The best restaurants in Deal

With its brutalist pier off a pebble beach and seafront of old boatmen’s townhouses, Deal’s maritime loveliness was never in doubt, while its High Street has become possibly the best shopping stretch in Kent. But a decade ago, while Whitstable was shelling out the oysters faster than you could spell “gentrification”, Deal’s food scene wasn’t quite at the same level.

That’s changed and then some, ever since the Frog and Scot bistro took over an old florists-cum-caff in 2016, and a few years later The Rose went from High Street boozer to food-driven boutique hotel, later with a star turn from executive chef Nuno Mendes. With artisan suppliers like the Black Pig butchers, which sources its game from the Stour Valley and its rich black pork from Faversham, Deal has become a fabulous place to eat – with some of the most creative provenance-driven small plates in the county. The big news this spring is the arrival of the Blue Pelican, from the owners of The Rose, which adds a subtly clever new Japanese flavour to the local scene. Below are just some of the must-eats, in town and the surrounding area…

Blue Pelican

For all the recent buzz around the Blue Pelican, the feeling of walking in off the seafront is one of Zen serenity. This is a place of clean lines, soft cerulean and mind-peace: from the open counter, where chef Luke Green works with introverted precision, to a curiously calming Hokusai-esque wave over Deal on one wall, by Kentish woodblock artist (and breathwork coach) Tom Maryniak. On the ground floor of a pier-facing townhouse, the Blue Pelican is the latest opening from Chris Hicks and Alex Bagner, husband-and-wife owners of The Rose hotel-restaurant nearby. Upstairs, there are gua sha facials and full body massages at the Pelican Rooms, effectively the hotel’s new day spa, but the restaurant was designed specifically for the talents of Green, a Quo Vadis alumnus who spent five years cooking in Tokyo before working under Nuno Mendes at The Rose. The menu is a lovely interplay of Kent produce and Japanese technique, subtlety and punch – with highlights including chicken tsukune, a plump skewer of chicken over a sake-infused hedgehog mushroom broth; and a smoked eel to convert the naysayers, balanced delicately by a slice of tamagoyaki Japanese omelette. After small plates including richly unctuous crab croquette balls, there’s a selection of yakitori grill skewers (pork collar, dry-aged rump cap etc) before shareable mains: pork katsu, rich short-rib donabe rice, say, or day boat brill with clams, monks beard and white miso worthy of the best seafood restaurants. With a smart drinks list roaming from Peckham-brewed sakes to umesh negronis and chilled Saicho sparkling tea, and an English-leaning wine list by Tim Toovey of wine merchants Uncharted, this is a place that wears its cleverness lightly and unpretentiously. Green, whose wife is Japanese, doesn’t overplay the concept for the diners that cluster around the counter. Those little plates do the talking here.

Address: 83 Beach Street, CT14 6JA
Website: thebluepelican.co.uk

The Rose

Nowhere is more synonymous with Deal’s burgeoning popularity, especially for foodies, than The Rose. Although it was a red-brick landmark on the High Street for more than 200 years, morphing from brewery to High Street boozer in the 20th century, it was its 2018 reopening as a smart hotel/restaurant under Alex Bagner and Christopher Hicks (whose great grandfather owned the old Thompson Brewery) that turbo-charged Deal into the broadsheet consciousness. The restaurant, with its original 1950s wood panelling, was central from the start (the eight colour-popping, vintage-filled rooms are lovely too) – even more so when Nuno Mendes came onboard as executive chef in 2020, overseeing ex-Sportsman chef David Gadd in the kitchen. Their short menu is driven by seasonal Kentish provenance: think celeriac rosti with tender peas, wild garlic and fresh local cheese on the spring menu, following favourites like the Lion’s Mane mushroom on toast, with sherry broth and sorrel. Mendes’s influence is subtle, more a quiet guarantee of quality in every oyster, skate wing or venison saddle, but pops up clearly in the olive oil cake with quince caramel on the dessert menu. Manager Elliott Smith, who cut his teeth at The Fordwich Arms, sets the tone for a place that can feel smart, but also like somewhere for a game of Guess Who? with the kids.

Address: 91 High Street, CT14 6ED
Website: therosedeal.com

Frog and Scot

Just about opposite The Rose, small plates bistro Frog and Scot is another local haunt run by a local foodie power couple. In this case, that’s Benoit and Sarah Dezecot, the titular Frog and Scot, who also run the wine shop and bar Le Pinardier a few doors down. In a cool pistachio-coloured space, the changing blackboard menu goes well beyond any bistro cliches – from delicate sea bream crudo to meltingly soft lamb, spongy herring roe on toast, pinkish koji hanger steaks with miso, and a sublime walnut ice cream with coffee oil and white chocolate soil. With monthly DJ sets and wine clubs (the list here, like Le Pinardier, mostly celebrates small French producers), and unobtrusively fizzy service, it manages that elusive trick of being a friendly locals’ hangout that also feels special enough for a date night.

Address: 86 High Street, CT14 6EG
Website: frogandscot.co.uk

Elsewhere in Deal

Next door to The Blue Pelican, 81 Beach Street is a bistro that does the classics well: from a baked catch of the day straight off the boats with triple-cooked chips to steaks, burgers and passionfruit creme brulees. Hotel/restaurant Dunkerley’s is Deal’s classic seafood restaurant, with local couple Ian and Linda Dunkerley serving Whitstable oysters, Moules Mariniere and oven-baked halibut with lemon sauce for more than 35 years.

At The Dining Club, hospitality veterans Scott and Suzanne Roberts essentially put on regular dinner parties, where AA Rosette winner Scott might veer Indian, Spanish, pescatarian or whatever takes his fancy with his set menus – usually with one sitting through the week, Friday and Saturday dinners and Sunday lunch. The Three Compasses B&B does smart set menus at weekends (think oak-smoked herring or Beef Bourguignon), while there are decent burgers and Sunday roasts at the sea-facing Kings Head pub. The lobster and crayfish rolls and bottomless brunches (90 minutes of unlimited Bloody Marys, say) have prompted many a happy stumble back from the Deal Pier Kitchen, at the end of the town’s iconic brutalist protrusion.

Out of town

Among the beach huts at Kingsdown, just south of town, the gorgeous sea- and White Cliffs-facing Zetland Arms is the latest to have been made over by The Rose owners Chris Hicks and Alex Bagner. Still with Shepherd Neame beers on tap, portraits of salty seadogs and the old roaring fire in winter, the “coastal food” has been slyly elevated: think crab rarebit, whitebait with garlic mayo or mussels with leeks, shallots and Kent cider. A 15-minute drive inland, the indoor-outdoor dining space at Updown Farmhouse has become just about the most evocative place to eat in Kent. Owners Oli Brown and Ruth Leigh met at Le Cafe Anglais in Bayswater, and left serious London food careers for life in this 17th-century farmhouse – and while the six-room, Grade II-listed house is well worth a stay regardless of the food, Brown’s biggest passion is clearly cooking over the open-fire in the festoon-lit, brick-walled restaurant: with dishes like Delica pumpkin pizzettas or Mangalitsa pork loins on the seasonal regular menu, and brown shrimp croquette bar snacks on an aperitivo-leaning drinks list (tarragon gimlets, alcohol-free bitter orange and Crodino coolers).