lunch in a very similar looking and feeling place just outside Brescia in Tuscany a few years ago.

And so to the food. After such a big build up it had better be good, right? Well, it was. As well as the regular menu, which featured an imaginative mixture of classic Italian dishes, pizzas and pizze bianche, pasta and risotto dishes, there was a portable specials blackboard with a few extra starters, mains, and loads of deserts listed on it. We opted to share the mixed seafood platter from the special starters, and followed it with a pizza each. The seafood platter wasn't cheap, at £13.95 it wasn't expensive either but the price was enough to raise our expectations a notch. It didn't disappoint. It was piled with crayfish, baby clams, pickled anchovies, prawn cocktail, smoked salmon, crab meat on toasted ciabatta and a couple of huge grilled tiger prawns. We were thoughtfully provided with a bowl for the shells and some hand wipes, both of which were necessary as it turned out. The baby clams were the only slight disappointment as they were lacking in flavour, but the rest made up for it. Dee's not a fan of anchovy, but in this lightly pickled form rather than the oily, salty things you usually get she liked them enough to eat three or four. I'm ashamed to admit that there were two pieces of crab on toast when the platter arrived, but so anxious was I to get stuck in that I'd taken a bite before I remembered to take a picture!

While we worked through our platter the tables around us were served with their main courses. We saw linguini with muscles that was beautifully presented with a ring of muscles in their shells around the edge as well as in with the pasta, a likely choice for Dee on another visit as she feels about muscles how I feel about scallops. To Dee's delight, the table next to us ordered the pizza capricciosa she'd chosen, giving her a sneak peek. It looked fantastic! The front window sign writing mentions a wood burning pizza oven and hand made pizzas, and you can just tell that's what you're getting. The capricciosa has a tomato base with mozzarella, ham, mushrooms, salami, sliced eggs and black olives on it. Each ingredient brought something to the dish, either in flavour or texture, and as a whole it worked very well indeed. Together with the carafe of house red wine it was absolutely spot on, in spite of looking a bit like an English breakfast on a pizza base.

I decided to continue the seaside/seafood theme with my choice, I went for the house special Posillipo pizza. Another tomato base, but this time with king prawn, octopus, squid, clams and muscles. There was a fair bit of garlic involved as well, I'd say. The chunks of octopus and huge squid rings were generous and not at all rubbery. It's very easy to over cook squid, which gives it that distinctive elastic band texture, but the chef had avoided that pitfall presumably by adding it late in the oven time. There must have been nearly half a pint of prawns, a good dozen clams and muscles on there as well as a massive tiger prawn, all of which made the pizza base a bit soggy but no less tasty for it. Pizzas ranged from £6 to £12 each, and at just £9.95 Dee's capricciosa was an absolute bargain, particularly as it came as no surprise to our waitress that she couldn't finish it all. No problem, would madam like a box to take it away? Yes, madam would. So that's lunch tomorrow sorted as well!

So all in all we had a superb sharing platter, two excellent pizzas, a carafe of red wine and a bottle of sparkling water, all for £47. To continue the theme from my last entry, I think this is tremendous value for money. Alright, the seafood platter is easy enough to do, and was perhaps lacking in fresh ingredients (however, it is the end of January after all!), but it was delicious, and that is all that matters. The pizzas and atmosphere were fantastic, the wine was tasty and the staff friendly and efficient. It will be very difficult for us to go to Broadstairs and choose to eat anywhere else.

Go there, order a pizza and a desert, sit and watch the sea while you finish your glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or whatever your tipple is, and let the friendly family atmosphere wash over you.

Value for money

There is a discussion to be had about value for money, prompted in no small way by our visit to Broadstairs on Saturday. There are few more depressing places than English seaside towns in the off-season, but Broadstairs is fighting hard to keep itself going. Ok, so there are lots of empty shop units which look like they may well have been bars, cafés or restaurants until fairly recently, but there are many that are open and trading even on a chilly but bright Saturday afternoon in January. And who knows, many may well reopen during the summer season as pop-up restaurants etc.

We had in mind that as we were at the seaside we should have fish & chips, so we had a stroll along the front and a mooch around the old part of town before picking the Submarine Café pretty much at random. It looked fun, clean and more importantly open, so in we went. We had cod, chips & peas with bread & butter and a mug of tea each for just £12 between the two of us. Most main courses were about £5, the deserts were around £2.50. And this is where the value for money bit comes in...about half way through my fish (clearly cooked from frozen, but actually ok) I started to think that I'd rather have paid a few pounds more for something better. But actually, the more I thought about it, the more I thought they had it about right. The food was ok! The chips were good, the peas were nice and the fish was ok, so for £4.95 in a sit-down restaurant this is tremendous value. I'm sure there are places within a short walk that would charge you more, but would what you got be proportionately better? Probably not. If you're out for the day with a young family I suspect you will struggle to find anywhere better to feed your family without spending a lot more money.

