The Twenty Six in Southborough I know that this isn’t about somewhere on Tonbridge High Street, not even in Tonbridge! But I wanted to review The Twenty Six as it’s just so good and well worth a visit. And it is just up the road, really… There is something very special about The Twenty Six. I’m not sure whether it’s the austere facade that hides the beguiling interior, candle lit, intimate & hushed; or the informal, noisy, fun nights that I’ve had there whilst being served exquisite food. The Twenty Six is a test kitchen, whereby the creative director & chef, Scott Goss, sources seasonal local produce to create his delicious menus. The ‘test’ in test kitchen provides Scott and his team with free rein to experiment, allowing the diner to try ambitious & unusual plates. The menu changes throughout the week, keeping diners on their toes. The press release for the Twenty Six explains Scott Goss’s modus operandi: he wants diners to really savour the time they’re sharing with friends, a loved one, at The Twenty Six; his food is what has brought people together here but it doesn’t have to be the main event. He achieves this conviviality by informality, no stuffiness just a lovely relaxed atmosphere with great staff. When I visited, thanks to the size of our group, we were shown upstairs to the private dining room; opposite the kitchen, a room filled with dusk light when we arrived, the beautifully aged wooden table adorned with tea lights and linen napkins. The menu lived up to expectations making it very hard to choose: broccoli & wild garlic soup; chicken terrine, pistachio, malt & green tea; loin of pork, broad beans, morels & black pudding??? Whilst deliberating, Scott brought us a zingy amuse bouche of avocado & wild garlic to kick off proceedings- smooth, garlicky but with a citrus tang to heighten our anticipation of what was to come. (Scott popped in and out of our dining room throughout the night which adds to the experience.) Salmon tartare with cucumber & barbecued lettuce For starter, as a fish lover & wanting to try something unusual, I had salmon tartare with cucumber & barbecued lettuce. The barbecued lettuce had a lovely, warming, cooked-over-coals taste and was sublime with the chilled, clean flavour of the salmon tartare, pink and plump. It was delicious & I could have eaten a lot more of it but, poor old me, we had to move onto the main course. I chose the fillet of hake with crab, basil & sea vegetables. The hake had sold out & it was substituted with sea trout which worked out fine. This dish tasted of the sea but with a degree of finesse, the saltiness of the sea vegetables, samphire especially, coupled with the creamy texture of the flaky crab and the melt-in-the-mouth sea trout. When I love a dish I eat very slowly- I definitely took my time on this one. Between my friends and I, we chose most things on the menu, and the benefit of being a food blogger is that your friends let you try their food! I was trying to be very critical but sadly, to no avail, the quality of taste and ingredient combinations was high across the board. The dessert menu was very appealing but we decided to go down the post-dinner cocktail route, my choice being an espresso martini. Our dessert abstinence was rewarded with another little treat from Mr Goss – beetroot wrapped in white chocolate. Pure genius. Espresso martini & the odd looking but fine tasting, beetroot wrapped in white chocolate As I’m sure you can tell, I really like The Twenty Six. The ambience, the food…it’s a restaurant of contradictions: fine dining*, informally; beetroot & chocolate. Experience Ingredients In the group: 8 ad Consumption & cost: 8 x starters, 8 x mains, 8 x cocktails, round of various pre-dinner drinks and several bottles of wine £420 incl tip. This works out at approximately £50/head. * When I say ‘fine dining’ I mean dining which is fine; I understand that ‘fine dining’ often relates to Michelin starred and similar restaurants before anyone says anything! .
****COMPETITION TIME**** Win a meal for 4 people + a bottle of prosecco!
“We’re still here, still good value for money and the food’s better than it used to be, “ says Danial Palmer-Johnson, the new manager of The Slug & Lettuce, Tonbridge which has joined forces with Eat Around Tonbridge for this exciting competition to launch their new menu. I visited recently on a Saturday night and left feeling surprised & impressed…. Asian platter from the new menu If you think you know The Slug & Lettuce, then think again. It attracts ladies who lunch, professionals on their way home from the station and families too thanks to it’s ‘Kids eat for £1′ offer on Sundays. Danial, an experienced Slug & Lettuce manager having worked all over the country in the bar chain, has honed in on the community spirit in the town and the Slug & Lettuce is now sponsoring the Tonbridge Juddians Ladies’ team. He’s keen to stock local suppliers too. Very tasty Khichdi from The Slug & Lettuce menu Myself & three friends visited The Slug & Lettuce one Saturday night – none of us had been for ages (years). It was really busy & buzzing at the bar, tunes playing, but it didn’t take us long to be served or be shown to our table, despite the FA Cup Final being shown and a hen do enjoying a cocktail masterclass. The menu is large & varied, covering all bases with specific menus for meals such as salads, burgers, sandwiches & light bites. Large menus often concern me (you know, quality vs quantity) but I needn’t have worried. We ordered a broad selection of dishes from the main menu (fish cakes with sweet potato fries, a super salad, chicken skewers & Khichdi, an Indian inspired rice dish which was sweet & tangy) and were impressed: our food was very tasty and full of flavour, all delivered by our attentive server. Seafood grill from the new menu We had a really good night and it’s somewhere to which we all said we’d return – the (sometimes loud) music, hen do & general hustle and bustle of the place on a Saturday night, only added to our enjoyment. **** Competition **** And now you can experience it for yourselves! To enter the competition: Identify 3 fruit & veg characters from The Slug & Lettuce children’s menu Enter by commenting on this blog post on the Eat Around Tonbridge Facebook page OR reply to the blog tweet on Twitter @eat_tonbridge. The deadline is Thursday 9th June 2016 10pm. The winner will be chosen at random & announced on Friday morning. The prize could be used on Father’s Day too! Enter now for your chance to win!
