Matthew Sankey and his family have built an empire from the sea, and after eating at the newly refurbished Seafood Brasserie on Mt Ephriam, I can easily see why.
Along with The Old Fishmarket on The Pantiles, and the fishmonger on Vale Road, Sankey’s has become one of the most popular institutions within Tunbridge Wells.
As you descend the steps and turn into the Brasserie there’s an exclusive, prohibition feel about the place. The walls are covered with clean, white tiles, and the lighting is low. There’s an infectious, audible excitement in the air and I rub my hands with glee at the thought of eating here. Once I walked through the door, I forgot the world outside.
I started the meal with a champagne brewed beer from Kent-based Curious Drinks, a part of award winning winemakers Chapel Down. Using a fusion of brewing and wine making techniques, this beer is light and fizzy, and due to the use of champagne yeast doesn’t sit heavily on your stomach. If a fusion of champagne and beer sounds a bit pretentious to you, let me urge you to at least give one a try – it’s incredibly drinkable, and I’m confident you’ll soon find yourself a convert (be warned, you may also find yourself on the floor with how easily these go down).
Even though you’re surrounded by people, each table feels private. Highly attentive staff with extensive knowledge made this feel more like a chef’s table than just sitting down for a meal in a restaurant.
Sankey’s is known for its customer service, so I went in with the expectation that I’d be looked after – but it was above and beyond that. Speaking to Matthew a few days before my meal, he told me that “the most important thing we do here is getting the right members of staff. The reputation of the entire company is in the hands of the individual”. It’s a winning ethos – during our time there we were served by three different staff members at various points of the night; each of them had that perfect mix of politeness with a casual and friendly tone, creating a personal experience for the diner.
The food stands out right from the get-go, you’re offered a choice of brown or white bread that’s baked fresh within the restaurant. I’m not going to spend ages going on about bread, because I’m here for the seafood, but it stood out enough that I have to make a point of talking about it. This was some of the best restaurant bread I’ve had in a while.
For main, I had the surf and turf – half a Cornish lobster and a 5oz rib-eye steak served with chunky chips and a salad. At £30 it might seem a lot to spend on a main, but you get plenty of bang for your buck. Lets start with the steak; for a restaurant with a menu that’s 99% seafood, they cook a cow on par with what you’d expect from a professional steakhouse. I ordered mine rare, and I was served something that was perfectly sealed with black cross-hatching on the outside, but blood red on the inside – it takes talent to produce a piece of steak with such a contrast. More impressive than the visual appeal is the smokey taste – it’s woody and pervasive, without spoiling the natural flavour in the meat. It’s worth noting that one of the two non-seafood meals on the main menu is a larger version of this, so if you’re bringing along people who aren’t into seafood, this’ll have them covered (unless they’re also vegetarians, in which case I would recommend the risotto).
By it’s very definition surf and turf is two meals in one, but the lobster almost feels like two separate entities within itself. The meat inside the half shell is mixed with Thermidor butter for a rich, creamy and garlicky finish, that scoops easily onto your fork. Break open the claws and you’re met with flavours that are just the right combination of salty and sweet. This was the first time I’ve ever eaten lobster, and I’ll definitely be having it again, though I’m now worried that the bar has been set too high.
My guest had the large fish and chips. I felt like calling Trading Standards, because “large” is such a ridiculous understatement that it’s probably in violation of the trades descriptions act – this thing was a monster. At £12.95 the portion size is beyond generous, but you’d still be getting value for money even if it wasn’t so huge. You’ll hardly be surprised to know that the fish itself was fresh, delicate, and well cooked – that’s the least you’d expect for a seafood brasserie.
But Sankey’s really delivers on this English classic; the fish is fried in a light beer batter that has just the right amount of tang to it. For the most part it was perfectly crisp and delivered a satisfying crunch, although it was a bit soggy towards the middle – perhaps because it had the weight of a small whale on top of it. The chips were incredible, and I need to know what they were fried in. Fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, they were all you could ask for in a chip. The peas were ace too. What really impressed was that the meal felt and tasted like proper chip shop chips, only more upscale. My big complaint with eating fish and chips in a restaurant is that it usually doesn’t have the authenticity of something you’ve picked up from the chippy. Somehow, Sankey’s has managed to deliver that feeling.
Beaten by the leviathan of a fish they’d just eaten, I was left alone to dessert – and on the menu I spotted my favourite: Eton Mess. It looked delicious on arrival – but there was a problem. A traditional Eton Mess is made with strawberries, and there were none. Disappointed as I was, 0.5 seconds later I got over my dessert snobbery and dug in to the delicious looking pudding. It was bursting with fruity flavour, coupled with a meringue that snaps audibly as you bite into it and thick cream: a winning combination by all means, and fairly priced at £4.50.
Sankey’s brings an air of class to everything it does, and a theatre to your experience – I haven’t had that at the other restaurants I’ve visited in the local area. A beautiful meal, with first class service and a reasonable price point, something might sound fishy going on there, but I can assure you it’s no red herring.
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