Dim Tim Sin

Holy green curries! Poor old Tim Garbutt - yes, he of the constant spamming of the comments on these jottings - has got himself in a bit of a Twitter pickle with top restaurant critic Jay Rayner!

It seems from a twatspat that's been twittering on over the past 24 hours that 'Mayor' Tim took on The Observer's foodie fanatic over a review of his Surin Thai restaurant in Ramsgate's Harbour Street. JR objected to his continuing use of the review, which is now something like a decade old.

But as we know from bitter experience, Tim is like a dog with a bone. Here's a slightly reheated and rehashed taste of the Twitter exchange:

Tim: Surin is 'one of the best Thai meals I have ever eaten', Jay Rayner, The Observer and BBC Food Critic. Ad inf.

Jay: Stop quoting (my review). It's out of date.... Every time you quote me I'll call you out for dishonesty.

Tim: Do not threaten.... How rude and childish... I'll contact the Observer to disown you... We can quote it as we wish.

Jay: Which bit do you not understand? I haven't been (to your restaurant) in ten years so I can't stand by that review.

Tim: Your ego is in overdrive.... Just stop the bullying.

Kevin Harris: (Who he? - Ed.) Best to avoid Surin it seems, the proprietor can't control himself.

Jay: I have no idea whether Surin is any good. But I'm sure that (Tim) is what my people call a bit of a schmuck... I don't expect people to try and promote through something a decade old.

Tim: After this nasty bullying you (Jay) are not welcome.

Jay: That will be the next quote Surin use: 'A Jay Rayner-free restaurant since 2014' :)

Tim: Your nastiness just silly.

Jay: I'm going to sit in the corner and think about what I've done.

Tim: It was a great piece of writing. Shame it's soured a bit.

Jay: TEN YEARS AGO. And do stop snivelling. It's unattractive.

Tim: Annoyed/ashamed of you. Expect better.

Jay: Restaurants change. Chefs lose their touch.

Tim: Bullyboy reviewer banned.

Jay: Does this mean you'll stop quoting my review? I mean, if you now hate me so much and I'm not welcome how can my review be valid...?... After this I can say I have no interest whatsoever in the restaurant you represent. Well done.

In my opinion, poor old Tim has just committed culinary hurry-curry there. My threat to come round and give the Surin an 'honest review' in response to him spamming my blog would now seem a trifle redundant!

Still, I don't expect we'll have to wait long for his perspective on it! Pip pip!

Big Deal Has Its Chips

Given all the hoo-ha about Margate's GB Pizza setting up shop in that London, it's about time to point out that Ramsgate is also doing its bit to export good grub to the rest of the nation!

The Bulgarian owner of Sunrise Fish and Chips here in the Millionaires' Playground tells me he's about to open another outlet down the road in Deal. That pretty much makes him a net exporter, given that anything beyond the Wantsum is viewed by most locals as suspiciously foreign.

Sunrise takes the accolade for best fish and chips in Ramsgate, in my humble proverbial. Lovely, freshly cooked food, humungous portions, and all served up with a smile and a small bill. What more could a Thanetian wish for!!??!

I dunno. They come over here, cooking good food, opening up successful businesses, employing people, contributing to the local economy. Tell Farage to put that in his Woodbine and smoke it!!

Bodrum Antics

Thanks to all of you who emailed me to fill in the gaps on my St George's Day bender. Apparently I was spotted in the small wee hours buying a kebab from Bodrum, the excellent eating emporium on Harbour Street which now has a late licence.

In fact Ramsgate is becoming something of a Mecca for those who fancy a night on the sauce, followed by the inevitable juicy doner filled with yummy chilli sauce. By my count we now have four of these establishments within a few minutes' stagger. Perhaps slightly longer if you stop for a pee in one of the alleyways, which seems obligatory for both the, er, gentlemen and the ladies!

Sic Transit Gloria Mariportae

Eheu! Omnes Mariportani tristes erunt! India Regis Filia sine dubio solvendo non est. Hic proscriptio in Acta Diurna Tenetis erat (clickus photum ut augere).

