Author: No Expert

Dining by the sea

Spent the weekend in Ramsgate. It’s only 1 hour and 20 minutes from London on the High Speed Train, so visiting this seaside town over a weekend is well worth doing, especially if you manage to eat as well as we did.

Caboose Cafe – NOW Rosebud Cafe and Winebar – closed 2017

We had a lovely breakfast at Caboose Cafe, a relatively new Cafe Bar, just off the High Street. The Eggs Benedict and the Eggs Royal were delicious and very reasonably priced at £4.95  – that alone says we’re not in London anymore.

 

The quality of the food and coffee was commendable, this Cafe is a great find, it’s certainly not your typical Ramsgate all day breakfast venue. In the evenings there is a Mexican Cantina menu and even the odd live event, they are working on bringing quality acts to Caboose, with a view to helping make Ramsgate a destination for touring bands and comedians.

UPDATE: 2016 –  Change of management, the Mexican menu is no more, now called Rosebud Cafe and Winebar.

UPDATE June 2017 – CLOSED

Royal Harbour Brasserie

We also made a return visit to the Royal Harbour Brasserie, braving the blustery winds to walk out to the end of the Harbour Arm where the restaurant is located. It’s so worth the trip, not just for the warm welcome at the Restaurant or the above average food, but for the spectacular views out to sea and inland to Ramsgate Marina, what a location to watch the sunset! We arrived just a bit too early to sample their evening menu, and instead had to choose from a  more limited one. The Wine list was also rather basic. First we shared a Assiette of house nibbles, this would have been a pretty substantial starter for one (a steal at £5 and more than enough for 2 people).  Then after that excellent start, we tucked into our main courses,  I had a large fillet of sea bass with bisque sauce and perfectly cooked new potatoes, and my companion had a suitably autumnal venison stew, both dishes arrived on “Alan Partridge” sized big plates.  We had not realized how hungry we were until we miraculously managed to clear them.

Age and Sons – closed 2014

On the Sunday we decided to go to Age & Sons for lunch, as this is a restaurant we have always liked for its reliable cooking and pleasant ambience.  The restaurant was awarded a Bib Goumand in 2009 and it just seems to keep getting better and better. Sunday lunch is served in the attractive main restaurant area on the top floor (they have a French kitchen style area on the ground flour and a Cocktail bar in the basement). I had a beautiful piece of Venison and lovely creamy dauphinoise potatoes and my companion really enjoyed his Pork Belly, braised cheek & fritter with black pudding puree & garlic mashed potato.  We finished our meal by sharing a cheese board served with some rather moreish home made biscuits.

All three of the venues we visited are ones that we would highly recommend, especially Age & Sons, which has grown into a gem of a restaurant that any town or city would be proud off.

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A Wong – Seriously Cool

Dim Sum has always seemed to me to be more suited to cold wintery weather, lots of stodgy dumplings etc. My experience with it has been limited to really conventional venues like the New World in Chinatown – not that there is anything really wrong with the New World, which has its own old world charm.  I also was very much of the view that you just don’t bother ordering dessert in a Chinese Restaurant unless you’re a fan of lychees.  A Wong however blew my misconceptions out of the water.

I had read most of the reviews, the glowing and the not so glowing, so I knew to expect something a bit different. Ken Hom raves about this place in his tweets, so I also had pretty high expectations on the food front.

I did a walk-in on a sunny lunch time (it’s best to book though, just in case you’re not as lucky as I was).  The service was spot on, my menu arrived just after I had settled into my seat.  I ordered a nice glass of Rosé, some tap water and four Dim Sum dishes.   Dim Sum is just a small part of the menu, which also includes a tasting menu that will have to wait for another visit.

One of the things that really hit me about Andrew Wong’s restaurant was just how “Cool” it was in every sense of the word – the ambiance, the service, the clientele, and the beautifully presented food.  I am sure the weather helped – it was nice to see that some diners had also chosen to eat outside in the small cordoned off section of the pavement that I had passed by many times and never seen used.

