FOOD + DRINK
THE KITCHEN GARDEN CONT .
© Lucy Mohr
THE CURIOUS EATERY
ROCKSALT AND THE PICKLED EGG COMPANY ’ S KITCHEN GARDEN
The Curious Eatery , Maidstone
The wonderful story of two sisters who always dreamt of opening their own restaurant and bringing people together . They trained in Cape Town , spent time travelling the world and grew up in Botswana . The experience has given them a huge range of influences and skills that have culminated together to create this lovely eatery .
The Curious Eatery ’ s kitchen garden is growing produce that could win a country fair . Huge cabbages and courgettes are just some of the produce that they proudly serve in the restaurant .
Their chef Ollie , worked on Richard Branson ’ s infamous private island previously and was junior sous chef at Tom Kerridge ' s restaurant ‘ The Hand and Flowers ’. The sisters ’ ethos is to create an eating experience that is fun and focuses on delivering food that is simply delicious .
www . thecuriouseatery . co . uk
The Pig , Bridge
It ’ s hard not to enjoy the beautiful kitchen garden at The Pig in Bridge , one of the eight ‘ The Pig ’ around the country . The kitchen garden is central in the architecture between the rooms , the outdoor eating areas and the main restaurant , meaning you constantly pass it to get to one from the other . The Pig also has a commitment to use no produce sourced outside a 25 mile radius . Not an easy promise to keep though a very commendable one – especially when you are catering for the kind of numbers that The Pig are . The menu is driven by what their gardener and forager can grow or find , and they make the most of Kent ’ s distinctive character and unique combination of agricultural farmland , ancient orchards , newly planted vineyards , and history of hop growing , all within casting distance of the sea .
Some of the suppliers they rely on within their 25 mile radius , if they are unable to grow it themselves , are Kentish Pip , who are 3 miles away from The Pig and based at Woolton Farm , near Canterbury where the Mount Family has been growing apples for four generations ; The Cheesemakers of Canterbury , who are 11 miles away and produce a range of cow ’ s and goat ’ s cheese at their dairies at Dargate and Hastingleigh ; and Bardsley Farms , who are 11 miles away and grow high-quality , awardwinning fruit which is hand-picked and pressed to produce deliciously refreshing and quintessentially English juices .
www . thepighotel . com
Rocksalt in Folkestone / The Wife of Bath in Wye / The Five Bells in Brabourne / The Duke William in Ickham / The Radnor Arms in Folkestone / The Woolpack in Warehorne .
The prolific collection of pubs and restaurants stretching from Ickham to Warehorne , and most places in between , belong to passionate restauranter , Josh De Haan . Few people recognise him as the real face and drive behind his pubs and restaurants , he himself preferring to stay out of the limelight , but at home on his small holding is where you see the real man behind the name .
His kitchen garden is something he is very passionate about and which he began himself during lockdown , “ It ’ s incredibly important to me , not just because I live on a small holding , that customers and our brilliant teams in the kitchens don ’ t lose sight of where food comes from and the importance of seasonality on our menus . I want the head chefs to come up ( to the kitchen garden ) whenever they want to ; to take whatever they need . It ’ s early days but we have plans to build a development kitchen here so we can grow and forage and make all sorts of goodies .”
Josh has around 24 acres on the farm with 30 fruit trees including apples , plums , pears , greengages , fig , quince , and medlar , which are all harvested for the group . In the autumn , he can often be found picking the wild blackberries on his dog walks and in his horse fields collecting fallen walnuts , which last year he pickled himself to have with cheese boards at Rocksalt . It ’ s not just about the kitchen garden though ; there are plenty of chickens and Kevin and Bacon , the two pigs . They ’ re off to slaughter next week and will be used in the restaurants along with the seven lambs who were slaughtered two weeks ago and were born and bred on the farm .
www . thepickledeggpubcompany . com
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