Eddie, Steady, Go!

More plaudits for Eddie Gilbert's Ramsgate restaurant, this time from famous foodie bloggers the Dos Hermanos!

After yours truly left a mention of EG's on an item about their visit to Age & Sons last year, the Hermanos decided to hop on the high speed train to the Millionaires' Playground and were well impressed. Here's their take on the starter:

Eel Soldiers and Duck Egg is a deceptively simple dish but to get it spot-on requires technique and timing: the egg must have soft, soft yolk and a solid albumen and the fingers of Eel must be deep-fried in oil that is hot enough, then drained and served immediately. The kitchen aced it. They even managed to fashion an aesthetically pleasing crack in the eggshell. Damn they’re good, was all I could think as I crunched through crisp coating into the deeply smoky eel flesh inside.

Click here to read the entire review on Dos Hermanos

Meanwhile, our other top Eddie, the Gaddfather of Ale, appears to be making steady progress with upsizing his brewery. I've had my team of crack animators imagineering a superdupercomputer CGI conceptualisation of the finished fermentery, and here's the Avatar-like result! Is it me, or does one of the protagonists bear an uncanny resemblance to Ramsgate Firster Gerry O'Donnell?

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Kent Restaurant Awards have now got their act together and sent me a press release, and it seems we have even more reasons to celebrate here in Ramsgate than I thought on Saturday!

The awards were held last Thursday, and in addition to Age & Sons winning Best Cafe as already reported, Eddie Gilbert's got a gong for Best Newcomer, Harvey's for Best Launch, while La Magnolia was voted Best Italian. Yet more evidence that the Millionaires' Playground if fast becoming foodie heaven too! Here's the full SP:

Best Café
Age & Sons Cafe-Bar - Ramsgate

Best Takeaway
Prince of India - Faversham

Best Oriental Restaurant
Thai Square - Sevenoaks

Best International
Buenos Aires - Maidstone

Best Indian Restaurant
Raja of Kent - Tenterden

Best Italian Restaurant
La Magnolia - Ramsgate

Best French Restaurant
Le Restaurant Fabrice - Teynham

Best English Restaurant
Richard Phillips at Chapel Down - Tenterden

Best Gastro Pub
George and Dragon - Ightham

Best Hotel Restaurant
Eastwell Manor - Ashford

Best Seafood Restaurant
Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant - Hythe

Best Gourmet Restaurant
Thackeray’s - Tunbridge Wells

There were also three special awards for:

Best Newcomer
Eddie Gilbert's – Ramsgate

Best Wine Cellar
Montrose – Tunbridge Wells

Best Launch
Harvey’s - Ramsgate

Over 6500 members of the public nominated and voted for more than 300 establishments across the county. A panel of expert judges visited a shortlist of more than 70 venues, assessing the quality of the cooking, service and ambience, awarding additional marks for the use of local produce of sound provenance using sustainable farming practices.

'The evening was a tremendous success,' said OrderOnlineNow founder Andrew Frisbee, who added, 'We hope the Awards will help to raise culinary standard to a new level and put Kent on the gastro tourist map.'

East Of The Wantsum

Here's this week's East of the Wantsum. And before anyone moans, remember you get it for free. You don't even have to pay 60p to see it smudged all over this week's Isle of Thanet Gazunder! Er, they get it for free too.

Yep, this blog has been proudly unfunded since 2006. No products, services or political party to plug. No sponsors to please, no licence fee to cough up, no pesky ads to get in the way of your reading enjoyment. You don't deserve me!

While we're at it, congratulations to Ramsgate's very own Age & Sons for winning the Best Cafe category in the Kent Restaurant Awards on Thursday. And also to top Ramsgate butchers J C Rook, fantastic Ramsgate fishmongers Eddie Gilbert's, Minster's Chai Stop and bestest brewer Gadds' of Ramsgate for getting into the finals of the Taste of Kent Awards!

