Category: Kent

Eating and Drinking Guide (Broadstairs)

Updated August 2024

Broadstairs is a historic seaside town with beautiful sandy beaches. It is often described as the “Jewel in Thanet’s crown”.

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

27 Harbour Street (formally Wyatt and Jones) – An popular restaurant with one of the best views in Broadstairs. The Menu consists of appetisers and small plates. Roasts on Sunday.

Wyatt & Jones pictures - 27 Harbour Street maintained a lot of the menu & staff

The Chapel – A Bar in a Bookshop that serves really good Pies and Cider (same menu as The Lifeboat in Margate).

The Restaurant at East Kent College – Look out for special events. Now located in The Yarrow Hotel.

Bessies Tea Parlour – A vintage Tea Room, that sells lots of different teas and  home baked cakes. Ideal for Afternoon Tea, which is beautifully presented on vintage china cake stands. Open from 10:00 to 18:00 every day of the week.

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

 

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Eating and Drinking Guide (Ramsgate)

Updated September 2024

Ramsgate is a picturesque historic seaside town with beautiful sandy beaches and one of the largest marinas on the English south coast. It has the only Harbour in the United Kingdom that has been awarded the right to call itself a Royal Harbour. It also boasts some quite stunning Architecture.

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

Flavours by Kumar

A modern India Restaurant in Effingham Street that produces some beautifully spiced dishes. Good set lunch deals that even include an amuse-bouche. OK wine list and friendly staff. Ignore the decor, this is a great find. Click here for review.

Take away service available.

Ramsgate Tandoori

A Traditional Tandoori restaurant and take away on Harbour Street. Excellent service.

The Dining Rooms at Albion House

Located in the beautiful Albion House Hotel. The Dining Rooms are a good option for an upmarket Brunch, Afternoon Tea or Dinner. The Hotel also has a comfortable lounge area that is ideal for relaxing with drinks. Click here for review.

The Hive

A friendly local reasonably priced Cafe. It’s a little out of the way in George Street but worth a visit as the Cafe is a pleasant quiet spot for a quality brunch or lunch.  There is extra seating in the basement and lots of outside seating. It’s a popular Afternoon Tea venue especially at the weekend.

The Falstaff

A small boutique Hotel. The Falstaff Restaurant is open on Saturday Evenings for Dinner and on Sundays for Lunch (extra days for Christmas Menu). It is advisable to book.

There is a Bar and a Deli where you can Eat in or Take Away. It’s open Wednesday to Sunday 8:30am to 4:00pm.

There is also a garden area at the back that is open to non residents. There are occasional music events and BBQ’s are also held during Summer months.

Foliage

Just a few minutes walk from Ramsgate Station. The Foliage Cafe in St Lawrence High Street is an absolute gem, excellent service, really good coffee and seriously good cakes are just some of the reasons to visit. It’s also licensed and based inside a very attractive little Garden Centre with a pretty garden area at the back. Click here for review.

Vincent’s

A lovely little cafe overlooking Spencer Square Tennis Courts with plenty of outside seating. Sells excellent Coffee and homemade Cakes. While your there don’t miss the stunning sculpture of Vincent Van Gogh who used to live & teach in Spencer Square & Royal Road. Click here for review.

The Bedford Inn

The Bedford Inn has recently been converted into an independent hotel that consists of 4 bedrooms with wet room en-suites, above the rather lovely Pub. The Inn also has a restaurant and an attractive outside seating area (with a sandy beach & deckchairs in the summer). Serves excellent Cocktails. Tapas available from 5:00 pm Thursday & Friday and 12:00 noon Saturday & Sunday. Click here for review.

Coco Latino

A cafe Bar in a great location overlooking the Marina.  Serves a good range of Cocktails and Beers, and is a regular venue for live music. Opening times vary depending on time of the year.

The Arch Bar

An attractive comfortable bar located under the Arches overlooking the Harbour. Has lots of outside seating. Serves Food including substantial seafood platters that are ideal for sharing.

Ship Shape

A popular Cafe built into the Arches, frequented by harbour workers and tourists. It’s very reasonably priced and serves one of the best full English breakfasts in Ramsgate. It’s much bigger than it looks and if you’re lucky you can grab one of the outside tables and get a good view of the harbour.

Sorbetto

Ramsgate Ice Cream Parlour. The ice cream is made in a small artisan factory below the parlour.  You can order the ice cream to take away or you can choose to sit in the air conditioned parlour or outside overlooking the harbour. They serve generous portions of quality Italian gelato as well as hot and cold drinks, toasties, sandwiches and cakes.

