Places To Eat In Kent: Lido Bon Vino, Sandgate

If you’re a Kent based pizza lover I’ve found you a lovely little casual Italian you need to bookmark for your next girls lunch or date night! Lido Bon Vino has totally transformed the restaurant at the front of The Sandgate Hotel from the drab interior I remember as a child to a light, airy but still rather cosy spot for pasta, pizza and frankly excellent wine.

Something we loved about the Italian and English wine list is absolutely all the wines came with the option of having them by the glass, and they were all at really reasonable price points, most at £8 and none any more than £12. This bottle of Sicilian wine we selected was frankly beautiful: fruity, full bodied and was both easy drinking and went really well with the food. I’d want to explore the wine list a bit more, but to be honest I just might order this again.

Not everything was perfect, even though we think it was the best meal we’d had together in a while, especially off the back of the disappointment we had at The Kings Arms. Our bruschetta ended up being complimentary coming later as our waitress had forgotten to ring it through, and whilst the bread was fantastic, the seasoning was perfect and most of the flavours were spot on, the tomatoes were just not ripe enough to make good bruschetta.

But the pizzas? The pizzas were fantastic and it is worth nothing that they also do takeaway – I’m planning for a hot summer evening where we can take a couple and sit on the beach in front of the hotel for dinner. John Dory Wine is just down the road to complete the dinner order al-fresco!

Anyway, the pizzas had a good crust, delicious sauce and good cheese – everything exactly what you want them to be from the simple Margarita, the scant topping option of the Americana, or the excellent, loaded Vegetarian pizza I ordered loaded with roasted peppers, aubergine, courgettes and olives – none of the toppings slid off as I lifted the slices, and everything tasted great from the first slightly too hot slice, down to the last cool one.

They do serve great looking pastas by the way we must try, but we wanted pizza and it did not disappoint!

The puddings were good too, not quite Italian, but more Italian-French-English homemade classics, not that we were complaining. My St Clements Tart was top notch with a rich, ultra lemony custard, a good sauce and a tender, flavourful crust. I don’t have strong opinions on what pizza you order, but get this dessert.

However, also zinging with bright lemon flavour and a thick, rich, creamy texture the lemon posset was also exceptional, and whilst I think the lemon desserts are what you want to be focusing in on, the macaron plate is a fun dessert idea also, all very well made, and great if you’re instead after something small to share.

Against a backdrop of disappointing dining experiences and restaurants and pubs unfortunately dropping like flies at the moment, Lido Bon Vino was a breath of fresh air, a lovely little neighbourhood Italian you’d be an idiot not to book a table at.

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