Places To Eat In Kent: The Bridge Arms, Bridge

As The Bridge Arms (relatively) recently changed hands, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally make it along for lunch. With it’s beamed ceilings, big fireplace and beautiful paneling I think it is going to be the perfect spot for cosy winter roasts, but honestly, the food was so good at the height of summer (they also have a big pub garden with an overflow bar for when things get busy) it’s worth a visit at any time of the year. And there are fancy bar snacks as well as the main menu. I’ll never say no to a fancy bar snack!

The owner kindly sent us out a couple of glasses of Chapel Down Grand Reserve to go with our snacks
— a lovely vintage which was just one of by the glass options including champagne, lots of English and European wines.

Honestly I’d recommend all three snacks we had: the crab choux buns were light and intensely savoury, something nice I’d order at the table to go with a glass of pre-meal fix. The onion bhajis were delicious, light, generous and crisp, drizzled with hot honey and served with a curry mayo sauce. I’d call these more of something to order at the bar or out in the garden with a few beers. Get these, though I do think the curry sauce could have had a bit more of a kick to it!

My favourite snack however were the grilled tiger prawns with a beautiful saffron aioli. Beautifully sweet tender with a lick of smokiness from the grill, they were impeccably presented with a toothpick in the end of each one for easy eating. Get these!

After that we moved onto a mix of dishes from the a la carte and lunchtime set menu (very well priced at two courses for £24, and three courses for £28). From the a la carte if you like scallops and they’re on the menu, the roast scallops with smoked lemon butter are a non-negotiable; wonderfully sweet, perfectly cooked and with clean, simple, yet special flavours. The summer vegetable terrine with aguachile is so much fun — both in presentation and flavour) you won’t believe it’s just cooked and chilled vegetables. The flavour of everything is intensely itself, and the jalapeno aguachile is bright, punchy, and pulls everything together. The kitchen actually sent it to us as a sharer alongside everything else we’d ordered, and it actually worked really well like that as well as as an individual starter.

From the set menu (but also featuring on the bar snack menu) the maple glazed ribs were meaty, saucy, sticky and generous, served with a nice tangle of pickled carrot slaw and a spritz of lime.

If there is steak tartare on the menu, you can pretty much guarantee I’ll order it, and this was a good one: there were the right number of crunchy homemade crisps for scooping (so often there is never enough) everything was beautifully fresh and there was a lovely texture. Literally my only criticism was it was described as tartare with anchovy and sage: the sage was definitely there, but I could not really taste the anchovy (I assume in the mayonnaise?) at all.

We switched to an old favourite to go with our mains which they had by the glass: Balfour’s Hush Heath Nannette’s Rose which I have long since come to believe is with each vintage consistently the best English rose out there.

With it, we all had the Romney Marsh Lamb: perfectly roasted and sliced rump served over a bed of petits pois à la française, their juices, and a nice bit of herb oil, with the braised shoulder served pot pie-style on the side topped with a potato and celeriac foam. I don’t know which bit was better, it was a simply lovely dish. The set menu version had a bigger pie in lieu of the rump.

For dessert I’m told the Bridge Arms Eton Mess with soft serve milk ice cream was good; the rest of us had the milk chocolate Gypsy Tart served with a quenelle of the same, which was lovely. Now, we’re big Gypsy Tart lovers and whilst there was a slight disappointment that it was not a traditional one when it arrived (the menu has since been updated online to make it clear it is a milk chocolate Gypsy Tart!) it was still beautiful: nice crisp pastry, a balanced, sweet middle, and the ice cream really cut through the richness. If anything, it was better than a classic chocolate tart, and something you should absolutely order if you’re into that sort of thing!

I’m really excited by The Bridge Arms, especially as I’ve been missing a really, really good food pub that is also still a pub which has those elevated fine dining touches in Kent that isn’t over an hour away from me! It’s perfect for special occasions and casual lunches (with the set menu) alike, and I’m also rather excited to try the Sunday roast. Thanks to the team for looking after us so well — and for the couple of extra dishes that appeared out of the kitchen so we had more to try! You can book a table at The Bridge Arms here.

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