The dishes I ordered seemed just right for a summers day. I started with a quail egg croquette puff, it was hard to eat with chop sticks, but I managed – nice runny egg, crispy seaweed and a refreshing ginger dip.  Then shortly after I finished that my beautifully presented Chinese chive pot sticker dumpling arrived, it was light and surprisingly refreshing. The next two dishes were more substantial. Crab, Seafood and Beancurd Cannelloni with Pickled Cockles – the Pickled Cockles adding just the right amount of kick to the Cannelloni and the Sesame buttered Smoked Chicken, a dish that is perhaps not to everyone taste, consisting of strips of smokey chicken and cucumber.

The dessert menu was so inviting I seriously struggled to choose from 3 of the 4 dessert options on offer:-

  • Snowball Meringue, lychee granite, mango puree and lime sorbet
  • Tobacco soaked banana, nut crumble, chocolate, soy caramel
  • Coconut ice cream, glutinous dumpling, apple, pandan jelly and peanut cream

I eventually choose the Coconut Ice cream dish – which was nothing like I expected based on its description. It arrived in a martini glass topped with candy floss.   It was lovely, I had to use my fingers to eat the candy floss, and all the ingredients just worked beautifully together.  The people at the next table had ordered the other two desserts listed, so I also had the chance to see how spectacular they were as well.  Amazing, much to my surprise I had finished my meal with a superb dessert – in a Chinese Restaurant!

The best thing I think any diner can say about a Restaurant is that they will be back, and I will be back.

UPDATE : August 2013 –  popped in for the excellent value Set Lunch, had the Dim Sum basket and Scotch Beef Rump fried noddles with a glass of wine for £12.95, then I just had to go for a dessert. This time I ordered the Snow ball meringue, lychee granite, mango puree and lime sorbet, it was very light and really refreshing.  I have added some more pictures from this visit.

UPDATE: September 2013 – A Wong have been awarded a Bib Gourmand – “Michelin Inspectors’ Favorites for Good Value”.

UPDATE: October 2017 – A Wong have been awarded a Michelin Star.

UPDATE: January 2021 – A Wong have been awarded a second Michelin Star.

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Scooter Caffè AKA Scooterworks Bar and Cafe

The phrase “hidden gem” tends to be overused and misused, but I really believe it applies to the Scooter Caffè. Tucked away in Lower Marsh Street, behind Waterloo station, this is a great find. From the outside especially it still looks like the Vesper Repair shop it used to be.  I just loved the quirky eclectic decor, old mismatched chairs, sewing machine tables, Vesper scooter permanently parked by the bar and the laid back bohemian atmosphere. There seemed to be only one member of staff on my visit and she was able to cope admirably with the steady flow of customers, as almost everyone happily returned their empty glasses and plates to the bar prior to leaving.  The background music (1920’s salon music?) also added to the ambiance.

The clientele on my visit were a mixed bunch, trendy hipster types and the odd local worker in the know. It’s a great venue to relax and people watch. This place definitely has its regulars too, like the girl in the vintage dress struggling to control her two lovely little dogs as she ordered, the older women poet, expounding her philosophy to her camera man companion, and the Apple Mac users making the most of the free wi-fi (FYI the password is stuck on the bar).

There is also a larger yet still cosy bar in the basement, which is probably used more in the evenings, a small Patio at the back next to the railway arches, and a bench and table outside on Lower Marsh Street itself.  This place reminded me of the kind of venue you used to be able to find in Greenwich Village, NYC in the days before it got too touristy.

The coffee served from the classic red Gaggia coffee machine is excellent, indeed the aroma of freshly ground coffee is the first thing that hits you as you walk in. There is also a small selection of cakes available, I had a lovely piece of Lemon Drizzle cake and if you want something more substantial you can even bring your own food to eat on the premises.

While doing a bit of research I also discovered the cafe featured in the third Bourne film (must have blinked and missed that bit), that Johnny Depp has dropped in for a drink and that Ethan Hawke is a regular when he’s in the area.

They also have a new sister cafe in Oval (Cable Cafe) which I will need to investigate, especially since it’s so near to Oval Farmers Market – I rather like the idea of buying some bread and cheese or Galeta cookies at the market and chilling out in the cafe with a cup of coffee or something a bit more alcholic.

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Launceston Place – a star in Kensington

In our last review of Launceston Place a few years ago we raised the question – Why did this restaurant not have a Michelin Star?  That is not a question we need to ask now, as Launceston Place got its well deserved Michelin Star in last years awards.

