In a new series featuring local Food and Wine, writer, Bon Vivant   gives his personal review of three Ramsgate restaurants battling for culinary supremacy.

There is a culinary battle taking place in Ramsgate.

Three aspiring restaurants have arrived in as many years, each one looking more to London and Paris for influence rather than Margate and Dover.

That said, all three appear to be firmly wedded to sourcing their ingredients locally which surely must be good news all round for the fishermen and farmers of the region.

The first to arrive was Age & Sons, the 2007 brainchild of brother and sister team Toby and Harriet Leigh, scions of Rowley Leigh chef proprietor of Le Café Anglais in London’s W2. They are both immersed in the restaurant trade and should know what they are doing and winning a coveted bib gourmand from the Michelin Guide has put them firmly on the map.

The restaurant is on the first floor of the wine warehouse formerly occupied by Ramsgate wine merchants Page & Sons. The ‘P’ of the sign having fallen off, the Leighs adopted what remained of the sign as their restaurant’s name.

Downstairs there is a bar and a less formal eating area. There was initially a feeling that the kitchen was producing dishes that were more in tune with national reviewers than with the desires of the local clientele. The dishes are now arguably a little more mainstream but there are plenty of twists to keep the diner excited.

They also run a cafe menu which is full of straightforward but desirable dishes. Execution has not always been great, especially in the early days, Toby discovering the principal difference between Ramsgate and London restaurant life: the lack of available, competent staff.

This problem has been particularly evident at Harvey’s Fish Market (pictured above), the next to arrive on the scene, occupying an enviable site on the harbour.

The idea is laudable, a restaurant, oyster bar and fishmonger under one roof but with an established outfit just up the high street, selling enough wet fish to justify the inviting display within the restaurant appears to have proved difficult. The next interesting idea was to enrol the services of an established celebrity chef to oversee the cooking of the mightily fresh product.

The hiring of John Burton Race for the task has given Kent Inns of Distinction, the owners, plenty to think about. Anyone who ate at his restaurant at The Landmark Hotel in London should know that this guy can cook. The problem is with his many commitments on television and a restaurant in Dartmouth, can his presence at Harvey's be enough for the chefs to take on board his undoubtedly high standards?"

The first meal I ate at Harvey’s, the Celebrity Chef was present and the food excellent - the lobster bisque truly memorable, intense, unctuous but fresh. The second visit, this time for Lunch was also refined and importantly the place was busy. The third visit was a disaster, undercooked Scallops served still frozen in the centre, returned to the kitchen and brought out again a few minutes later baked dry on the outside but still frozen in the centre.

All restaurants have bad days, but it was clear that Burton Race’s principles had been long forgotten. Spies more recently have said that the food is again up to standard and a visit earlier this week suggests that it may well be, but this time it has direct competition.

Eddie Gilbert’s the established fishmonger alluded to above has opened a restaurant over his premises in the High Street. An experienced supplier of all things piscatorial to the London restaurant trade, Jonny Dunhill is the man behind both the fishmongers and the restaurant. Having surveyed the scene in East Kent for some years, Dunhill has chosen his staff with the same eye for quality as he selects his freshest fish.

The restaurant manager Nick MacAskill has just won an award for the best service in Thanet whilst his chef is local man Craig Mather. Perhaps it is no coincidence that both come from the short lived but widely acclaimed Yew Tree pub in Barfreston near Dover.

Whilst national critics have been kind, even fulsome in their praise of Eddie Gilberts and Age & Sons, poor old Harvey’s has been caught up in the personal squabble between celebrity chef and celebrity reviewer.

Jay Rayner is open about his dislike for John Burton Race and this didn’t help Harvey’s in his less than impressed review. When, some months later, Rayner delivered an enthusiastic review of Eddie Gilbert’s he couldn’t resist a swipe at Harvey’s in the final paragraph. This is hardly fair, but Harvey’s is going to have to make a gargantuan effort to compete in a market where no one is really sure whether Ramsgate can sustain two smart restaurants, let alone three.

Time will tell...

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