Ali Earl-Gray has had an odd path into the food world. It doesn't usually go Apple for four years and then head of Marketing for Kricket, but for this lady it did. She has a passion for food & restaurants, when you go to supper with her she will have read the reviews, eyed up the standout dishes & chosen a few wild cards. For someone like me, who hates deciding what to eat or more often or not gets 'the burger' it is a treat, it enhances the experience tenfold. She also adores trying new restaurants, so much so one suggestion of a restaurant to review had popped up and popped down before this newsletter had hit the stand.
The Rose
Reviewed by Ali Earl Gray.
Having had a complete refurb at the end of 2018, and lots of fantastic reviews since I couldn't wait to try the food at The Rose in Deal. Deal is a lovely seaside town in Kent just a couple hours from London. It has lots of great furniture shops, cafes, bars and a beautifully tranquil beach.
The Rose's bedrooms have a mid-century feel with excellent bric-a-brac finds to add a bit of character. The dining room is similar with a mix of booth and table seating.
Our meal at The Rose started with a long debate about which of the 'snacks' we should order. Being next to the open kitchen, we watched all the dishes coming out, which helped us decide. The highlight was the Whipped Cods Roe With Radishes (£5.00), fresh, crunchy and perfectly paired with their signature 'Rose Smokey Old Fashioned (£10)
The menu is seasonal; we got there just before the autumn change. This meant we were lucky enough to try their Heritage tomatoes, charred peached and macron almonds' (£8.00) - on paper it sounds like nothing special but the different textures, and incredible olive oil made it the standout dish of the night. With all of us trying to decide how and if we could recreate it at home.
Being a seaside town there is, of course, a focus on fish. The seafood which we sampled was cooked to perfection - Lemon sole with the rich buttery dill sauce (£24.00), but it was the Mac and cheese, leaf salaf (£13.00) that we all wanted to test, coming out in a bubbling skillet, cheesy, crispy and gooey - it passed with flying colours!
Too full to think about puddings, but, having seen them coming out of the kitchen all evening, we didn't want to miss out. So we decided to share the Blackberry leaf ice cream, muddled blackberries & sorrel (£7.00) which was just the perfect light pudding to end a meal on. Well it would have been, but then we ordered the chocolate fondant with Peanut butter ice cream (£9.00) leaving us all rolling into our rooms to digest before breakfast (which is included - almost rude not to) the next day.
Having had months of home-cooked meals, we were an easy crowd to please! But the friendly service, buzzing kitchen and COVID safe, busy restaurant on a Tuesday night felt like such a treat, topped off the most enjoyable meal we have had this side of lockdown.
Service - 4* Food 4.5* Price 5*
