Places To Eat In Kent: The Wellington, Margate

Across the square in Margate old town from the exceptional Italian Bottega Caruso, The Wellington opened in December serving French inspired, British-produce led meals in their pub dining room, and excellent snacks in their proper pub bar by the sea. We had lunch there this weekend, which has given me the view that that you can’t have a bad bite of food in that part of town. Either if like me you’re local and looking for an excellent new food pub to try at the weekend, or you’re planning your summer stay-cation adventures, lunch (or dinner) at The Wellington needs to be somewhere near the top of your list!

To start, we were brought a pair of still-steaming milk rolls with good butter (unsalted with added salt crystals, just the way it should be) and a slightly cheesy top. These were beautiful, plush, and very more-ish.

They have a good wine list (not too many, but also not too few, with a decent selection available by the glass) but they also have a couple of guest wines (or cocktails) and 0% options on each rotating menu: whilst the rhubarb shrub was tempting, I happily went for a couple of glasses of their wonderfully buttery guest Cremant. Not bad for £8 a glass!

The star of the show at The Wellington at the moment – both as a starter and appearing on the bar snacks menu – is the Scallop Toast. Think prawn toast, but made with a sweet, delicate, juicy scallop layer, perfectly crisp and golden, it was perfect by itself, yet also elevated with the addition of a seafood emulsion for dipping, and pitch-perfect cucumber pickles (not too tangy, not too sweet, not too salty) on the side to cut through the deep frying. Whatever else you choose there, get this.

Our mains were very simple, and very excellent. My poached plaice with sea beet, white asparagus and the most wonderful beurre blanc sauce was perfectly executed in every single way, and the chicken and leek pie had a beautiful flavour, coming in a very generous portion.

On the side their chips were excellent: hot and wonderfully crunchy and crisp on the outside, tender and fluffy in the middle. Get these also even if you think they don’t necessarily go with your choice of dish; they proved an unexpectedly excellent vehicle for chasing down the last drops of beurre blanc on my plate.

For pudding, I loved the again simple, yet perfectly executed buttermilk bavarois – exceptionally creamy and very slightly toothsome – topped with just the right amount of tart rhubarb. Again, get this!

A pair of Carambar came with our bill for a serious nostalgia hit (anyone who was a child in France will remember them on sale as a treat in the bakery), rounding off a very lovely meal. You can book a table at The Wellington here.

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