Restaurant Review: The Curlew, Near Bodiam, East Sussex

Jersey Royals

For the Saturday night of our weekend in East Sussex I had booked a table The Curlew Restaurant. Close to our B&B and having one Michelin Star, I hoped it would be the culinary highlight of our weekend away.

The food, in my humble opinion, was worthy of it's Michelin Star. The presentation was great throughout and the food was varyingly bold (like my starter made from just a single ingredient, Jersey Royals), delicate (like the tomato essence poured over the heritage tomatoes Becks had for her starter) and new (I'd never tasted sea blight, until I tried it with my main course of sea bass).

The highlights were probably the desserts. Becks declared the Kentish strawberry parfait with basil and almond to be even better than a very similar dish we had at Triciclo in Madrid earlier in the year. High praise indeed.

My cherry with pastry, pickled cherry and cherry sorbet was pretty good as well. It was great to be eating local cherries in the peak of their season. The pickled cherries were the highlight for me.

Although the food was worthy of a Michelin Star I didn't think the whole experience matched the same level. Our young waitress was a little bit surly, although she did warm up during the night. The penchant for serving the food in bowls, particularly the steeper bowls used for the starters, was a little awkward too. Where do you put your knife and fork if you wanted to put them down to take a sip of wine?

Finally there was an unpleasant odour outside the front door which meant the evening started and ended with a whiff. No one wants to walk away from an evening with drain smells stuck in the back of their throat.

Heritage tomatoes

Live caught cod

Sea bass

Kentish Strawberry Parfait

Cherry

The Curlew
Junction Rd
Bodiam
East Sussex
TN32 5UY