Places To Eat In Kent: Sunday Lunch at St Leonard’s, West Malling

I’m always on the lookout for another excellent Sunday roast, so when the team at St Leonard’s in West Malling (not to be confused with St Leonard’s the place in East Sussex!) invited bus along to their lovely side-street restaurant for their Sunday menu, we sheltered from the heatwave for a few hours in their elegant dining room.

Crisp French rose was the obvious choice for a couple of their snacks. The olives were excellent, and like at The Blue Pigeon in Worth the other week, I zeroed in on the pork puff / apple sauce / crispy sage option. This portion was delicious, lightly dusted with I think Aleppo chilli, and exceptionally generous for £6. If there are two or more of you at the table who like this sort of thing, get them to nibble on whilst you wait for your starter.

What other choice is there on a blistering hot day but to have the burrata? Here it came with beautifully chosen and seasoned tomatoes, both fresh and just roasted enough to be plump and juicy. I love a good roasted / raw tomato salad situation. And with a nod to the season that just passed, it was topped with a wild garlic pesto crumb.

Insane in that heat yes, but J told me his roasted pepper soup (!) topped with chunky pesto-topped courgette pieces and a ricotta-stuffed courgette flower was beautiful, fresh and very well cooked.

The roasts are slightly less traditional. You get the meat, but as if it was a restaurant dish with a few trimmings, then the traditional Sunday roast accompaniments come on the side. My beef rump sitting on a tangle of braised beef shin, beetroot puree and with a grilled shallot was lovely, but whilst the chicken was beautifully moist, and the pea puree and shards of chicken skin were good, it was a bit random to have potatoes and lettuce (!) on the plate, even if it was all delicious.

On the side comes a very generous bowl of wonderfully sweet carrots, caramelised seasonal greens and two good Yorkshire puddings (and you can order extra if you’re a Yorkshire pudding fiend like me!) There are also super crispy beef fat potatoes.

Also on the added extras you must get a serving of cheesy leeks; under this light, wibbly, nutmeg-flecked custard is nestled a bit pile of slow cooked leeks. The roasted courgettes with basil pesto also looked good on other tables, but not with a roast!

For dessert, I wanted something cold and sweet, but not substantial so I was very happy with their excellent homemade blackberry sorbet. J had a rather unusual, but rather excellent dessert which was both pudding and cheese plate: a chilled slice of treacle tart served with a wedge of Kentish blue, and both a sweet pear puree and pear pickles. A clever dessert that seems a bit strange, but really worked; if you’re a blue cheese fan, get this!

Obviously the snacks and the cheesy leeks were added extras, but you can have the Sunday roast at St Leonard’s two courses for £38, and three courses for £41. Book a table (and also check out their regular, brunch and steak night menus) here.

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