Royal Harbour Brasserie

An interesting place with fabulous views of the Harbour, the Marina, the English Channel and France. Generally delivers some pretty decent fish and seafood dishes and does good Sunday roasts. Click here for review.

Coasters – Pimms & Prosecco Bar

Bar overlooking Ramsgate Main Sands, does a decent Pimms (even if it is in a Plastic glass), have not eaten here yet but menu includes Sandwiches, Salads, Burgers and other snacks. (Open Summer months only).

Royal Victoria Pavilion

The largest Wetherspoon pub in the UK. The food and drinks range is pretty much what you would expect to find in a Wetherspoon. The building and the views are what makes this place special and worth a visit, especially on a sunny day. Click here for review.

The Belle Vue Tavern

A popular pub with a large and very attractive beer garden in Pegwell Bay. The sea views from the garden are stunning. It is also known as “The balcony of Kent”. A Shepherd Neame Pub.

Sir Stanley Gray at the Pegwell Bay Hotel

A Restaurant and Bar with a beautiful balcony and view over Pegwell Bay. Part of the Thorley Tavern Group.  There is also a large colourful Children’s play area below the main balcony.

Njord

A Cafe Bar with lots of Scandi style, an excellent spot for breakfast/brunch overlooking Pegwell Bay.

Good drinks menu and a nice selection of cakes from the Beardy Baker in Canterbury. Click here for review.

REAL ALE TRAIL

Ramsgate has a diverse selection of Real Ale Pubs and its own Brewery. The Map below provides a trail from Ramsgate Train Station to Dumpton Park Train Station 

FISH & CHIP SHOPS

As expected in a seaside town, there are more than a few Fish & Chip shops too.

AFTERNOON TEA & CAKE STOPS 

There is also a good selection of places to indulge your sweet tooth.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

To learn more about Ramsgate check out the Visit Ramsgate web site and Food Blogging in Ramsgate.

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

 

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Royal Harbour Brasserie – How dramatic

Locations for a new cafe/restaurant opening don’t come much more dramatic than the newly opened Royal Harbour Brasserie on the extreme tip of Ramsgate Royal Harbour. On a freezing but sunny day there can’t be many venues with views to rival this one with sea on both sides and views of Ramsgate’s Victorian skyline.

As the cafe has just newly opened the menu has been limited. A wise move in order to judge its popularity with the local and visiting clientele. While I was there it had a good turn around of customers and the venue had a cosy atmosphere. The decor has a nautical feel without going over the top. A nice touch was the hessian sacking used to upholster some of the seating.

As a lone diner, I was not in a position to try more than one item on the menu, so I settled for the big breakfast which while not the cheapest in Ramsgate (£6.00) was better than the average with a nice runny egg and savory sausages.

On my way out I was struck by some quirky touches like the toilet signage. Sounds dreadful but I was amused.

The Chef Patron of Royal Harbour Brasserie is Adrian Mowl, formally of the Turner Contempory Gallery Cafe, Adrian has cooked for a few VIPs, like the Queen when she visited the aforementioned gallery and he was also executive chef in the London Olympic Village 2012 catering for the likes of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.  Wonder if they would get a kick out of braving the elements trying to get to this remote outpost when the weather gets interesting!

We certainly plan to return again to do a more comprehensive review in the Summer, where hopefully we can take advantage of the large outdoor terrace with great views of the Harbour, the Marina, the English Channel and even France.

UPDATE 2013 – See post titled Dining by the Sea

UPDATE 2014 – We have been to the Royal Harbour Brasserie several times now for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and have found that the Food and Service has been fairly consistent, the event type menus are a bit dull, but in general the Fish and Sea Food dishes are good.  Personal favorites are Smoked haddock with bubble and squeak, beurre blanc, and poached egg and caviar,  Scallops with chorizo, Fried duck egg and brown shrimps in shrimp butter on granary toast.

I would also say that if you find that they have Lobster on the menu, that  it’s not to be missed. The Lobsters I have eaten here were full of meat and beautifully cooked and presented.

UPDATE 2024 – Still going strong.

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Broadstairs Food Festival – Going Medieval at the Seaside

After the Real Food Festival in London, we thought it would be interesting to highlight an out of town festival in the seaside resort of Broadstairs.  Broadstairs Food Festival or Food Fayre as it is also known is an annual event and this year had over 100 stalls showcasing Kent produce. I visited on the third day of the Fayre, it was fairly busy when I arrived mid-morning, but by the afternoon it was packed with visitors sampling the free wares.

