The Small Holding, Kilndown, Kent
The Small Holding and The Curlew are opening on 19 May
After a year in lockdown, reservations are open for tables at chef-owner Will Devlin’s restaurants, The Small Holding in Kent and The Curlew, East Sussex.
www.thesmallholding.restaurant | www.thecurlew.restaurant
The Small Holding was awarded a Green Michelin Star in January, while The Curlew will reopen after first launching in February 2020 and being in lockdown, just three weeks later. The Curlew will offer small and sharing plates such as a whole rib of beef from Paley Farm, pork and kimchi dumplings or Tenterden new potatoes with Hinxden Dairy crème fraiche and caviar.
The menu at The Small Holding has evolved and Will has used the time during lockdown to refine the dining experience. The new menu is defined by hyper-seasonal and sustainable ingredients with a focus on the farm’s own produce, but undefined by the number of courses or choice. There will be no formal menu at The Small Holding. Instead, guests will be offered a multi-taste dining experience featuring the best ingredients on that day from the farm and local suppliers. Vegetables and fruits from the farm, harvested within hours of guests arriving, foraged ingredients, homemade charcuterie and zero waste animal cookery from the farm’s own livestock is the main focus.
The new style menu starts with home-made kombucha or broth and breads and fresh butter, made on site with the rich yellow cream from a local herd of Guernsey and Holstein Friesian cows. The menu falls into themes such as ‘The Farm’ with raw peas, elderflower and radishes; ‘The Glut’ with Kohlrabi, green apple and yarrow; ‘Preserves’ of fermented roots and smoked bacon broth; ‘Cured’ with homemade fennel salami and sourdough; ‘Fish’ with oyster, chive and pickle; crab, chamomile and fennel; lobster and tomato and ‘Sweet’ with gooseberry, honey and cream; carrot, cream cheese and hogweed; strawberry, meadowsweet and basil.
The restaurant is open Wednesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner costing £75 per head and for Sunday lunch. A drinks flight including juices, shrubs, wines, beers and kombucha will also be available.
Will Devlin says, “Lockdown gave me the opportunity to focus on our purpose and to remember what The Small Holding is about, which is the deep connection between the farm and kitchen and a sense of place. We nearly lost it all and we need to remember what we’re fighting for. Lockdown has been a massive opportunity to realise that.”
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www.thesmallholding.restaurant
@the_small_holding_
Ranters Lane | Kilndown | Kent | TN17 2SG
About The Small Holding
Will Devlin, 32, is the chef owner of The Small Holding, a kitchen and farm on a country lane in the village of Kilndown on the Kent and East Sussex borders. The 26-cover restaurant was voted the best restaurant in Kent at the Taste of Kent Awards and is set in one acre of land, permitting a unique connection between farm and table. Growing, foraging and cooking the best ingredients is at the core of The Small Holding, with daily changing menus, using home-reared and home-grown ingredients from the farm, which is less than 10ft from the kitchen.
Will’s second site, The Curlew, a former 17th century coaching inn in Bodiam, East Sussex opened in February 2020 and is 8 miles from The Small Holding. www.thecurlew.restaurant
For more information, images, interview with Will Devlin or to visit The Small Holding or The Curlew, please contact Hannah Blake hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk | 07730 039361
Praise for The Small Holding
A group of folk growing amazing things, then pulling them out of the ground, sometimes knobbly and lumpy, then cooking and serving them. It’s perfectly imperfect and I wouldn’t change a thing.” Grace Dent, The Guardian
“The menu reads like a list of all that is good in a British Larder. Self-sufficiency, careful sourcing, purity of intent and an absolute focus on flavour. It’s easy to fall in love with The Small Holding for the warmth of the staff, its good intent and deft execution.” Tony Turnbull, The Times
“Striding confidently into its second year, Will Devlin’s restaurant shows no sign of slowing down, ‘a truly sensational experience’ is one fan’s heartfelt comment. The level of ingenuity generated by a kitchen on turbo drive, fuelled by its own small holding, hen coop and piggery is prodigious.” Will Devlin was named ‘Chef to Watch’ in The Good Food Guide 2020.
Praise for The Curlew
“I must tell you about The Curlew, a restaurant by Will and Matt Devlin, the same brothers who opened The Small Holding in Cranbrook on the Kent-Sussex border last summer… They deserve a bit of smoke blown up their trouser legs for everything they and their excellent staff have achieved in the past 12 months, too. It’s not easy to do clever, complex, locally sourced dining in rural places without coming across as overly earnest and saintly, offering the locals lovely things without a jot of pretension. Almost as lovely as this job gets” Grace Dent, The Guardian