And, er, if any of you would care to sponsor this blog, do get in touch. I'm desperate.

Click here for finalists in Taste of Kent Awards
Don't bother clicking here for Kent Restaurant Awards as they haven't seen fit to publicise them on the internet.

Restaurant Praised, Ramsgate Rubbished in Independent

I see Age & Sons, Ramsgate's premier eatery, has yet again won plaudits in the national press. Restaurant reviewer Tracey MacCleod gives the joint four stars out of five for food and service in today's Independent. However, she's less than complimentary about the island's premier town. She writes:

The once-thriving royal resort of Ramsgate should, in theory, be the perfect destination for a daytrip to the seaside, thanks to the imminent high-speed rail link from St Pancras. I had it all planned: a blustery walk on the beach, fish bought straight from the boat, perhaps a little antiques shopping, before a hearty lunch eaten in sight of the sea. I was thinking, it turns out, of Whitstable. Ramsgate is not, nor could ever be mistaken for, Whitstable.

The short taxi ride from station to harbour (courtesy of a driver with 'Love' and 'Hate' tattooed on his knuckles) took us past boarded-up shops and repossessed properties. It was clear that the flood of wealth which washed over south-east England during the last decade has largely by-passed this far easterly corner. As my fellow day-tripper Harry said, taking in the blighted landscape, 'Suddenly I see the point of Brighton'.

'Blighted landscape'? 'Boarded-up shops'? The knuckle-tattooed taxi driver didn't take you gullible DFLs via Margate, did he? And as for a 'blustery walk on the beach', 'fish straight from the boat' and 'antiques shopping', you could have done all those things here if you'd bothered to toddle a few yards, love. Not only that, but our beautiful Blue Flag beaches are sandy, not rocks/mud like those other places you mention.

As for Whitsta-bloody-bubble, I should jolly well hope Ramsgate could never be mistaken for the place, which these days is so crammed with middle class escapees from the smoke it resembles nothing more or less than an ethnically cleansed Islington-on-Sea. And last time I looked, Whitstable didn't have almost 1,000 listed buildings. Just a few tatty wooden shacks! Kuh!

Click here to read review of Age & Sons in the Independent

And click here to watch a repeat of Homes Under the Hammer on BBC iPlayer, in which the old Ramsgate police station, next door to Age & Sons, is given the makeover treatment by an accountant (Series 12, Episode 20)

Watch Out, There's A Scammer About!

No, nothing to do with a particularly messy night out in the company of George Michael, as the above ad, taken from one of those 1960s East Kent Critics that our local Biblio-Bloke put up on his excellent thanetonline blog a while back, might suggest.

No, this is something altogether more serious. I've heard from a few of my contacts in the Thanet restaurant trade that an internet scammer is doing the rounds, sending out emails requesting block bookings over the festive season. Here's a typical example:

Hello,
I am Dr. Allen Bradley ,the director of Staff welfare MCL Offshore UK Ltd. I want to book dinner for my group of workers .
They will all come for dinner in your place as from December 2nd, 3rd, 4th by 6:30pm each day.
They are 15 in number.Get back with your response if there is availability in your restaurant.
Kind Regards,
Dr. Allen Bradley
Tel : +447045705287

From the weird grammar, phrasing and punctuation, you might possibly have smelt a rat already. If not, and you respond, this is what you get:

Hello.

Many thanks for your response.We will appreciate if you prepare a 3 course menu for my group for the dinner No special dietary.

We will be happy for any suggestion you may render since this is our first dinner in your restaurant

Kindly provide the total cost of the dinner for the 15 persons for the 3 night dinner so as to provide my credit card details for full payment confirmation.

Your response will be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Dr. Allen Bradley
Mobile Number : +447035962564

You really should have twigged something's up by now, but continue the correspondence and here's the clincher:

Hello,

Thanks for your reply and assistance so far and we will book for the dinner.I will make a payment deposit of Euro 2,000 which will cover their meals and drinks in advance because we are not sure of what your guests might like to drink or how much they are likely to consume.