There was lots of English Wine, Flavoured Cider, Cheese and Chutney on display, along with the obligatory burger stands, which in this instance at least included local butchers selling venison burgers and wild boar and venison sausages.

Kent restaurants like the The Ambrette (Rye and Margate) and The Siam Kitchen (Broadstairs) were also represented and I couldn’t miss O’re the Moon the award winning Kent fudge company’s display of  Scottish Tablet (not sure where that fits in as traditional Kent produce, but as a Scot I am not complaining).

The highlight of the day though had to be the Medieval Cooking demonstration from Mo Joslin of Farmhouse Kitchen. It was entertaining in between the disruptions from the dodgy sound system (the bane of so many outdoor festivals).  I also got a good picture of another typical Food Festival event “The Swarm” (pictured above) homing in on the samples from the Cooking demonstration – a rather tasty pigeon dish. Funny it’s normally the Pigeons that do the swarming,  although in Broadstairs it’s more likely to be Seagulls, which is all part of the British Seaside experience.

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Dinner at the Turner Contemporary – Margate through the looking glass

As far as catering is concerned, Art Galleries have been upping their game for a while now. The Portrait at The National Gallery and Rex Whistlers at the Tate being long standing examples of successful Gallery Restaurants in London. So a visit to the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate gave us the chance to try this new gallery cafe, which offers Afternoon Tea by the Sea and is open for Dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings.

I have to say it was with some trepidation that we headed for Margate, which is my least favourite Kent coastal town, one that still has a long way to go on its regeneration/gentrification process as our walk through the town testified. The shed like art gallery right on the harbour is not the most attractive of architectural structures in our view, its real charm is from the inside looking out, especially when the weather and lighting is as lovely as it was on our visit. The gallery is smaller than we expected with typically two or three exhibits per room, you can do the rounds easily in 15 minutes (OK maybe half an hour). The views from the Foyer when the light is right are nothing short of stunning.

So what about the Restaurant? or should I say Cafe? On Friday and Saturday evenings a white table clothed section is set up at the front of the gallery cafe consisting of about 8 tables. It seems a bit incongruous when you first enter, but as you are seated by the courteous and professional staff and offered your complementary glass of Prosecco, you soon find yourself relaxing in what is effectively half a glass box overlooking the beach. The tables are all fairly close together and the acoustics do mean that you can hear bits of conversations from the other diners, which is normally a negative for me. However it did not detract on our visit as most conversations were about the view and there was a very relaxed atmosphere as diners regularly got up to go to the window to take photographs. The horse’s galloping along the beach and the sunset being two of the more photogenic moments.

The menu which apparently changes ever week was simple but inviting. The service levels, presentation and quality of the dishes go far in the process of elevating the gallery cafe to a fine dining establishment. It’s not there yet, but it does have the potential.

We got off to a good start with a generous portion of home baked very light cake like focaccia bread. I then ordered the Scallops and Heirloom Tomatoes spiced with Cumin, which worked well. The Tomatoes nicely complimenting the Scallops. I followed this with the meat option – saddle of Lamb wrapped Pancetta, served with Pomme Puree, a tasty dish that I enjoyed with a nice large glass of Merlot.

My companion had the Carpaccio of Courgettes with Mozzarella and Basil which was ideal for the weather, light, simple and tasty. He followed this with the Turbot and Girolles Mushrooms in a red wine jus. We then went on to share a plate of British cheeses and the Passion Fruit Cheesecake dessert. There were some rough edges and missed opportunities here. The cheese plate for example was far from impressive and adding some withered grapes was a no no – if it’s not right don’t put it on the plate! The other missed opportunity is one that is not rectifiable. It is the location of the restaurant – no, not the fact it is in Margate, but the fact it is on the corner of the building and as such fails to provide the full panoramic view of the beach and harbour to all the diners.

We were very lucky on our visit with the weather, which added an extra element to the ambience but I do wonder if the fine dining aspect will survive through the winter months. I really hope it gets the support it deserves from the local residents.

 

 

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Rokka Ramsgate – a fish out of water!

While doing a spot of Whale watching recently (a 45 foot Sperm Whale was beached at Pegwell Bay close to Ramsgate) I had the chance to try out Rokka.  A restaurant bar situated on Ramsgates Victorian Harbour front. Its modern styling does clash somewhat with its surroundings and on first appearance seems to be all style over substance.  However on having lunch there I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by its friendly and welcoming staff and also the very tasty seafood pasta dish I had (No whales were harmed in the making of this dish). I also enjoyed a lovely dessert of Baklava with cream.

Rokka is out of place in Ramsgate Harbour, a bit of a fish out of water itself, but it is definately worth watching.

 

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