Menuwatch: Fort Road hotel, Margate

11 January 2023 by

Mrs Beeton and Kentish fare from the 19th century dictate the menu at this Margate hotel

You can't walk through Margate without experiencing its works of art. A neon sign shines over the harbour arm. A tranquil statue paddles in the sea, gazing out to the horizon. Even the signs above shops have been recently updated and beautified. And it's no surprise Tracey Emin's help in setting up the Turner Contemporary gallery has played a huge part in the regeneration of the town, both physically and reputationally.

Step inside the new Fort Road hotel and the appreciation of beauty continues. The main entrance opens up immediately into the restaurant, where you're faced with a glossy green-tiled bar. On your left hangs an Emin sketch of her Margate hometown, on your right, a ceramic from Nicolas Deshayes.

"Margate has been going through a Renaissance," says head chef Daisy Cecil. The 19th-century building has been slowly descending into decay since the hotel closed in the 1990s, but its current owners bought it at auction in 2018 and breathed new life into its walls. Cecil takes this idea of refurbishing heritage to use as a central pillar for her cooking.

"The menu had to be cohesive with the hotel for it all to make sense," she says. She has been reading Mrs Beeton, Jane Grigson, and a stack of old Kent recipe books. "I've gone back in time. This place was brought back to life and so I love the idea of reading old books and bringing it for a modern palate."

Take, for example, the brown bread ice-cream, which often makes an appearance on the dessert menu. The idea is from Mrs Beeton herself – brown bread is whizzed up with spices such as cinnamon and ginger, and toasted until crispy. This is added to an ice-cream base using half golden caster sugar and half light muscovado to give it a darker colour and caramel flavour.

"It's full of nostalgia for me because my dad used to tell me it was his favourite ice-cream when he was young," she says.

Having worked at the River Café in London for three and a half years, where menus can change as much as twice daily, Cecil started the Fort Road hotel restaurant with a daily menu. Now, four months after opening, she has settled into a steadier pace. "Seasonality and what's available writes the menu," Cecil says.

She splashes cider into dishes to celebrate the local Kent scene, for example in oysters with cider beurre blanc. In a dish of pig's cheeks cider is added to chicken stock to braise the meat with apple and fennel. Cecil likes to let the simplicity of quality ingredients shine – an ideology gained from her time at the River Cafe – which can be seen in the whole Roscoff onion, served alongside the pig cheeks, slow-cooked so it melts in the mouth.

Another tenet of the Fort Road hotel kitchen, alongside old-school dishes and simple flavours, comes from the surrounding land and sea in the form of foraging. The inspiration comes from Margate's famed foraging company Haeckels, which hand-picks seaweed to use as a base for its range of skincare. Its ideals of transforming nature's waste into quality, desirable products has been echoed in Cecil's menu. "Everything can be eaten," she says. "You just need to look at what's around you."

Sea beet, which is favoured as greenery in dishes such as the cod, sea beet and chive velouté, is similar to spinach but with more texture and slightly salty. A forager finds it along the coast and brings it to the hotel in bundles. Cecil also likes to use dandelions, for example, alongside the liver terrine. The leaves make up a peppery salad with a dressing made with prune mustard, created by whizzing up prunes with muscatel vinegar.

"It's what they used to eat and we've forgotten about it," says Cecil. "I feel like I'm in an old country kitchen."

Cecil draws on these anti-waste tendencies with the way she handles meat on the menu – a nose to tail approach is favoured. One sheep is delivered every two weeks and every bit of it is used, from chops on the weekend to slow-cooked cuts and leftovers being used to make juicy mutton croquettes the following week.

Having spent a mere couple of seasons in the kitchen so far, the chef is excited to witness the rotation of the rest of her first year in the role, with spring and summer bringing new ingredients to her shores.

Fort Road hotel, 18 Fort Road, Margate CT9 1HF

www.fortroadhotel.com

From the menu

Snacks

  • Oysters, mignonette £3.50 each
  • Poached oysters, saffron beurre blanc, breadcrumbs £4 each
  • Mutton croquettes, mint sauce £5

Starters

  • Crab, fennel, celery, walnut £7
  • Artichoke barigoule £8
  • Liver terrine, dandelion and mustard £9

Mains

  • Montgomery Cheddar soufflé £16
  • Pumpkin gnocchi, sage, butter and Old Winchester £17
  • Cod, sea beet, chive velouté £24

Desserts

  • Baked quince, brown bread ice-cream £7
  • Apple fritters, Jersey cream £7
  • Chocolate and chestnut roulade £8

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