Moreover, we were able to make an arrangement with a pre-paid car hiring agent who will supply the guests with vehicles that will be used by the guests to and for your place. So in order not to share my credit card information with a third party, I have decided that only you will have to handle my credit card information.

More so, the prepaid agent and do not have the facility to make a manual charge to a credit card if not present. On my own side, I would have sent him his money directly, but am on the high sea work on an OIL RIG. There are no bank or moneygram here where I can make payment directly to the agent.

So once you are in receipt of my credit card details,you are required to charge the total amount of Euro 9,000 + processing fees on my card,then deduct Euro 2,000 as initial payment deposit for the dinner(meals and drinks) and send the balance of Euro 7,000 to the prepaid car / ticketing agent whose information I will forward to you once this is confirmed.

Confirm this and provide me with your
(1) YOUR FULL NAME
(2) FULL ADDRESS
(3) PHONE NUMBERS for office record.

All checks and balances shall be done with the group leader on the final day of their dinner.

Please be advised that we shall pay for all expenses and fees incurred as a result of the entire amount to be charged.

Kind Regards,
Dr. Allen Bradley
Tel : +447035946663
Mobile : +447035948143
Fax : +447075020654

Your response at this point really should be F*CK YOU, DICKWAD! Because, of course, what will happen is that he'll send you his (fraudulent) credit card details, but will force you to make the transfer to his 'car-hiring agent' (him or his mate) before you can put the transaction through. So you'll be down €7000, as the credit card will turn out to be a fake and worth nought. Oh, and he'll have your personal details too, so he can start cloning your identity.

There are all kinds of variations on this little earner. And although 'Dr Allen Bradley' or 'Allan Brad' seem to be his preferred monikers, he sometimes uses a foreign name to disguise the poor English. He's even been known to do this over the telephone. But his MO always seems to be the same - multiple restaurant bookings.

So be warned, bar owners and restaurateurs of Thanet! If someone wants to book a huge table three nights on the trot, it could be an early Christmas present. In all likelihood, however, it'll leave you with a very expensive hangover in the New Year!

Click here to read more about the 'Dr Allen Bradley' restaurant scam

Thought For Food

Despite what many were clearly hoping (if the emails are to be believed) I was not the poor soul who went over the cliff at Wellington Crescent the other night. I am still among you. It's nice to know I have so many, er, ill-wishers though.

Sticking with the subject of the last item - grub - I've received a request from the owner of the new caff on Margate's Harbour Arm (or 'pier' in old money) to be added to the list of recommended nosheries in my sidebar on the right. Jean writes:

Dear Eastcliff Richard,

Can I join the listings for your café/eating section? How do I go about it?

I have opened a small café on the Harbour Arm in Margate called BeBeached and have attached a copy of the menu herewith – this is an all day brunch menu and I also always have specials running – things like pies, macaroni cheese, stuffed aubergines, beef hash, boston baked beans with potato cakes, and on Sundays we have meat from Quex farm, nut roast, and other vegetarian options.

Hope to hear back,

Jean

Well that all sounds very yummy Jean! And the menu looks fantastic, although you might want to cut back slightly on the drizzleds, sprinkleds and, um, 'trickled's. However, before it can be recommended by Thanet's premier blog, I need some feedback. So if any of you luvvly readers out there can vouch for BeBeached, do let me know!

BeBeached website

Dine And Whine

Regular contributor Samantha writes:

We went to Harveys Fish Market, the new restaurant on Ramsgate Harbour last night. It's beautifully kitted out but a bit pricey for Ramsgate I feel. It was interesting to see the rather posh barman (he's their wine-buyer, apparently) turning away drinkers with a polite 'We're a restaurant not a pub'. The finish of the venue looks good but will Thanet folk pay £13 (minimum) for a main course with at least £3 for any side orders? My risotto, whilst nice, was literally three dessert spoonfuls with two lettuce leaves.