Several places stood out as looking worthy of a visit next time we come back, including a really interesting looking Italian place called Posillipo very close to the sea front. Even though it is literally next door to Prezzo's (which was twice the size and had a great looking balcony seating area looking out over the bay) it was packed, while Prezzo's was nearly empty. Certainly worth a look on a future visit, if only for what comes out of the wood burning pizza oven.

Approaching the value for money argument from the opposite direction to the Submarine Café is a restaurant simply called "54". (Can you guess what number Broadstairs High Street it is?) 54 also offers fish & chips, but they charge £14.95 for it. "How can that be value for money?" I hear you cry! Well, for that you get salmon fillet, tiger prawn, monk fish and a scallop in lime & coriander batter with home made hand cut chips in a beautiful looking dining room off tables with white linen and nice cutlery. If it tastes as good as it sounds, then I would argue that in other restaurants we have visited such a dish would cost well over £20. So which is better value for money? Hard to say, and I suppose ultimately it comes down to your personal priorities.

After a bracing walk along the sea wall we stopped at Chiappinis for a hot chocolate and something sweet. I had ice cream (delicious!), Dee had a strawberry tart, we both had glasses of hot chocolate in lovely retro silver plated holders, and it cost exactly the same as our lunches. Somehow lunch felt very cheap, but this felt very expensive. Good value? Not sure, but we liked it. Go to Broadstairs, soak up some of the history, the Napoleonic Eagle, Charles Dickens' Bleak House...or if the weather suits, just sit on the beach and make sand castles...whatever floats your boat!

The Spade Oak, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire

There are lots of places that offer good value Sunday roast lunches. There are loads of places that offer really good quality Sunday roast lunches. Every now and again you stumble across a place that ticks both boxes and become firm favourite regular haunts. We have been regular visitors at the Horseshoes for a while now, we like the people, the beer, the food and the atmosphere. What's that got to do with The Spade Oak, I hear you cry? Well, the assistant manager at the Shoes went off a few months ago to manage his own pub within the M&B chain, The Spade Oak.

As hidden gems go, they don't come much more hidden than this. It's about a mile down a dead end road near the middle of nowhere, not too far from the M40 junction for High Wycombe. Rather like the Shoes, The Spade Oak is one of those places that makes you feel welcome right away, with a nice mixture of soft comfortable chairs and sofas, contempory decor and a traditional looking building. The busy dining room was open plan laid out around a central chimney, and there are enough soft furnishings around to make the place sound lively without being too noisy. Paul, the proud manager, introduced us to his head chef, Kevin, who told us about a roast platter that he'd just cooked for a family table. He made them a huge, fresh Yorkshire pudding and served them a selection of roast beef, pork and turkey with all (and I do mean all!) the trimmings inside it! Both he and Paul seemed very comfortable in the surroundings of the pub and stayed to chat for a few minutes. When we asked what he recommended, Kevin very kindly offered to cook us a platter in a Yorkshire pud, so we didn't even glance at the menu, although I believe it offers a similar selection to that available at the Horseshoes.

The biggest Yorkshire pudding I've ever seen (the picture doesnt give you much of a sense of scale) duly arrived, packed full of roasted meats, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, stuffing, pork crackling and delicious gravy. Together with a dish of assorted roasted vegetables, we were faced with enough food for four! As many of you will be well aware, I've eaten a few Sunday lunches, but I can't remember ever having eaten a better one. The meat was tasty, the veg cooked just right and the crackling ridiculously noisy! The gravy soaked into the base of the Yorkshire, but the sides stayed light and crispy...perfect. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this was probably the best Sunday lunch I've ever had. Can't wait to go back again, and being so close to Adams Park (my beloved London Wasps home ground) I'm sure it won't be long before we do.

Further adventures in and around Stoke.

Back in Stoke for a long weekend and a late Christmas of sorts with Josie, we thought we'd make the effort to try some new places to eat & drink. We failed at the first hurdle though, because for dinner on our first night we ended up back in the Steakhouse in Stone (see previous review of Stoke). Rather like last time, the staff were very friendly and highly professional, the food was very good and the beer was excellent. Josie and I had ribs, but Dee pushed the boat out and had ostrich steak. It's not often you see both ostrich and buffalo steak on a menu, is it! I had a pint of Cockahoop from the Lake District to wash my ribs down, it was light, lively and very easy to drink. Our third visit here, and our third excellent experience.