We booked for Sunday Lunch, which is a pretty good deal at £29.50 for 3 courses along with those little extras that are typical of Michelin Star venues (the amuse-bouche and the appetizer).

The amuse-bouche of béchamel cheese in choux pastry was a good start, I certainly could have eaten lots of these rather moreish cheese profiteroles, and the caramelized onion and mushroom soup appetizer that followed was rich and tasty.

For starters we ordered Hot smoked mackerel with beetroot, apple, watercress and horseradish ice cream, and Poached Hens Egg with white asparagus, followed by Cornish cod fricassee of peas and broad beans, heritage tomatoes and new season Jersey Royals, and Iberico pigs cheeks, with caramelized apples, sage mash and barbequed Leeks.

Then for dessert we had the 70% Cru Virunga chocolate mousse, caramelized bananas, glazed raisins and chocolate sorbet and the Baked English custard tart with cox apple cooked in caramel and glazed puff pastry filled with Calvados cream, which was effectively a rather lovely deconstructed Apple Tart. The only negative on the food front was the bread, which consisted of a rather ordinary selection of brown bread and sour dough.

Launceston Place is a very civilized and relaxing venue and the staff were just as efficient, professional and friendly on this visit as they were on our earlier visits. I rather like that the Michelin star has not changed Launceston Place too much – it still has the same understated elegance and charm it always had.

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La Gelatiera, Artisan Ice Cream Parlour – what’s not to like?

This is a first for No Expert – a post on an Ice Cream Parlour!

I have actually been to lots of Ice Cream Parlours all over the world, including some memorable ones in Italy, Spain, North and South America, Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark – my favorite Ice Cream surprisingly was Goats Milk Ice Cream sold by a street vendor in Kiev of all places, but that’s another story. So why visit La Gelatiera? which is tucked away in a side street close to Covent Garden. Main reason, it’s serious Ice Cream – seriously good. It’s also kind of nice to know that their Ice Cream is rich in vitamins and protein but low in fat (on average 6% – 8% for gelato and 0% for sorbet).

I tried two flavours today:-

Basil and Chilli Gelato – I first had Basil Ice Cream at the rather good Waterside Restaurant in Eastbourne, so the bench mark for me on this was set pretty high. La Gelatiera breached it – WOW – that little kick of chilli is amazing.

Banana Sorbet – so creamy, so much banana flavour, more conventional but no less of a winner than the Basil and Chilli.

I will most definitely be back to try some more flavours.

The Parlour has a modern trendy feel to it, it is quite small and has a glass floor in one corner that enables you to peak into the “laboratory” where the Ice Cream is made. There is seating for about 8 – 10 people inside and a few seats outside. It also specializes in Coffee from Artisan Roasters and has a nice looking selection of Cakes and Pastries.  You can even have Ice Cream with your Cake, so what’s not to like?

Made a return visit on a Saturday evening to try some more flavours.

Mint and Chocolate Gelato – Very refreshing, could really taste the fresh mint, plus lots of shards of dark chocolate.

Popcorn, Caramel and Chilli Gelato – Another winner, creamy with soft caramelized popcorn and a touch of chilli

Hazelnut Gelato – a more conventional flavour, but still very nice.

I would also recommend the Matcha Tea Gelato – very refreshing.

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Eating and Drinking Guide (Sandwich)

Updated September 2024

Sandwich is a historic town on the River Stour, home to nature reserves and two world class golf courses.

The Sandwich Eating & Drinking Map shows the locations of some of the Restaurants, Cafes and Bars in Sandwich including the ones described below.

No Name French Delicatessen and Bistro – consists of an excellent deli on the ground floor and Le Bistro on the first floor. Le Bistro has a fairly extensive menu covering traditional french dishes like Tartiflette. It also offers a typical french breakfast, is licensed and has excellent house wine. It is open during day time only, it does not serve evening meals. In the warmer weather they provide outside seating on the pavement opposite.

Goats That Dance – A cosy, inexpensive and stylish cafe. Love the decor. Some outside seating too when the weather is good, mostly in the Church yard opposite.

For information on places to Eat and Drink in nearby towns and villages, see the East Kent/Thanet Guide.

 

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