Ebury Hotel

Family run hotel. Open fire in reception area. Small swimming pool. Beautifully kept restaurant.

I go to the Ebury Hotel Restaurant about once a month because it’s amazing: simple as that. It’s the best restaurant in Canterbury. I appreciate fine food with fresh ingredients and extraordinary taste combined into harmonious combinations and if i go to a ‘good restaurant’: that is what I expect to get: you want that too? Go to the Ebury. Often I go to mediocre restaurants and pay 15 – 20 pounds for a ²⁄₃ course meal (per head). You can get a 3 course meal at the Ebury for 25 pounds and I’m telling you it’s worth it. I’m vegetarian so the starters such as Goats Cheese with butternut squash and walnut salad and Warm Leek Tart for main course always go down well; but my carnivorous companions are often treated to Kentish Duck Breast, Beef Bourguignon, Fillet Steak or Dover Sole: always with imaginative sauces, ingredients and flair. The ambience is gentle and beautifully decorated in a large hotel on the Old Dover Road with a large landscaped garden (even indoor swimming pool!!) and private bar/​seating area. No loud music or plastic décor: this place is bona fide it doesn’t need to be pretentious it is what it is namely: excellent and the staff service/​original décor complement the top quality food. I go to restaurants in France, London and the rest of Canterbury: as far as all round judgement goes this is the best I know of yet, granted it has not got the Parisian buzz of Montmartre or the price tag of a Gordon Ramsey; but the food is top class as is the service and if all you people who don’t know about it went there — It would have that buzz too!!! It’s sitting there waiting for you. Since the restaurant is attached to a large successful hotel, it does not need to be busy, so it will be sat there waiting for you whether you folks choose to go or not — but it’s your loss if you don’t; especially if you ever miss the Chef Jean Pierre’s amazing cheese cake. Even if you’re in London you should make the effort to go: it really is that good, and chill out in their expansive garden with a G&T on a balmy summer evening I just can’t sing this places praises enough: a hidden gem; like those amazing hidden away restaurants you find ‘family owned’ by chance when you are abroad. This place is family owned too: for 2 generations. I’m 30 and often go with friends of mine in the same age bracket, as groups or in pairs. Often when i go there the place is frequented by people of anywhere between 40 – 80; but as a slighter younger group we had a good time and laughed and talked for several hours: walking in the garden between courses. If you like fast food; don’t go to this restaurant. If you like getting drunk and loud music: don’t go to this restaurant. If you think getting ripped off is paying 25 pounds for 3 courses of top quality fresh ingredients cooked by a highly trained talented French chef and served by highly trained catering staff (Manager was trained in London along with head waiter) — go and get a Pizza/​Ceasar salad for 15 pounds instead in one of the high street chains: I know most people do. But if you appreciate top quality French/​British cuisine with good sized portions for a reasonable price, in a restaurant with a huge beautiful garden and amazing staff: what are you waiting for??? Come on people wake up to the Ebury experience. See you there.