Suppliers

The network of local suppliers has meant that we get the freshest and best quality ingredients to work with. The area around the pub has a saltmash, woods, an estuary and good game shooting.

Our Local Suppliers

Monkshill Farm
This farm can be seen from the pub as it overlooks the saltmarsh. It gets its name from the fact that it was owned by the monks of Canterbury cathedral and provided food for the kitchens. Since we came to the pub the farm has supplied us with eggs and some meat but since Richard Stephens took over as manager things have really taken off. We now get most of our meat from here including saltmarsh lamb, large white pigs and Aberdeen angus beef. We often visit the animals and like to feed them on the trimmings from the kitchen and the windfall fruit from the trees at the pub.

Mallards Farm
This farm is run by Alistair Barton and has been growing vegetables for us since the day we opened. This has been one of the most enjoyable relationships as the businesses have grown together and Alistair knows that we will happily take the new crops he grows as well as the established ones. Potatoes, brassicas, soft fruits and asparagus are just a few of the things we use and there is real pleasure in knowing that it has come from just around the corner.

Waterham Farm
This farm lies in the middle of the two described above. Again we have bought chickens from here since day one and now buy geese in the autumn as well. The farm is run by Tom Mckeever who took over from his father Willie a couple of years ago. The chickens and geese can be seen running around from the road and again are local to the point that they are never transported by huge lorries as most meat in this country is.

Whitstable Shellfish Company
It would be hard to find a more enthusiastic and knowledgeable person on the subject of shellfish than Phil Guy. Phil supplies us with oysters, mussels and any other shellfish that may be going. His perfectionism has meant that our shellfish is always in perfect condition.

Griggs of Hythe
Until 2005 we bought fish in a very ‘ducking and diving’ way but found the process difficult and surprisingly expensive. Then Dan Flavel (our chef) went to visit this company at Hythe on the south coast and was very impressed. The boats were dragged up onto the beach and only went out for day trips (this means the fish is landed soon after it is caught). The company workshop is very clean and run with high standards and they contact us daily to let us know the catch. This allows us to buy on a daily basis and is one of the reasons our fish is so fresh. We still duck and dive to get interesting stuff from Whitstable but Griggs provide the backbone of our fish supplies.

Hinxden Farm
I was having dinner at Bibendum in1992 when I had some thick yellow cream with my pudding which stopped me in my tracks. I asked the waiter where it came from and the next day I was buying some from Neals Yard. The carton gave the address of the farm and I resolved to use the unpastuerized cream when I opened my first restaurant. The farm now supplies us with all of our dairy products and makes the raw cream just for us. I now use the raw cream to make butter for the tasting menu.