insideKENT Magazine Issue 56 - November 2016 | Page 75

FOOD+DRINK

A HIDDEN RAMSGATE GEM:

The Empire Room
Ramsgate has a lot to offer when it comes to memorable lunch spots, but there is perhaps
none better than the cosy-yet-opulent Empire Room located right on Ramsgate’s iconic
harbour. The Empire Room is like a secret club that everyone should know about, tucked away
beneath the famous Royal Harbour Hotel. The Empire Room deserves to be seen and noticed;
with just the right mix of modern and vintage in both its décor and its food, this is British
cuisine at its finest. BY LISAMARIE LAMB
There is something both fashionable and
comfortable about the Empire Room’s décor.
Polished floorboards, a large fireplace, deep red
hues, mismatched yet elegant tables and chairs,
shelves and shelves of 19th-century books, plus
the covers of British Empire Magazine hanging
proudly on the walls… It all adds up to a
modern take on a Victorian club, complete with
honesty bar.

gave the dish a unique lift, and all in all what
could have been just another dull soup is given
another dimension (or two!) thanks to the craft
of the chef and the quality of the ingredients. The
terrine of smoked chicken & ham hock added a
similar level of refreshment to the start of what
we knew was going to be a gorgeous meal.
Every element on the plate was fresh and
seasoned in just the right way.

Head chef Craig Mather, a native of Thanet who
also attended Thanet College (now known as
East Kent College), is keen to use seasonal
Kentish produce on his ever-changing menus.
For him, it is all about the quality of the food. And
that reflects on his exciting, diverse, yet
comfortingly familiar dishes.
Unlike some restaurants that focus on their
evening meals and leave lunch as an afterthought,
at The Empire Room every dish is made with
care and attention, no matter what meal you eat.
The lunch menu is full of flavour and interesting
dishes that are ideal when you want to enjoy an
extended lunch with friends or family.

Main courses took a lot of choosing. Dishes such
as local plaice with local pink fir potatoes, and
English-style halloumi with potato terrine, peas,
lemon and stuffed courgette vied for attention,
but in the end we opted for the grilled fillets of
local mackerel with Moroccan-style couscous
and sweet chilli jam; and the Kentish pork belly,
potato terrine, crispy black pudding and grain
mustard sauce. The mackerel was lean and firm
with a bright, fresh flavour that was complimented
by the spice of the couscous, and the sweetand-spicy chilli jam. And the pork belly… it
couldn’t have been more tender. Presented
beautifully and in the optimum amounts, we were
eager to get started as soon as the plates arrived.

Take the pea and lettuce soup with chorizo and
thyme, for example. Creamy and smooth, this
soup is warming and delicious, the perfect start
to a good meal. The addition of lettuce to the
soup gives it a refreshing tang. The salty chorizo

Lunch doesn’t always require a dessert, but when
they are as tempting as the ones at The Empire
Room it can be hard to say no. So we didn’t.
Instead we ordered the roasted apricots, frozen
nougat parfait and warm caramel sauce; and the

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Kentish strawberry Eton mess with strawberry
sorbet. It turned out to be an excellent choice.
The nougat was a decadent delight to round off
a wonderful meal, and the Eton mess was zingy
and refreshing.
The Empire Room is a secret that needs to be
told – a hidden gem in Ramsgate that we highly
recommend.

The Empire Room
10-12 Nelson Crescent
Ramsgate
CT11 9JF
01843 582511
www.theempireroom.co.uk