Samphire, a Kentish bistro in Whitstable

Valhalla raw prawn crudo, grilled heads and trout roe by Mark O’Brien at Samphire, Whitstable

Samphire
A Kentish bistro in Whitstable

Samphire is an unfussy, rustic bistro in the heart of Whitstable, with a chalkboard menu dedicated to local fish, meat and seasonal vegetables, served in a relaxed dining room. Being just metres from the sea, there is a strong emphasis on oysters, crustaceans and seafood, plus nose to tail whole animal butchery and creative vegetarian options. Focaccia, chutneys and preserves are made in house and all prepared with produce sourced from well-respected local farms, fishermen, gamekeeper and foragers in Kent and the South-East.

Head chef Mark O’Brien, originally from Dublin, is particularly passionate about live fire cookery and whole fish and animal butchery. Previously at The Dairy and Zebra Riding Club in London, with restaurateur Robin Gill, Mark regularly cooks live fire demonstrations at barbecue festivals Meatopia and The Big Grill. These influences make their mark on the Samphire menu with rubs, smoking and low and slow barbecuing techniques, where Mark fires up the Portico Grill with lumpwood from Kent Charcoal, made with wood only from local sustainable woodlands.

Samphire’s owner, George Begg, trained as a chef in Australia in the 90s. Following a stint in London as an Executive Chef, George moved to Whitstable in 2004 and took on the lease of an empty shop just a short walk from the beach. Samphire was born and became Whitstable’s first bistro to be open all day, every day using the best Kentish produce. Suppliers include The Wonky Parsnip in Chatham for unusual organic vegetables, Sevenscore Asparagus near Sandwich, slow-grown, free-range chickens from Laughtons in Faversham; British cold-water farmed prawns from Valhalla, Stour Valley game, lamb, pork and goat meat from Oink and Udder and vegetables from Mallards Farm.

An early-spring lunch might include smoked cod croquettes with crab mayonnaise; raw prawn crudo, trout roe and grilled heads, followed by Creole mussels with Holy Trinity sauce and smoked prawn butter followed by aged beef porterhouse for two, with beef fat salsa verde.

The British cheese selection is well worth exploring, as are traditional desserts such as Bramley apple and frangipane tart and warm honey cream or rhubarb baked Alaska.

SAMPLE MENU

Rosemary & Roast Garlic Focaccia | 1/2 Dozen Maldon Oysters Juniper mignonette | Aged Beef Tartare Jerusalem artichoke | Grilled Radish radish top pesto, pickled golden beets | Smoked Cod Croquettes crab mayo | Grilled Kohlrabi green harissa, apple | Valhalla Prawn Crudo trout roe, grilled heads | Samphire's Fish Pie Mallard's farm greens | Butter Bean & Tomato Cassoulet polenta, roast shallot | Creole Mussels Holy Trinity sauce, smoked prawn butter | Butternut Squash, Spinach & Pine Nut Pithivier cauliflower purée, pickled wild mushrooms | Aged Beef Porterhouse beef fat salsa verde | House Sausages grilled January King, pickled salad | Dayboat market price

-ends-

Notes to editor
Samphire, 4 High St,
Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1BQ

T: 01227 770075
E: info@samphirewhitstable.co.uk

Mon-Fri: 12pm - 21:30pm
Sat & Sun: 9am - 10pm

For more information, images or to arrange a press visit please contact Hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk | 07730 039361
 

February at The Small Holding, Kent

Chef owner Will Devlin in the polytunnel at The Small Holding farm (credit Key & Quill)

February at The Small Holding

Green Michelin Star 2021/22 | Number 25 in Harden’s Top 100 UK Restaurants, 2022 | Number 10 in Square Meal’s UK’s Top 100, 2022 | Good Food Guide 2023 | Kent Chef of the Year 2022 | Best Restaurant in Taste of Kent Awards 2022

“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.” The Good Food Guide

Named ‘Chef to Watch’ in The Good Food Guide 2020 and awarded a Michelin Green Star in 2021 and 2022, Will Devlin, is 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 Small Holding is part of the Acre Group including Birchwood in Flimwell. The Small Holding opened in April 2018. As a former pub, the site had been run down and neglected, before being transformed into an open kitchen and bar with a large-decked terrace looking out over the farm and views of the Weald of Kent.

The 36-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.

Over 180 varieties of vegetables and fruits are grown including Broccoli ‘Red Blaze’, Cauliflower ‘Graffiti’, Cucumber ‘Passandra’, Radish ‘Viola’, Runner Beans ‘Scarlet Emperor’ and Courgette ‘Midnight’.  Native breed Large Black pigs, chickens and ducks roam the farm and sheep for hogget and mutton graze less than half a mile away.

The menu is defined by hyper-seasonal ingredients with a focus on the farm’s own produce, but undefined by the number of courses or choice. There is no formal menu at The Small Holding. Instead, guests are 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, homemade charcuterie and zero waste animal cookery from the farm’s own livestock is the focus. The Small Holding works directly with growers, farmers and fishermen and the kitchen team forage in the nearby hedgerows and woodland.

The Michelin Green Star for sustainable gastronomy recognises restaurants with a focus on environmental practices. The Green Star encompasses everything about The Small Holding and the teams’ drive for sustainability.

The restaurant is open Wednesday to Saturday for dinner costing £85 per head and for lunch, with a shorter menu, on Saturday and Sunday, costing £65 per head. 

Other restaurant in the Acre Group is Birchwood, part of the Flimwell Park woodland development in Flimwell, East Sussex.