Shamo’s, Tonbridge, 19 May 2016
It has been a busy couple of weeks for Eat Reviewer – thanks for keeping up with the posts. Next week, it’s competition time so keep liking and sharing! Read on for a review of Shamo’s: they invited me to review them & I was accompanied by my two sons aged 6 & 3. Shamo’s on Avebury Avenue, South Tonbridge Shamo’s is the latest addition to our growing gastronomic scene & is positioned in South Tonbridge, on Avebury Avenue. Sharan & Amo (hence the name) opened Shamo’s, about 3 months’ ago. The menu is succinct which I like (quality over quantity) & there is a children’s menu too. Shamo’s markets itself as a burger & milkshake joint, but there is something for everyone: fish dishes (these are starters but Shamo’s are happy for diners to order the starters as ‘tapas’), veggie dishes and they happily accommodate coeliacs with gluten free chips & bun-less burgers. After our very warm welcome, my sons both ordered one of Shamo’s trademark milkshakes: made with ice cream, they’re decadently thick & have lots of different flavours, including alcoholic ones for grown-ups. They are served in lovely Kilner jars with lots of whipped cream on top – a real treat. My sons and I chose the calamari (from the main menu) as a sharing starter & it really was a joy to eat – it was cooked to perfection, with the right amount of bite, encased in delicious, golden batter. We pondered over the menu for some time but I finally settled on the Tonbridge Cheese Steak. This is inspired by the Philly cheese steak, a baguette filled with cheese & steak from Philadelphia, USA & I thought it was unusual for somewhere in the UK, let alone Tonbridge to be serving it! It arrived in a brioche bun (the Tonbridge twist – & it worked) with gluten free ‘fat’ chips (menu says fries but they’re definitely chips) and a pot of ‘slaw. I only intended to eat half of the cheese steak as it looked enormous….but it was so good that I polished it off. The steak was just right and the cheese was all gooey, melting all over the chunks of meat, just as I remembered it. Clean eating this is not, but, boy, it was really good. The ‘slaw on the side was a little disappointing though: too heavy on the mayonnaise for me; I like some crunch. The boys both chose the breaded chicken burger from the children’s menu, freshly breaded in Shamo’s kitchen. Our waitress was more than happy to take instruction to remove any hint of salad from the burgers at my sons’ behest and so they arrived ‘naked’ in their brioche buns accompanied by chips and corn on the cob. Sadly, my younger son had filled up on his milkshake and so he barely touched his burger, chomping only on a few chips. Luckily Shamo’s kindly provided a doggy bag, complete with fresh chips & the boys could decant their milkshakes into takeaway cups. We visited Shamo’s at about 5pm & it was quiet so a good time to take children, despite lacking a little atmosphere. The customer service was excellent, our every need met; we left, replete & content. The food was definitely a hit with my elder son who said Shamo’s was his new favourite place to eat in Tonbridge, and with me. I will certainly return and think an evening visit with a group would be fun….but I’ll make sure I have my alcoholic milkshake as a pud rather than an aperitif. Experience Ingredients In the group: 1 ad + 2 ch Consumption & cost: 2 x milkshake, 1 x sparkling water, 1 x starter; 3 x mains £32
Sulston’s Kitchen, Tonbridge – From Thailand to Tonbridge
Following my interview with The Old Fire Station’s Richard & Sam, I’d like to introduce you to another foodie pioneer, Ben Sulston. Tomorrow he launches Sulston’s Kitchen – look out Tonbridge, there’s a new takeaway in town. Ben’s new takeaway on Quarry Hill Parade Ben has two passions in his life: Brazilian ju-jitsu & food. He is a Brazilian ju-jitsu champion, competing & training all over the world, and, being a bona fide athlete, he needed a diet to match. Thanks to his varied culinary experience (award-winning restaurants, pubs & independent schools where he had to cook fresh food for hundreds of pupils every day!) and his knowledge of nutrition, he created healthy & tasty snacks & meals to fuel not