"Certain new restaurants I'm lured to semi-hypnotically, so rumours a few months back of an impending new venture from Dave Hart and Polly Pleasence slotted straight on to my I'll be there! list. I still remember a long lunch seven years ago at their previous venture, the Folkestone Wine Company, where a piece of perfect pan-fried hake fillet topped with luscious squid and a zesty gremolata had me actually gasping with happiness. This was truly great cooking."
"I recall Hart's sweet soda bread with salted butter, as well as his homemade gnocchi stirred through buttery, wilted leeks and layered almost to suffocation point with good black truffle. All pink, luscious and perfectly rendered': Franc's duck with chicory. There were just 26 seats in a higgledy-piggledy room, the crockery was mismatched and the cheeseboard featured brie de Meaux, Lincolnshire Poacher and a made-from-scratch chutney."
"We stayed for hours and talked of it for years afterwards. No slick marketing campaign will ever make me feel the breathless sigh I emit whenever I think back to Hart's wodge of french toast with fresh raspberries, raspberry coulis and fresh clotted cream eaten on that autumn Saturday back in 2018. Now the pair have brought that same winning formula to Canterbury: a really good neighbourhood independent with Hart on the stoves and Pleasence being a"
Dave Hart and Polly Pleasence have opened a neighbourhood independent in Canterbury with Hart as chef and Pleasence front-of-house. Hart previously cooked at the Folkestone Wine Company, producing standout dishes such as pan-fried hake with squid and gremolata, sweet soda bread with salted butter, and homemade gnocchi with black truffle. Hart trained under Stephen Harris at The Sportsman and has run several Kent restaurants. Pleasence helped launch The Goods Shed near Canterbury West station. The earlier Folkestone venue had 26 eclectic seats, mismatched crockery, a strong cheeseboard and a warm, lingering dining experience remembered for exceptional French-leaning cooking and memorable desserts.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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