Froggies at the Timber Batts

A: School Lane, Bodsham, Kent, England TN25 5JQ
M: Google Map
W: thetimberbatts.co.uk
E: post@thetimberbatts.co.uk
T: (01233) 750237

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Which? Good Food Guide 2009

France meets Kent at this off-the-beaten track pub on the North Downs where beams and open fires are matched by food that wears a striped jersey and a beret. The cooking may not be innovative but ingredients are fresh and locally sourced.

All the usual suspects such as French onion soup, duck leg confit and beef bourguignon are present and correct, but there are also good things like stuffed mussels and roasted rack of Romney Marsh lamb. Locally shot game gets a good showing, and there’s simpler pub food such as first-class egg and chips served alongside croque-monsieur in the bar. An (almost) all-French wine list opens with house wines at £15, produced by the owner’s cousin in the Loire Valley. Good real ales, too.

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The Mobile Food Guide

'An excellent find,' raved one Mobile Food Guide user after negotiating the network of narrow country lanes that leads to Froggies at the Timber Batts - a truly delightful country pub/restaurant in the lovely Kent countryside.

A warm feeling of friendly hospitality immediately hits you as you enter the cosy red-brick and low-beamed fifteenth-century building. Menus are chalked up on blackboards and the choice varies from day to day. Ingredients - from seasonal game to Romney Marsh lamb - are sourced locally where possible and the kitchen deals in traditional French cuisine with plenty of long-term favourites including superb stuffed mussels, confit of duck salad, rack of lamb with herbs, and fillet of beef with Roquefort sauce (a signature dish).

A separate slate of desserts promises even more comforting delights in the shape of profiteroles, tarte Tatin and Froggies crème brûlée special (six different fruits plus a sorbet). To go with the food is a quality list of French wines (the house wine is actually grown and produced by Joel Gross's cousin in the Loire Valley). If you want to indulge in a bit more Gallic atmosphere, don't miss the French market that is held outside Froggies on the last Sunday of each month.

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Routiers

Chef Joel Gross built up a great reputation at Froggie's Restaurant in Wye, so when he headed deeper into the Kent countryside to the remote, 15th-century Timber Batts, he knew they would follow. The place went from being just another rural pub to one with an authentic French restaurant attached. The beamed and timbered bars have blazing log fires, one in a huge inglenook, and comfortable seating. The restaurant has its own fireplace and old pine tables topped with candles. Well placed for peaceful walks.

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The Fitzwalter Arms

A: The Street, Goodnestone, Kent, England CT3 1PJ
M: Google Map
W: thefitzwalterarms.co.uk
E: thefitzwalterarms@gmail.com
T: (01304) 840303

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Which? Good Food Guide 2009

The Fitzwalter Arms is the hub of village life, attracting both locals and tourists visiting the gardens of neighbouring Godmersham Park, while its no-nonsense simplicity extends to a rustic daily menu that seldom misses a beat. With around five dishes per course, each usually a demonstration of loyalty to fresh local produce, the food is rough round the edges – nothing fey – but cooked with intelligence and care.

Brawn with parsley, red onion and caper salad, for example, then black bream fillet with squid and gremolada, are appealing choices, or there could be a richly flavoured, traditional coq au vin, locally reared pork or seasonal game. Treacle tart and raw Jersey cream makes a good finish. House wine is £11.95.

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The Dove

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Which? Good Food Guide
The address suggests picture-postcard Olde England, as befits the old village pub, but the posh-plated, smart restaurant-style cooking is at odds with the scuffed floorboards, simple wooden tables and very casual service.

Corn-fed chicken and foie gras terrine with Armagnac prunes (£6.25) and fillet of sea bass with brown shrimp and confit of red peppers (£16.95) are well-prepared, if pricey, à la carte offerings. Go for lunch and look to the blackboard for confit duck and bavette of beef (both £10) or generously filled baguettes. House wine £14. Closed for Sun dinner and all day Monday.

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The Mobile Food Guide
Is it a pub? Is it a restaurant? No, it's The Dove – a splendidly rustic, ivy-clad Kentish hostelry just off the A229 at Dargate, a pretty village between Faversham and Whitstable. Inside, it looks like an honest local watering hole, with a maze of little rooms, bare-boarded floors, panelling and scrubbed tables; there are Shepherd Neame ales on tap and a blackboard menu of hearty, French-inspired food that hits the button.

Phillip MacGregor has recently taken over the reins as chef/proprietor (he trained here as a budding chef during the 1990s) and early reports are promising to say the least: 'I have not tasted such good food in a long time and the atmosphere was friendly and inviting', raved one Mobile Food Guide user. In fine weather, there's also a wonderful garden with glorious views.

The kitchen delivers easy light bites along the lines of roast pork and Bramley apple baguettes, croque madame and even Welsh rarebit together with more ambitious offerings such as seared scallops with black pudding and parsnip purée, confit of lamb with anchovy crushed potatoes, and fillet of sea bass with grilled potatoes, slow-roast tomatoes and fennel ceviche.

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A: Plum Pudding Lane, Dargate, Kent, England ME13 9HB
M: Google Map
T: (01227) 751360

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