only himself, but his team mates in training & competition – he became the Brazilian ju-jitsu chef. Whilst training for ju-jitsu in Thailand, he was spotted by an Aussie ex-rugby player who was opening a café in Phuket. Ben provided some advice on the menu and ‘The Shack’ in Phuket came about, the first piece in the Sulston’s Kitchen jigsaw where Ben remains creative director. And this is what he’s hoping to replicate in Tonbridge, bringing Sulston’s Kitchen to Quarry Hill Parade (sadly he can’t conjure up perma-sun and amazing beaches). Instead of an eat-in café, home made granola, wraps, salads & smoothies that have been carefully crafted that day to be tasty & packed full of goodness will be available to takeaway. The price is comparable to similar products from high street regulars but the value for money will be so much more. Ben is hoping that commuters will factor in a visit to his takeaway before they catch the train. Ben places high importance on taste and providing people with choice, but Tonbridge is up there too. He’s going to use local produce where he can, sourcing meat from butcher Ian Chatfield and fruit & veg from the guys in the Pavilion so when you buy from him, you’re supporting local producers & investing in the town. “I like Tonbridge, it’s got a good buzz about it at the moment, it’s up & coming…lots of new things happening, lots of new things going on & it’s cool to be somewhere like that.” This exciting chef’s plans for the future include 3 month meal plans to help make eating healthily as easy as possible (good VFM as well) and bespoke meal plans for the athletes amongst us. But for now, athlete or not we all like good food so let’s support Ben tomorrow as he opens the doors on tasty, healthy eating in Tonbridge. He opens at 7am (perfect for commuters) and will close when he runs out of food! 11 Quarry Hill Parade, Tonbridge You can also find Ben on You Tube where he has some guides on how to make his healthy food. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJNMukAXTUM55UOVkO405fQ
Another Bank Holiday? Oh, go on then! + Father’s Day Prep
May has to be the best month of the year, doesn’t it with its bank holiday double whammy, nicely spaced to aid R&R at the beginning & end of the month? Read on for some ideas of how to spend this one…. And then read on a little further for information on Father’s Day – still over three weeks away but some places are booking up fast. Bank Holiday weekend Poacher & Partridge, Tudeley – Sunday 29th May – live music from 2pm in the garden with Rudy Warman & the Heavy Weather. First come, first served. The Poacher & Partridge The Kentish Hare, Bidborough – Monday 30th May – BBQ event, (weather permitting) from 12-2.30pm. No booking required, it’s on a first come, first served basis. (Don’t forget Tues-Thurs May & June 10% off for Eat Around Tonbridge followers with blog print out or show your phone). The Slug & Lettuce, Tonbridge – Kick off their ‘Summer Jam’ with 2 for 1 cocktails. Sunday 29th May there is live music from Ryan Weekes and on Bank Holiday Monday the theme to the music is Bar Grooves. Slug & Lettuce’s Asian Platter All other pubs & restaurants are open of course, over the bank holiday weekend. Father’s Day – 19th June Shamo’s Tonbridge, 01732 356661 – ‘Daddies’ Day Burger Bonanza’ – Dads receive a complimentary burger (excl extra toppings) + fries + slaw. Eat in only, booking advisable. Tonbridge cheese steak in Shamo’s *** Nearly booked up *** The Kentish Hare, Bidborough, 01892 525709 – 3 course menu for £30, children under 5 eat free Slug & Lettuce, Tonbridge, 01732 368529 – Special 2/3 course menu. Dad gets a complimentary pint. Advisable to pre-book. The Vauxhall Inn, Tonbridge, 01732 773111 – special Father’s Day 2 course menu £16, 3 course menu £18. If you celebrate Father’s Day after 7pm 19th June, the third course is free. Advisable to pre-book. The Little Brown Jug (01892 870318) doesn’t have a special menu but is already about 50% booked. There are other places that are still finalising their plans so watch this space & keep liking Eat Around Tonbridge on Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter @eat_tonbridge. Hope this has been useful!