At Trentham Gardens we were delighted to find the ultimate foodie shop. Brown & Green stocks organic, local and ethical food of all types and varieties. Everything from local honey, lime curd and jams to fresh oven-ready game, sausage rolls, pies and cakes, fresh fruit, veg and bread. There are shelves full of interesting sauces and dips, spices and herbs, ales and spirits, all either locally, organically or ethically produced (or a combination of the three). I think they have other outlets at Derby and somewhere in Gloucestershire and I'd certainly recommend a look if there's one near you, because it's like all the best bits of every farm shop you've ever been in all rolled into one.

In complete contrast to the rubbish we were served on our last visit, we had a very good cooked breakfast in Frankie & Bennie's at Trentham. Ok, so it was only eggs and bacon on toasted muffins, but it was all piping hot, well cooked, nicely presented and very tasty indeed. So much so that we went back there for an evening meal (against my better judgement, after the last visit!) and either there is a new manager, a new chef, or perhaps both because the standard was much higher than I expected.

Another day we had a decidedly above average lunch at a place called Taybarns just north of Newcastle under Lyme. The Taybarns chain doesn't seem to have made it to Kent, but there are a few dotted about the midlands and the north, I believe. The idea is simple, it's a one-price eat as much as you like buffet. You pay your £8.99 per person on the way in and help yourself. The range of fresh food on offer is simply staggering! The sections start with fresh salad, then a choice of pasta dishes including vegetable lasagne, garlic bread and warm dough-balls, then on to fish, chicken, chips and mushy peas. After that is freshly cooked pizzas, either pepperoni, mushroom or margarita, then a selection of burgers and barbecued prawns, chicken, corn on the cob etc. Believe it or not, the buffet continues with a choice of three chinese dishes, a couple of curries, prawn crackers, breads and popadums (?...not sure how you spell that!) and other side dishes. Then there is a full carvery, offering gammon or turkey with all the trimmings. And finally, a selection of about a dozen cakes, puddings, fruit pies and gateaux with cream, custard or ice cream. Did I mention you can have as much as you want for £8.99? Everything is cooked and served in full view of the diners, the sheer number of diners means everything is kept fresh as it turns over very quickly. Your empty plates are cleared quickly between visits with a minimum of fuss, you collect a fresh plate and clean cutlery on each trip up to get more. It pleases me greatly to report that the food was tasty, fresh and well cooked. It is produced to a price, obviously, but somehow managed to achieve a high standard. Certainly worth a look if you are in a hurry or have a large group to feed, or even if you simply can't decide between you what you fancy.

We stumbled across a new English restaurant in the heart of Stoke called Baby Russets. We only dropped in on the off chance we could get a bite to eat fairly late on Saturday night and they couldn't have been more helpful! The house speciality seems to be traditional pies. Not the poor imitation pies you get in most places these days, which aren't really pies at all but bowls of stew with a flakey pastry lid, but real pies with crumbly short crust pastry and meaty fillings! I had a steak & kidney pie, Dee had the chicken supreme, and both were very very good indeed. We were also treated to a huge dish of red cabbage, broccoli, carrots, peas and new potatoes, as well as a dish of excellent hand-cut chips (it's sooooo nice not to get McCain or Brake Bros chips for a change!). All the produce is sourced locally, and the veg is bought from the traditional market just 50 yards away. Also on the menu were Scottish rainbow trout, haunch of venison, chicken pie and cheese and onion pie amongst other delicious sounding things. All the dishes were extremely good value, particularly given the enormous portions, with pies starting from just £6.95. They stocked a range of local beers from the Titanic brewery...I tried the Titanic Stout, which was very good but like a lot of bottled beers proved to be far too fizzy for me. We will certainly come back to Baby Russets next time we're up in Stoke, it turned out to be quite a find.

Back at Trentham Gardens, on our last morning we popped in to a café called "Capabilitea" presumably in honour of Capabilty Brown (designer of the famous Italian garden and landscaped the grounds at Trentham). It was particularly worthy of note for the delicious warm brownie I had and mixed fruit muffin Dee chose, and the coffee and hot chocolate were very good too. We sat on a huge old leather sofa and flicked through some magazines from the cafés rack while we drank our drinks and watched the world go by in very pretty and relaxed surroundings. All in all, Capabiliteas was an ideal place to round off a lovely weekend.