I’ve been hearing and reading so many good things for so long about The Sportsman, that it finally persuaded me to leave my beloved London and get out to the sticks. Rather unfortunately, the weather on the day we chose to celebrate our anniversary of going out together, started out bad and was forecast to get worse.

Blizzards had already happened in Kent and were predicted to return. The snow had yet to hit SE London seriously, but the sky looked ominous. The first leg via bus to Bromley was untrying, but as soon as we arrived, the doom mongers started to appear. “I wouldn’t fancy your chances of getting to Whitstable, mate. Even if you do get down there, you won’t be getting back tonight” was followed by the Fat Controller pointing out every train coming from Kent that had snow on it, with a “look at that, there’s ice on that one” with his erstwhile companion nodding solemnly in agreement, as if I wasn’t able to see it myself.

Faced with only a single cancellation and unlikely to get into any fancy restaurant in Central London whilst wearing walking boots, we had a ‘f*ck it’ moment, and decided we’d ignore the Fat Controller’s advice & do what we could to get down there. Ten minutes later, we were on the train, heading out to the back of beyond.

The train journey went without much delay and we arrived in Whitstable with 10 minutes before our reservation was booked. Another doom monger greeted us at the Station cab office “I don’t know how far I’m going to be able to get you to Seasalter in these roads, with all the snow & ice” followed by a diatribe about how he’d been cast as an outsider by the locals, because he was a DFL (Down From London). I thought it was more likely to do with the fact he was a miserable git, but what do I know?

So, about 45 minutes longer than it probably would have taken us on a dry, sunny day, we arrived at the venerable Sportsman. A table next to a roaring fire was required and immediately delivered, along with a couple of pints, to a rather smug Miss R & I.

The Sportsman is a Michelin starred establishment, but you’d never know it by walking in off the street (or field), as it’s rather well disguised as a country pub in both style & atmosphere. Not that that is a bad thing. Not at all.

The menu changes daily, depending on what produce is available from The Sportman’s suppliers, which is as it should be in every restaurant, although rarely is. Being on the coast, though, the menu seems weighted toward the seafaring than land based produce.

Bestowed with a fine bottle of Nyetimber bubbly, I had to start with a several of the local oysters, and what oysters they were. One of the Whitstable oysters was huuuge, about twice the size of most native oysters I’ve seen before. I also couldn’t resist a couple of Rock ones, with hot chorizo and all were very prettily presented on a bed of seashells. Miss R went for the Crab Risotto, which was the richest, most flavoursome risotto I think I’ve eaten. Thankfully, it was too rich for Miss R, so greedy gullet here happily helped himself to what Miss R couldn’t manage.

Mains consisted of Halibut cooked in Vin Jaune (a sweet white wine) with pork belly, whilst a portion of Turbot with Bacon & Chestnuts was very well received on the other side of the table. The Halibut was perfectly cooked, with a slight sweet taste which worked rather well with the meaty fish and salty pork belly, although the Turbot did have a slight edge.

Banana Parfait with Chocolate Ice Cream and a Rich Chocolate Mousse were ordered for dessert, but not before we’d ordered a cab to take us to Faversham (one of the waitresses was already questioning how she was going to get home, through the blizzard). I really liked both desserts, but Miss R was less impressed, so obviously, I had to order some coffee with petit fours for Miss R to sample.

I really liked The Sportsman. The food was excellent, the atmosphere very relaxed, the service knowledgeable and the provenance superb. The pricing was pretty good, too, with starters £7 and mains from £13 to £22. I’d love to go back to try the Tasting Menu (it’s not served at the weekend). The food is definitely Michelin Star standard, but the relaxed setting and superb provenance really makes The Sportsman stand out. Definitely worth a trip to the sticks for (is probably quite a nice journey in decent weather, too).

p.s. A shared cab to Faversham, plus a bit of a circuitous train journey home and we were back in time for tea. Weather (& naysaying transport peeps) 0 - 1 Biggest Jim & Miss R.