Not many towns can boast a café that was once a public convenience and has had its own slot on a daytime TV show! When I think of the name Nancy I think of the character in ‘Oliver Twist’ – when I left Nancy’s after my first visit, I was definitely in the ‘Please Sir, can I have some more?’ frame of mind. Nancy’s has generously donated afternoon tea for two in January to a lucky winner. To win, simply answer the following question: after whom is the café named? Submit your answers on my Facebook page, via Twitter (@eat_tonbridge) or as a comment below. Thank you to Nancy’s & enter now! Good luck! The Rules in case you were too busy that night….
*** 12 Days of Feastmas *** Day 2 – Havet
Havet arrived in Tonbridge this year and it has taken the High Street by storm…it is always busy and deservedly so: the food and service is excellent and the atmosphere always buzzing. Read my review from earlier in the year here. Havet has kindly offered a voucher for £35 to a lucky winner. If you’d like to use it over the festive period, they are closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day with 6pm being the last booking time on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The voucher will be delivered to you by secure post or by hand, depending on where you live. To enter, just let me know what your favourite Christmas song is! Enter on my Facebook page, on Twitter, @eat_tonbridge, or in the comment box below. Good luck and thank you Havet! The Rules in case you missed them…
*** 12 Days of Feastmas *** Day 1 – The Black Rose Bakery
Are you bored of the traditional Christmas fruit cake? There’s always someone who doesn’t like marzipan or dried fruit, isn’t there? Well let Eat Around Tonbridge and The Black Rose Bakery come to your festive centre-piece rescue with an alternative Christmas cake to adorn your table. The Black Rose Bakery creates couture cakes and Nichola has kindly offered one of her works of art to kick off the 12 Days of Feastmas….think layers of buttermilk sponge, vanilla icing and decadent deliciousness in every bite. This is a sample cake of course, not the Christmas cake! The facts!Nichola uses nuts and her cakes are not allergen free. The 6 inch, 5 layered cake will feed 10-14 people depending on how you slice it. Please make sure you’re available to collect the cake from Nichola (details will be provided) on 23rd December 2016. If you’d like to enter you need to answer the following question: Where does Nichola come from? Answer can be found on the Eat Around Tonbridge website. Submit your answers on my Facebook page, via Twitter (@eat_tonbridge) or as a comment below. Enter now! Good luck! The Rules in case you missed them…
*** 12 Days of Feastmas *** The Rules!
Tomorrow is 1st December which not only means that the daily administering of chocolate for breakfast begins (advent calendars in case you’re wondering!) & panic really starts to set-in but it marks the arrival of Eat Around Tonbridge’s December competition 12 Days of Feastmas! The blog has been running since April and to say thank you to the wonderful Eat Around Tonbridge followers, I wanted to give something back. I know it’s not easy to find the time to read a blog so for giving up your time, here’s something for you – a celebration of our gastronomic scene! This competition has been in the planning for quite a while & there are some amazing prizes up for grabs donated by local Tonbridge food and drink enterprises – hampers, vouchers for meals out, drinks’ cupboard essentials and of course, many of these would make amazing presents so if you’re not sure it’s for you, give it to someone else….just make sure you enter! A huge thank you to all the local businesses that are participating. The competition runs every working day from 1st -16th December. The competition starts at 9am and finishes at 9pm with the winner being announced on the next working day (so if you enter on a Friday, you’ll find out on the Monday if you’re a winner). You can only enter if you’re over 18. There is no alternative to the prize on offer that day and there are no extras to the prize itself. If two prizes are on offer then two winners will be picked. The first winner will win the first prize listed and the second winner will win the second prize listed. There are 3 ways to enter – via the Eat Around Tonbridge Facebook page, Twitter, @eat_Tonbridge or in the comment box at the bottom of each day’s competition page on the Eat Around Tonbridge website. Any information that you provide as part of the competition will not be used again for example in marketing or promotion without your consent. The winner/s will be picked at random from the correct entries or from the pool of entries depending on the question. Prizes will be secure posted/hand delivered, or will be available to collect from the business itself. Thank you to our wonderful local businesses for making the competition happen – please continue to support them; thank you in advance for taking part and good luck. Set a reminder on your phone for 9am tomorrow morning when it all kicks off!
Another new place = more new jobs
If you missed the announcement last night on the Eat Around Tonbridge Facebook page then what were you doing? It has created quite a buzz! It’s great to think that we will have another new place opening soon….and another new eating establishment brings new jobs to Tonbridge too. In the meantime, check out the Eat Around Tonbridge Jobs’ Board for vacancies available NOW! There are still jobs that you could start before Christmas…. Good Luck! p.s. Don’t forget that ’12 Days of Feastmas’ starts on Thursday 1 December at 9am. Enter to win some great prizes from Tonbridge food and drink producers!
Saltwaters, High Street, Tonbridge, 22 November 2016
It’s Friday which as well as the end of the week, means FISH! The tradition of eating fish on Fridays stems from religion but fish and chips is a national favourite, enjoyed day in, day out around the country. I was kindly invited to dine in Saltwaters, and so my two children & I visited for our fish supper. We were pleasantly surprised by what we found. Family owned, Saltwaters arrived in Tonbridge earlier this year with quite a pedigree – it relocated from fashionable Belgravia and has 50 years’ experience in frying and chipping. Its smart, shiny signage on the library roundabout offers a lovely welcome to the High Street. There was a table already eating when we arrived and a real mix of people trickled into the tastefully decorated restaurant creating a lovely buzz. The quality of the ingredients is impressive – fresh fish, homemade batter, quality Aberdeen Angus beef in its burgers. The menu is really varied with something for everyone – veggie burgers & peri peri chicken making an appearance. And don’t forget about their gluten free Mondays. We were there to taste the dishes that have brought Stevie Wonder into their Belgravia chippie: calamari, salt and pepper squid, fish bites and gourmet fish fingers to start which were delicious. The calamari and squid were cooked to perfection encased in a crunchy, amber batter. Each fish is cooked to order, it’s not left sitting in the batter in the fryer so despite being a ‘chippie’ you will have a ‘restaurant wait’ as your dish is prepared. But it’s worth the wait. The cod that arrived was lightly battered and so not as greasy or filling as perhaps you might have had before. The chips are hand chipped and twice fried resulting in a great crunch on the outside, fluffy potato on the inside; the side salad tasty too. My children had a mini fish and chips and a chicken nuggets and chips which they mostly devoured but had clearly not paced themselves on the starters *rolls eyes*. If you have room for pudding, the menu features classics like sticky toffee pud, crumble, and ice cream, including some interesting flavours like coconut and fruits of the forest. Saltwaters is a really versatile place – great for families or eating out with friends. They have wine and beer, it’s informal and would be a great stop-off from the nearby train station if you didn’t want to cook. It might be famed for its traditional fish and chips but, like the sea there’s a lot more beneath the surface. As we long for comfort food in this cold weather, Saltwaters will provide it alongside a very warm welcome. Saltwaters has kindly donated a generous prize to ’12 Days of Feastmas’ so don’t forget to keep liking and sharing from 1 December to be in with a chance of winning!