It looks like all the other reviews of the Fordwich Arms are from several years ago, before the new…read moremanagement took over. What seems to have been a lovely local pub is now a Michelin-starred pub and restaurant, and having now eaten here twice, I can honestly say it's one of the best places I have ever been.
Fordwich is a beautiful little town on the wildflower-strewn banks of the river Stour. The Arms is a handsome and imposing old pub with a pleasant main bar, a wood-panelled dining room, a vine-canopied terrace by the river, and a charming beer garden. For our second visit, we sit on the terrace on a perfect summer's day, watching the reeds sway in the lazy Stour in front of us.
The first things that arrive are three different 'snacks', canapes basically, which we weren't expecting. They come in little polished wooden boxes like the treasures which they are. I am afraid I can't remember exactly what we ate but they are some of the most gorgeous little mouthfuls I've had.
Then comes the bread, which is practically a course in itself. There's a slice of incredible focaccia each, and a slice of dark, rich soda bread each. This is served with butter - churned on site, and amazing - Maldon salt, a little pot of sweet, soft, slow-cooked onion, and a 'butter' made of pork fat and Marmite topped with crunchy little pig shrapnel, which I would eat with a spoon until it inevitably killed me.
We opt for another snack alongside the bread: a plate of smoked cod roe with garden vegetables. It doesn't sound like much but the vegetables were so good. Tiny, tender bites of endive, radish and asparagus, which barely seemed to have been cooked, just arranged beautifully on the plate with all their delicate flavours intact.
Starters: I have the duck pate. It is a half-moon of deliciousness topped with Kentish cherries, little pickled onion pieces, and a dash of Sauternes. The Fordwich Arms kitchen, demonstrating their wizardly acumen once again, eschew serving this with something like toast or brioche, but instead go for three hot, fresh, impossibly light doughnut holes. It's an absolute banger of a dish.
My wife meanwhile is occupied with a confection of Whitstable crab meat, fennel tops, pickled cucumber and hollandaise, over which a translucent sheet of cider gel has been draped like a handkerchief. She allows me a morsel and yes: this is an absolute banger too.
A theme is developing, that of absolutely banging cooking. This theme plays loudly and clearly throughout the main courses. I have guinea fowl, my wife has the turbot.
When mine arrives, it's another really beautiful plate. There is so much going on. There's about fifteen tiny different things there. There's a piece of guinea fowl that has been cooked so perfectly - with perfect, crispy skin - that it's a marvel. There is some whipped, creamy potato puree sandwiched between little discs of fried potato. There's a single glorious spear of asparagus and a little grilled lettuce. I am pretty sure there was some trout. There are multiple dollops of different mousses. There's a shaving of fresh black truffle. I rove around the plate grazing, trying this with that.
It's one of the best main dishes I have ever eaten. Meanwhile, my wife is tackling the turbot, served with peas, potato, a seaweed-infused sauce, and a nugget of the fish given the tempura treatment in tremendous style on the side. I try a bit. It's, yes. All of this. Yes.
We end up with some cheese for me, served with quince jelly, pickled fennel (wow, by the way, that's great), pickled onion and grapes; and for my wife a pot of dark chocolate, raspberry, and Earl Grey sorbet. Two little cider 'wine gums' arrive with our bill. Everything is perfect.
I should mention the bill because this is a Michelin-starred restaurant and you don't expect to get away cheap. But with the exception of the cod roe (an extra), all this is a set midweek lunch menu for £35 a head. We pay a small supplement for the turbot and the cheese, but this? This is incredible value, for food this good and memorable, not to mention the warm and flawless service and the beautiful location.
There are lots of places trying their hand at hyper-local sourcing, foraging, making their own butter and growing their own veg, and so on. What sets the Fordwich Arms apart is the sheer brilliance and creativity of the cooking. Everything tastes like the absolute best version of itself and is paired up with its perfect partners. You will go a long way to find better.
