Category: UK

Bedford Inn – Best Tapas in Ramsgate

The Bedford Inn has recently been converted into an independent hotel that consists of 4 bedrooms with wet room en-suites, above a rather lovely Pub. The Bedford Inn also has a restaurant and an attractive outside seating area (with a sandy beach & deckchairs in the summer).

We’ve visited a few times, indulging in their rather excellent cocktails. On a recent visit we were very pleased to see that they’d introduced a new Tapas menu (served after 5:00 pm on Thursday & Friday and after 12:00 noon on Saturday & Sunday), we just had to check it out.

The Tapas was excellent, very authentic, definitely the best Tapas I’ve had in Ramsgate (and just as good if not better than some I’ve had in Spain).  We had six dishes for two people which is probably ideal for an evening meal. Two per person for a light lunch would work too, the Vegan Seaweed Croquettas and the Anchovies, Roasted Peppers, parsley oil worked especially well together.

We also just had to order a couple of their rather tasty French Martinis. It was impressive that the lunch time staff made just as good a Martini as the evening staff.

We returned for more Tapas, eating in the garden this time. The Serrano Ham, Manchego, Almonds & lavender infused honey was a real treat. The Calamari was excellent and the Cured Ham & Sobrasada Croquettes were so tasty. Just the perfect place for lunch on a sunny day.

The Bedford Inn on West Cliff Road is a short walk up from the town centre. Addington Street & Spencer Square Tennis courts are close by. It’s also on the Loop bus route (Cannonbury Road Bus Stop) so it’s easy to get too.

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Frog and Scot – Deal

The Frog and Scot is a popular small plates venue in Deal, so it’s best to book your table a few weeks in advance.  The bookings are timed for 1 hour 30 minute slots, which means you need to order all the small plates you want in one go (they’ll come out of the Kitchen in stages as they are prepared). It’s not really practical to order extra small plates if you find there are some dishes you especially like or if you want more than originally ordered.

Three Small plates per person is recommended.

We started with one of the bar snacks, some tasty ‘Cantabrian anchovies, tomato concasse, pickled garlic’ and ordered seven small plates for three people.

The quality of the dishes varied quite a bit on our visit. The stand out dish for me was the ‘Gnocco, burnt red pepper aioli, parmesan’. The ‘Bayonne ham croquettes, green romesco, basil’ and the ‘New potatoes, coronation mayo, coriander, pickled shallot’ were very tasty too. The ‘local heritage tomato carpaccio’ and ‘Trout tartare, kohlrabi, cherry, ponzu’ were fine, but the ‘Courgette ribbons, mint, pistachio, buttermilk’ and the ‘Burrata, charred peach, basil, toast’ were not so successful.

Time slot bookings are a bit of a pain if you’re looking to have a relaxing meal, ideally I’d have liked to have had time to order dessert and perhaps try one of their cocktails, but as we only had 15 mins minutes left in our time slot and rather than rush our dessert, we decided to just get our bill and have Cocktails elsewhere.

Our meal with a bottle of wine was about £40 per person.

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Le Pinardier – Deal

Le Pinardier in Deal High Street is a great place to chill if you’re into wine and cheese. It’s a Wine Shop/Bar with a fabulous selection of wines (mostly French).  There are several tables in the shop area and a few outside. We took refuge from the baking sun and grabbed a table inside on our visit. We ordered a cheese board (Comté, Brie & Camembert) and a bottle of Vouvray from the extensive wine list.  It wasn’t very busy, so we had excellent service and stayed for an hour or so, happily people watching.

Definitely recommend this place if you’re visiting Deal.

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Njord : Scandi Style – Pegwell

I’ve wanted to try out Njord for a while now, I mean a Scandi style place overlooking Pegwell Bay is so intriguing. So we headed out on a lovely sunny day (it’s only a few minutes away from Ramsgate by car or bus) and about a 40 mins walk if you’re feeling energetic!

Njord is in a great location on the edge off the Pegwell Bay nature reserve, it’s rather lovely inside, with a mix of comfy lounge style seating & coffee tables, dining tables with bench seating and bar stools at the window overlooking the bay. There is also some outside seating and lots of bike racks for cyclists.

The breakfast/brunch menu is mainly muffin, sourdough & croissant based dishes. We rather fancied the less conventional breakfast of Cochon Pulled Pork with Sundried Tomato & Chorizo Tapanata and Poached Kentish Free Range Eggs on a toasted English Muffin with Hollandaise sauce & chilli flakes. However they’d ran out of pork and were doing a pulled Chicken recipe instead, so we ordered that and Americano Coffees. The Coffees were served quickly and were excellent, I even had some left when the breakfast muffins arrived, the pulled chicken muffins tasted as good as they looked too, nicely spiced from the Tapanata and very filling.

Njord is also a Bar with an excellent drinks menu, lots of different brands of rum and gin is always a good sign. They also serve a few cocktails to enhance your breakfast/brunch experience.

The cakes at the Bar looked really good as well, they’re from the Beardy Baker in Canterbury, so I’ll certainly be back to try those.

Attractions in the area include the aforementioned Pegwell Bay nature reserve and the Viking Ship Hugin, which is a great photo opportunity and I guess sort of in keeping with the Scandi style at Njord.

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Vincent’s – Ramsgate

Vincent’s is a gem of a cafe in Ramsgate, one you would struggle to find without local knowledge. It’s located in Spencer Square in the little hut overlooking the Tennis Courts, I didn’t even realize that it had inside seating, but it does and it’s surprisingly spacious. It’s a friendly place serving good Coffee and homemade Cakes. The outside seating is on both sides of the hut, so you can also sit overlooking the rather stunning Vincent van Gogh sculpture.

Spencer Square leads into Addington Street where you will find some interesting independent shops, see the Addington Street section of the Ramsgate Shopping Guide for details.

Vincent’s is also located at the start point for the Vincent van Gogh self guided walking trail.

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Flavours by Kumar – Ramsgate

I have been eating regularly at Flavours by Kumar for a while  now and just realised that although it is included it in the No Expert – Eating and Drinking Guide it does not have a more in-depth review in its own right; which it most definitely merits.

The restaurant is tucked away in a side street in Ramsgate (2 Effingham Street). It is in a converted pub that still looks like a pub when you enter, but don’t judge this place by the decor, this is not your average Indian Restaurant. The owner and Head Chef, is Anil Kumar, who worked at The Cinnamon Club in London, and in restaurants in Dubai, Jordan and India.

We go for the set lunch which is amazing value. You start with a welcome drink usually a mango juice concoction. Then a small amuse bouche, which is a mouthful of deliciousness. They have a nice selection of starters, the Masala Dosa is a work of Art, and I highly recommend the Squid dish.  Next there is a small complimentary cup of spicy soup. There is also a good few main courses to choose from. We have tried several of them, the highlight for me is the Goan Fish Curry, it is served with rice and warm freshly made naan bread.

The service is good and there is a small selection of  wine.

The restaurant is well regarded, it won a Tiffin Cup award to find the UKs best South Asian Restaurant and has been favourably covered in the national press, see Guardian article which described the food at Flavours by Kumar as some of the tastiest Indian Food in the South East of England and they are so right. If you are in the area, this is a treat not to be missed.

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