Broadstairs foodie guide: where locals eat and drink

morellisgelato.com

Here are our favourite ice cream parlours in the UK to check out this summer...

The Thirty-Nine Steps – best craft beer bar in Broadstairs

Since it opened four years ago, Broadstairs’ bar The Thirty-Nine Steps has served 1,523 different beers from 631 different breweries and a vast range of ciders from Herefordshire’s Weston's to an interesting rhubarb perry. To soak it all up, there are homemade mini pork pies for a bargain £2.

facebook.com/the-thirty-nine-steps

The Chapel – best pub in Broadstairs

Continue your hoppy quest down the road at The Chapel, an alehouse set in a 17th century chapel that was once also used as a bookshop. The owners have been careful to keep the bookish atmosphere; grab a book from the shelf, a pint of local ale, a bar snack and, if you’re lucky, catch some live local music to boot.

chapelbroadstairs.com

Wyatt & Jones – best neighbourhood restaurant in Broadstairs

Book in advance to guarantee a table at Wyatt & Jones, a popular family-run restaurant in Broadstairs. Overlooking Viking Bay, you can watch local fisherman bring in the day’s haul (or, later, taste it in the five or so fish dishes on the restaurant’s creative, locally sourced menu). The lobster is particularly good.

Or, sit at the bar with a glass of Kentish wine and try local cured meats, Godminster cheese croquettes or smoked almond falafels from the regularly changing antipasti board. Larger, sharing, dishes can also be ordered, including Chateaubriand or whole turbot or seabass.

The biggest draw here is the Sunday brunch and roast lunch.

wyattandjones.co.uk

Samworth & Mee – best seafood restaurant in Broadstairs

Before heading to the beach or harbour, don't miss the Samworth & Mee bistro in Broadstairs for comfort food, fresh seafood and excellent breakfasts (the French toast with berries and maple syrup is particularly good). Sandwiches shouldn't be overlooked here, either. If the crab sandwich with chips is on the menu, order it.

As with most places in the area, fish and seafood is provided by local fisherman, Jason Llewellyn, and his shop, Fruit de la Mer along The Broadway (the high street). Stop off here on the way home if you want to take a slice of the seaside home with you. Samworth & Mee is at 9-11 Albion Street.

Osteria Pizzeria Posillipo – best Italian restaurant in Broadstairs

For over 20 years, Broadstair’s Osteria Pizzeria Posillipo has been providing locals with real-deal Italian food (think rustic vibes and charming Italian service). The decked terrace draws in a lingering summer crowd who are happy to sip wine whilst grazing on antipasti and watching seagulls on the beach a stone’s throw away.

Food is simple: Neopolitan-style pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven, fish and meat mains plus a good selection of pasta dishes. Go for the linguine Posillipo with clams, mussels and king prawns or a Borbone salad with rocket, Parma ham, Parmesan shavings and a caramelised balsamic vinegar drizzle. Just beware the huge portions.

posillipo.co.uk

Stark – best tasting menu in Broadstairs

Making serious culinary waves nearby is tiny, spartan Stark, owned and run by the super talented Ben Crittenden who previously cooked at the Michelin-starred West House in Biddenden. As the name suggests, you don’t come here for plush surroundings but for “good food, laid bare”. Currently its only offering is a six-course evening tasting menu, which Ben somehow magics up from a space no bigger than a broom cupboard (pictured above right).

Start with a plate of mackerel, watermelon and beetroot that looks like a Kandinsky painting (secret ingredient: watermelon jam), then make your way through everything, from smoked cuttlefish and spiced lamb to jasmine custard. But the hands-down winner is course number two, a duck terrine with hazelnut and ginger biscuit, and a duck and hazelnut parfait. The citrussy blobs of orange purée encircling it cut through the richness of the duck perfectly.

starkfood.co.uk

The Old Bakehouse – best bakery in Broadstairs

Be sure to head to tiny, family-run bakery, The Old Bakehouse, in Broadstairs, for a loaf of freshly made sourdough or a homemade cake. It's such a cute and quirky building that you'll want to pull up a chair and sit outside, tucking into one of their huge scones and a pot of tea.

There is a cafe inside but it's rather small and a bit of a squeeze. At the weekends, it's flooded by tourists who flock to it for it's typically English charm.

theoldbakehousebroadstairs.com

Where to Stay in Broadstairs

Yarrow

There are more gastronomic surprises at the nearby Yarrow hotel and restaurant, a vast red-brick edifice constructed in 1895 to accommodate convalescent children. These days it’s run by students from East Kent College, but you wouldn’t know it from the quality of the food: no surprise, given that the guiding hand in the kitchen is Ben Williams (formerly head chef at Phil Howard’s The Square).

Braised chicken wing and potato gnocchetti starter, and perfectly cooked sea bass and fennel main are as good as many dishes we’ve eaten in London (and a steal at £20 for a three-course lunch). With food as good as this it surely can’t be long until the rest of the country join those DFLs and start steering a course to this stretch of coast.

Doubles from £125, check availability at booking.com

Belvidere Place

Check into Belvidere Place, a Broadstairs B&B run by the charismatic Jilly Sharpe. Full of characterful furniture finds (most of which are available to buy) it's a relaxed and eclectic place, with five stylish, idiosyncratic bedrooms set over three floors of a Regency House. For breakfast, there's no menu. Instead, Jilly will create what you fancy or just leave it up to her; you get the impression she can read her guests' tastes very well. Recent offerings include baked nectarines with marmalade, avocado on toast with parsley and chilli, local dry-cure bacon butties and simple dried fruits such as figs and dates served with slivers of manchego cheese. belvidereplace.co.uk