“Growing our own produce on the farm brings an understanding and honesty back to the kitchen, and vital freshness. Making the most of our harvests when the ingredients are at their prime – whilst also preserving and conserving them to use throughout the year, keeps us concentrated on the natural cycle of the land and helps us to create full flavoured and imaginative dishes.” Will Devlin

Eating at The Small Holding

Everything is home-made at The Small Holding, or sourced hyper-locally, except fish and seafood which comes from the South Coast or Scotland. Ingredients are picked less than 10ft from the kitchen and when there’s a glut, the kitchen preserves, pickles and jars.

The menu starts with home-made kombucha or broth and breads and sourdough and fresh butter, made on site with the rich yellow cream from a local herd of pedigree Guernsey and Holstein Friesian cows in nearby Benenden.

The February menu

Snacks
Parsnip, Cured Egg Yolk, Nasturtium
Cheese & Onion Tart
Rosti, 100-day-old aged Beef Tartare

Bread & Broth
Sourdough Focaccia & Smoked Mayfield Swiss
Beef Broth, Emmer Grain, Oxtail

Farm
Artichoke, Egg, Yeast
Swede, Apple, Rosemary

Fish
Mackerel, Watercress, Potato
Halibut, Asparagus, Gherkin

Meat
Pork, Brassicas, Beans

Sweet
Rhubarb, Beetroot, Yogurt
Chocolate, Mushroom, Caramel

Cheese
Cornish Yarg, Eccles Cake, Chutney

Sweet Treat
Apple and Cobnut Cake

“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

Introducing The Square Peg, Kent

Mallard, Shallot Ketchup, Roast Onion and Consommé at The Square Peg, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

The Square Peg

The Square Peg is a 14-seat restaurant on Camden Road in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Owned by Head Chef Rob Marshall, who cooks solo in the kitchen, the site blurs the line between a fine-dining restaurant and supper club, serving an eight-course tasting menu, with one dinner sitting.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Rob came to the UK at the age of 22 having had previous careers including a brief stint in the British Army, with The Royal Engineers and attending Sandhurst. He came to cooking later in life but has been fascinated with food and the experience of eating out from a young age. Rob is a self-taught cook by way of a well-worn collection of cookbooks, and he jokes, ‘youtube’. He says, “I wanted to pursue something I loved doing and hadn’t found my niche elsewhere. A bit of a square peg, if you like. I cook the kinds of things I like to eat - dishes of what I hope are robust flavours with contrasting and complementary textures, temperatures, and tastes.”

Rob has been finalist and a semi- finalist in both the British Culinary Federation Chef of the Year and the Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year competitions.

British culinary traditions and food culture weave their influence through the Square Peg menu, which stretches to include anywhere British food culture may have influenced or been influenced. This might translate to something as simple as a syllabub with Yorkshire rhubarb, or a hotpot alongside best end of Pevensey Salt Marsh lamb. Indian and Cantonese spices and flavours may be drawn on when the mood takes. The menu changes every 6-8 weeks and might include Oyster, Apple, Fennel and Caviar; Mallard, Shallot Ketchup, Roast Onion and Consommé; Ex-Dairy Cow, Beef fat sauce and Carrot; Pear, Honey, Hazelnut and Yoghurt, and Banana, Toffee and Milk sorbet. The set course menu is £79 and full flight of five paired wines is £45.

As a small, independent business, Rob actively seeks opportunities to support similar businesses, and the people behind them. Consequently, locality and seasonality feature strongly. The drinks list is almost exclusively British, featuring small, independent suppliers and producers. The list isn’t expansive but there is something for all tastes from still and sparkling English wine, cider, perry, beer, mead, and spirits.

The Square Peg | 46 Camden Road | Tunbridge Wells | Kent | TN1 2QD
info@thesquarepegtw.co.uk | 01892 514819 | @thesquarepegtw

Opening hours
Thursday: 19.30-23.00 
Friday: 19.30-23.00
Saturday: 19.30-23.00
Doors open at 19.30 for all guests to be seated by 19.45

“Fairy lights entwine with hop bines at this sweet little neighbourhood restaurant which seats just 14. Self-taught chef Rob cooks the type of food he himself would like to eat; classic British dishes with a modern feel, accompanied by a British wine list. The team are charming and the atmosphere, convivial.” Michelin Guide

Grow the Seasons - new courses at The Small Holding

Head Gardener Jenny Huddart and chef Will Devlin at The Small Holding at the launch of Grow the Seasons

Chef Will Devlin launches ‘Grow the Seasons’ courses at The Small Holding

Learn to ‘Grow the Seasons’ on a series of new horticultural courses at Will Devlin’s Michelin Green Starred farm and restaurant, The Small Holding, in Kilndown, Kent. 

The hands-on courses are led by Head Gardener Jenny Huddart and her team, for a behind-the-scenes experience. Each full-day course will include a mix of practical and theory learning, as guests discover and share in the team’s knowledge on seasonal vegetable growing, ‘No Dig’ principles and how to be sustainable in their own gardens. 

Each course will be relevant to the season, such as making the most of Harvest in August, reaping the rewards of your hard work and making organic compost and feeds. In November’s Winter Planning course learn how to make the most of the end of the season by mulching, lifting and dividing the perennial plants and the last chance to sow overwintering crops.

The full-day courses cost £125 per person and will run throughout the year, in tune with the four growing seasons and include a relaxed lunch, using ingredients from the farm.

Find out more and book now for February, May, August, and November 2023 www.growtheseasons.com.

About The Small Holding

Will Devlin, 34, 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 34-cover restaurant has a Michelin Green Star and was voted the best restaurant in Kent at the Taste of Kent Awards. 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.

www.thesmallholding.restaurant
@the_small_holding_

Ranters Lane | Kilndown | Kent | TN17 2SG

“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