If Ramsgate is the 'new millionaires' playground' [Yes it is - Ed] perhaps it'll succeed but at the moment... Mind you, it's owned by the same guy who owns the Blazing Donkey where the lunch bill for a very modest meal was so ridiculous we never went back!! I asked for a starter to be a main and you should have seen the size of the portion - you needed a magnifying glass to spot it!!

If you give it a whirl do let me know. I want these new places to succeed otherwise it'll only be Thorley's that'll be left.

PS: Didn't realise the place on the harbour had gone as the advertising boards are still in situ but there seems to be a 'for sale' sign on the building. Didn't walk the whole way as it looked empty.

Well, that's one review of the new plaice place. I'll hang fire for further reports before I consider it for my Recommended Thanet Nosheries in the sidebar on the right. And yes, the caff at the end of the east pier is no more. It was called the Harbour Lights, but they went out a few months back I gather.

Ramsgate Restaurant Receives Rave Review

Eat your heart out Wossie! (Whatever happened to him? - Ed.) Reader Frances has pointed me in the direction of yesterday's Sunday Torygraph and yet more proof of what I have always known, that Ramsgate is the isle's premier town. Reviewer Zoe Williams describes our very own Age and Sons as 'brilliant'! Zoe, who clearly has excellent taste, writes:

I should warn you before I start that, when a new restaurant opens in a town you visit often, in which hitherto the best boast of the restaurant circuit was 'all you can eat', you arrive with a certain intoxicated delight that nothing short of being served dog on toast is going to shift.

In the back alleys of Ramsgate is an old wine warehouse that in east London would house 75 ad execs and a clan of rats, but here has been turned into a lovely, large, inviting establishment – downstairs a bar decked out in bleached wood, upstairs a swankier restaurant, with directional halogen lighting, exposed brick, enough of a sense of quirk to have kept the building's Victorian atmosphere, but an overriding sense of hospitality. It says, 'Come in! Stay as long as you like!' Maybe you think all restaurants say that. Not in London, chum.

Quite. Another triumph for the Millionaires' Playground!

Click here to read full review in Sunday Torygraph
Click here for details of Age and Sons

Grubby Thoughts

During my assignation with one of our lovely local authors earlier this week, the discussion turned to the woeful lack of fine dining hereabouts. Of course, it would be great if the island's papers carried restaurant reviews. But you could be certain that the first mention of a dodgy prawn at a Thorley establishment would see their advertising revenue going down the gurgler along with everything else. So that's out of the question.

There are some excellent eateries - the Indian Princess in Margate springs to mind, or the relatively recent Age and Sons in Charlotte Court here in the Millionaires' Playground. But how do you tell the perfectly matured fillet of beef from the Turkey Twizzler if you've never been before?

That's why, as a service to my fellow Thanetian gourmets, I'm offering you the chance to put your restaurant reviews here on the island's premier blog. And if you can give the place a knife and fork rating out of five, I can begin to build the ECR Guide To Good Food In Thanet. So, whether it be a simple pub meal, a great curry, perfect fish and chips, or the dining experience to die for (from E. Coli or not as the case may be), send your reviews to richardeastcliff@yahoo.co.uk

Curry Inn Favour

This is something of an admission, but I appear to have enjoyed a number of visits to Margate recently! My latest foray was to the Indian Princess, a new Asian restaurant where the George used to be. You know, next to that barn that burnt down about a year ago.

Now this joint is not your average curry house. Forget piling in after the pub to sit down to a bowl of bright red something or other slopped over a couple of cubes of warmed up chicken, sloshed down with several pints of lager. No, this is definitely authentic Indian cuisine. Fresh local meat and fish, Welsh lamb, subtle flavours, amuse bouches, even a crunchy mango sorbet between courses to 'cleanse the palate'. The cheeky young maitre d' will expertly explain what's on offer, and the smartly dressed chef will more than likely bring your meal straight from his hotplate to your table. Yum!

When I was there, the place was packed with the cream of Margatonian society (the bloke who runs the fish stall on the pier). It's definitely not cheap, but if you tell them Richard sent you, you might get a little Brucie Bonus!