3 days, 2 meals, 1 venue – Eating at The Old Fire Station, Tonbridge 11 & 13 May
‘Why would you go back to the same place twice in one week?’ I hear you cry. Well, that’s because the venue is the Old Fire Station in Tonbridge, & variety is their signature dish. In one week in May, The Old Fire Station was transformed into an art gallery for South East Open Studios, & subsequently charitably hosted ‘Empty Bowls’ in aid of The Bridge Trust & Anglo-Dutch chef Justin Brown’s two night residency. If the events are the variables, then the venue is the constant: the high ceilings give the room space & those old fire station doors lend some light, supplemented by retro pendants; there are shared, wide, wooden, rustic tables, eight to a table (32 covers in total) and there’s a large bar at one end which is where the chefs plate-up, fascinating to watch – it really is as if you’re at a chef’s table. So you experience fine dining but in a very informal, almost European-family way: you & your fellow diners are sharing bread, whilst being able to chat to the chefs, give them immediate feedback, if you like, & ask questions. This is unique in Tonbridge & around, & that’s what makes the whole evening very different to other nights eating out. You don’t go to one of TOFS’ events expecting to eat ordinary food thanks to the calibre of chefs they can attract. And on both nights, we were treated to some really special & in some cases, unusual flavours. My ‘Empty Bowls’ bowl The ‘Empty Bowls’ night was inspired by similar fundraising nights in the US: the Tonbridge version involved diners receiving a brown paper bag at their table place, within which was a handmade bowl or hand painted bowl. The bowls were really varied in style & colours &, of course, each one was unique. Three top chefs had created soups for the event, all of which had a different approach to a traditional recipe. The first soup was placed into my new bowl – I say placed because there wasn’t a traditional soup ladle in sight, such was the architecture that went into it. Daniel Hatton’s take on pea & ham soup – delicious Daniel Hatton’s soup was no ordinary pea & ham soup – the chunky pieces of ham hock at the bottom brought depth to the flavour of the bowl as well as a good salty edge – not too much at all; and the freshly shelled, sweet, peas transported me to my Gran’s garden, early 1980s, when we’d shell peas and occasionally/frequently pop one in our mouths. The edible flowers gave the dish vibrancy. The next soup was Jamie Halsall’s chicken, pearl barley & wild garlic, the latter filling our noses as it came to the table. Jamie’s soup was earthy & satisfying, pearl barley providing texturewhilst Ben Sulston’s Thai-infused butternut squash warmed our taste buds with an exotic heat. The Bakehouse at 124 in Tonbridge had baked the delicious bread we all shared – quite a few of us shed any refinement & used it to mop up the bottom of our bowls. This was a tough act to follow for Justin Brown, the British chef who resides in Holland – he told me that he loves doing pop-up events & had been looking forward to this one, a five course tasting menu. (The full menu is at the end of the blog.) It’s worth noting/marvelling that Justin cooked all of his food in the TOFS kitchen which is tiny & according to trusted sources ‘worse than a student kitchen’. He cooked on four hobs, not in an oven at all (other chefs have brought induction hobs & set-up ovens behind the bar). Justin Brown’s Cauliflower Risotto There were three courses that really made me sit-up. Cauliflower risotto – This might not sound appealing & it didn’t necessarily look appealing (a fellow diner said it looked like porridge) but it packed a flavour punch. Cauliflower is going through a renaissance at the moment & Justin demonstrated how far it’s come from the Sunday lunch staple of cauliflower cheese – there was no subtlety here. The ‘rice’ was made from cauliflower, blended with a cauliflower puree & stock. The benefit of TOFS was that we could ask Justin what the tangy taste was – parmesan. The cheese course was delicious: brie with truffle sandwiched in the middle (I love cheese & anything funghi) but the dessert was the piece de resistance. The chocolate mousse was delectable: smooth & not too rich which seemed perfectly pitched after four courses. I wasn’t a fan of the accompanying yoghurt or chocolate drops but the caramelized pineapple made up for that. Justin’s amazing chocolate pud We had a great time on both nights, chatting to the chefs, happy to answer our questions; enjoying the bonhomie of the table; quaffing delicious English wine from Hush Heath and eating un-ordinary, exciting food. Going to The Old Fire Station twice in a week really isn’t a hardship. The next event is Cin Cin on 4 June; Chef Ben Spalding will be in residency 24 & 25 June. https://www.facebook.com/Old-Fire-Station-531356273682618/events Experience Ingredients In the groups: both nights 2 ad Empty Bowls consumption & cost: Pre booked tickets were £20 pp, wine & TOFS beer & cider £3 each Justin Brown consumption & cost: Tickets were £40 pp, Hush Heath Pinot Noir £23.50 Justin Brown’s full menu: Confit Salmon: Poached in olive oil, cucumber, horseradish cream, dill & rye Cauliflower risotto: 100% cauliflower, cauliflower stock, cauliflower puree, parmesan Steamed bun: Bao bun, crispy chicken, cabbage slaw Brie & truffle: Dutch Brie stuffed with black truffle, verzet crackers Chocolate & Yoghurt Chocolate mousse, frozen yoghurt, pomegranate molasses More pictures under Gallery