The stylishly dark-coloured dining room has an uncluttered simplicity into which striking modern art and the open kitchen (with a four-stool dining counter) slot sympathetically. And while breaking new ground is not the game, the cooking shows off superlative seasonal produce, sustainable values and razor-sharp technique – what you get here is not just a meal but a display of fine cooking. Everything is produced with great assurance, an assurance that extends to front of house, headed by Read’s wife Greta Boccia who dispenses excellent wine advice.
Tasting menus offer a choice of five, eight or 10 courses (£60, £95, £125), and there’s the option of a set three-course lunch. Taking all 10 courses comes with the added bonus of a brilliant peek behind the scenes – this menu is only served at the kitchen counter – and we experienced first-hand Read’s enthusiasm, skill and innate sense of hospitality.
Breads are some of the best you’ll encounter, from a soft, chewy malted sourdough (teamed with a limpid ‘waste’ vegetable broth), a salt-sprinkled slice of focaccia (served with an assembly of young broad beans and peas with ricotta, kohlrabi and sliced Nocellara olives), or even a cooked-in-front-of-you sourdough crumpet (piled with Lancashire Bomb as a cheese course).
Standout dishes included Jersey Royals with nuggets of smoked eel in a luxurious watercress velouté, a fillet of seaweed-baked John Dory atop a spring vegetable pot au feu enriched with guanciale and lovage, and a flavourful slice of roast saddle of Sussex lamb with classic accompaniments of courgette, aubergine and oregano. Top-notch pâtisserie work, too, in a dessert of crème fraîche parfait layered with gooseberry compote, a linseed biscuit and elderflower gel.
WHEN 22nd May
WHERE 77 Calverley Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2UY
FOLLOW the_counter_tw
BOOK thecountertw.com
The Good Food Guide allows three to six months before anonymously inspecting a new restaurant. Look out for a full review coming soon.
