Will Eddie Gilberts do for Ramsgate what the Sportsman has done for Whitstable?
Does it give gourmets a good reason to leave London?
Well, it is most definitely a find, already fully booked weeks in advance, and serving up top notch food that puts a lot of London Restaurants too shame.
Getting there is really easy now too, 1 hour 16 minutes on the high speed train from St Pancras to Ramsgate then a 5 minutes taxi ride.
It is located on Ramsgates’ King Street. Not the most salubrious of locations as it is a few streets away from the more attractive harbour area. However as soon as you part the chainmail curtains at the entrance to the fishmongers on the ground floor you just know this place is a quality establishment.
To start we had the scallops and what is fast becoming Eddie Gilberts signature dish, duck egg and smoked eel soldiers, both delicious. Then came the main courses, we went for the turbot and the cod with chorizo, another two stunning dishes. All the dishes were well cooked with nicely balanced flavours. You do get the impression that you could choose anything on the menu and not be disappointed.
We were also pleasantly surprised by the quality and presentation of the desserts. The only weak spot if we were being picky was the limited choice of dessert wines, from an otherwise fairly impressive wine list. The Trimbach Pinot Gris was a good match for the dishes we chose.
This restaurant deserves the plaudits it has received from the national press. We certainly plan to return.
Marks 7/10.
UPDATE : August 2011, added a few more pictures from a return visit.
UPDATE: May 2013 – Sad to hear that Eddie Gilberts is closed, see Thanet Gazette article.
Only 7 out of 10? A bit harsh. Zoe Williams gives is 8 and a half in the Sunday Telegraph today. Jay Rayner though it even better in The Observer last weekend.
Our score of 7 is not meant to be harsh, quite the contrary.
Restaurants with marks between :-
5 and 5.9 = Good
6 and 6.9 = Very Good
7 and 7.9 = Excellent
8 and 8.9 = Exceptional
9 and 10 = World class
Every reviewer has their own scale and if you put this post into perspective with some of our other posts you will see just how highly we thought of Eddie Gilberts.
Most London restaurants are lucky to get a 5 or a 6. Some 2 star Michelin restaurants don’t rate 7 points on our scale, Hibiscus and Marcus Wareing for example, and we only gave the 3 star Michelin L’Astrance in Paris 6.5.
The winners of our Best of the Best awards last year, Tom Kitchin in Edinburgh was rated as 8.6 and Comerc 24 in Barcelona was rated as 8.7.
So while 7 is a very good score, we have experienced levels of excellence that require there to be a gap between 7 and 10.