Restaurant Review - The Sportsman, Seasalter

The Sportsman, Faversham Road, Seasalter, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 4BP

Food **** / Service **** / Ambience *** (around £45 per head including wine)

The Sportsman is a gem of a restaurant in a town of crashing waves, stilted sea huts and passers through.

I don’t live anywhere near Kent. I reside north of London (the centre of the universe of course). Therefore the notion of “going for lunch” to this particular restaurant involved a good four and a half hour round trip including half hour in the scenic Dartford Tunnel car park.

Encouraged by my ever-adventurous employer, I was told The Sportsman was one of the best places she’d ever eaten. For someone as widely respected as she is, the offer to visit simply couldn’t be turned down.

The Sportsman is an average sized housing estate looking building on the coast road. Sea-shanty style huts, holiday rents and caravan parks line the narrow lanes leading to the restaurant, indicating the seasonal nature of life in these parts. The sun was breaking through a thin veil of cloud on the Thursday afternoon of our visit and the building’s light, clean and wooden interior looked particularly fresh on our arrival.

Received into the bar with a welcome pint of Guinness (why is it a passenger journey is always longer than a driver journey?) we selected from a lunch menu that was heavy on fish and emphasised some interesting choices of flavour.

Oddly enough we were urged to make our choice while crowded around the one chalked up menu du jour and then shown to our table, selecting a well priced bottle of Gavi to begin (£16.95).

The five of us were seated on a lengthy wooden table (on a crowded boat I could imagine four times our number crowded around devouring fresh catch) overlooking the herb garden. Fresh focaccia, soda bread and olives got the juices flowing and starters of Pork Terrine – light, gelatinous and salty – and Mackerel on Toast with Horseradish - although light on the kick from Horseradish - were well received.

The real admiration was reserved for the headline act. A beautifully pink rump of marshland lamb (surely farmed only a stone’s throw away) was full of flavour as was a Seabass fillet with a mussel tartare arriving in a simmering broth of cooking juices. A perfectly sized Brill was taken by two of the party and both praised the full flavour and freshness of their choices.

Desserts consisted of a cheese selection, an ice-cold life affirming banana parfait and a naughty dark chocolate mousse with milk sorbet and salted caramel- we realised we’d made it through purgatory. Double espressos all round prepared us for the journey home.

Worth a visit, The Sportsman produces exceptionally fresh, beautifully tasting food by the great British seaside. The service, from a team of four ladies, had the perfect mix of youth and experience, presence and absence. Norah Jones played through the dusty Bose speakers.

Behind it's whitewashed exterior, The Sportsman is a gem of a restaurant in a town of crashing waves, stilted sea huts and passers through. Long may this outstanding food haven continue.

Steve McNeill

Pee Wee Ellis, Ronnie Scott's, London W1, 5/4/10

Live Review

Pee Wee Ellis & his Jazz Quartet @ Ronnie Scott’s, London W1, Monday 5/4/10

**** (Really quite good)

Did you know you are not allowed to take pictures in Ronnie Scott’s? (My excuse for the poor picture here.)

You are, however, obliged to mingle with some of music’s greatest talents.

On previous occasions I have found myself backstage with the superb Carleen Anderson and attempting to embrace the legendary Dr John as he made his way through the club.

On Monday night I ended up, stood on a Soho pavement, offering the great saxophonist and bandleader Pee Wee Ellis a smoke and explaining my favourite Pee Wee sax solo was when he took Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey” to another level during a performance at Montreux in 1980.

This moment of admiration outside a packed Ronnie Scott’s was one of many on an evening in which Ellis’ skills as a saxophonist, bandleader and all-round great guy were on show.

Pee Wee Ellis now resides in Frome, Somerset and had bought with him a homeboy, fellow tenor sax player Josh Arcoleo. The youngster, blessed with fantastic ability and tone added a touch of youth to a line up that was experienced and highly skilled.

Pee Wee’s theme for Monday night was jazz (he returned Tuesday evening with his Funk Assembly). However, the two highlights of the show came with a break from the tight, yet highly improvisational nature of the performance with a little blues number that swaggered with real character and “a song I wrote for James Brown” called “Chicken”. The soul vibe took the show up a notch.

Ronnie’s is a great place to see some great up-and-coming talent alongside famous names from the past. Pee Wee Ellis was James Brown’s musical director (JB Horns) and arranged Van Morrison’s live shows for years at the prime of his powers (Into The Music and onwards). His reputation is enough to sell a club full of tickets. His performance was good enough to sell more.

At 68, Ellis is no spring chicken. But his musicianship is still outstanding. In Arcoleo, he has found a saxophonist that will gain so much from being onstage with one of the most influential horn players in soul and funk music - and the youngster confidently holds his own against a seriously big name in sax music.

So excuse my poor picture taking… but Pee Wee and his band really were too good to take your eyes off.

Steve McNeill