Return to Thackerays

Last weekend, my wife and I had the chance to return to Thackerays along with an ex-collegue of mine and her husband. We had decided beforehand that we would go for the tasting menu and I gave them a call during the week before to ask if they would do a vegetarian tasting menu for me. I was told that it would be no problem and I spent the next few days in anticipation of what I would get.

The only table we could book was fairly early and when we arrived they were still getting the restaurant ready, so we sat in the bar with a drink while we chose which options we would have from the menu. Thackeray's have a vegetarian menu, and for the tasting menu I had one of the starters as an appetiser and the other as a starter. I then had a choice from the mains section of the menu, and would then join the others for a choice of desserts.

Very shortly, we were shown to our table, and once we were comfortable, a truffled mushroom veloute amuse bouche arrived. It was served in an espresso cup, which was lucky as it was deliciously rich and it would have been very difficult to have a lot of it.

Next came the appetiser. I had chosen to have a butternut squash risotto which was lovely and this was followed by a starter of goats cheese and beetroot parfait, which I had had on my last visit.

This was followed by a lemongrass granita which was extremely refreshing and left my pallette cleansed ready for the next course.

For the main course I had an open ravioli of mixed vegetables which had a really interesting mix of sweet and sour flavours. It was very enjoyable.

For dessert I had Chocolate, Hazelnut and Banana Torte which was very nice, and I also had a taste of the Apple Tarte Tatin which was really delicious.

We decided to have the accompanying wines that were matched to the food, and they worked very well. One surprise was a Pinot Noir that accompanied the monkfish that my wife had, but she said it worked.

The food was really good - there is nothing to match it in Tunbridge Wells - however, the service this time was slightly lacking. None of the wine glasses were removed from the table, meaning that by the end of the night we each had half a dozen of them sitting in front of each of us. There was a long wait for coffee and then a longer wait for the petit fours, which really should have arrived with the coffee. Thackeray's used to have a Michelin star, and this is something they'll have to brush up on if they are to get it back.

Apart from that, it was a truly enjoyable night, there was no pressure to leave which meant that we all had plenty of time to catch up on the latest gossip over some good food and wine.