Michael Caines at ABode Hotel Canterbury

Michael Caines is supposed to be a Michelin Star winning chef, although this place has not been decorated with any awards…still, I had my hopes up.

Food

The execution of the food certainly has Michelin star pretensions. Luckily, the food was executed well and tasted wonderful. I felt like I ate a mini mini tasting menu. There was a choice of 3 for each course. We had:

• Twice baked Roquefort soufflé - poached haddock, quail’s egg, hollandaise sauce - the egg was done just right. The hollandaise tangy and creamy. A great start to the meal.
• Boudin Blanc - wild mushroom puree, roasted almond foam - excellent, with a creamy texture and great accompaniment.
• Roast Topside Kentish Beef - pomme puree, wild mushroom, red wine jus - a very small piece of beef, but really good quality. Not too much nees to be done really – the pomme puree were really creamy.
• Pan Fried Mackerel - Serreno ham, smoked red pepper puree, basil and aged balsamic vinegar - I like mackerel, at least it has some flavour. This was not exceptional, but I admire the chef for getting the produce shine through.
• Orange Rhubarb Charlotte - orange cream, poached rhubarb - you can’t go wrong. I love rhubarb 
• Banoffee fool chocolate fudge muffin - caramel and cream sauce - not much banana, and a bit sweet… and I was really looking forward to this

This was all finished off with Earl Grey, which also came with 6 delectable and fussed with Petit 4s.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

The restaurant is situated in a nice clean space, right in the centre of town. Modern lines, white table cloth, with a small bar down one end. The colour is black with accents of orange, in the flower on each table and the uniform of the staff. The restaurant was full enough for a Saturday lunch time to give it a good atmosphere, although the clientele lean towards the old rather than the new.

Rating - 2

Service

Seems like the staff are on training wheel. When we were presented with our meals, the boudin blanc was explained as “chicken”, the mackerel as “fish” and the beef was called “meat”…really, I think I could have figured that out myself. They were so half-heard in their crumb sweeping they shouldn’t have bothered, and one of the waiter was acting really gay too.

Rating - 1

C-factor

It was £9.95 for 3 courses. While it sounded like a bargain, the portions were very very small, like tasting menu portions. We were actually not full afterwards – which really is not such a bad thing. In saying that, the ingredients were top rate and the food tasted very good, so I think they have priced it just right.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

The Abode Hotel
High Street
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2RX
Phone +44 (0) 20 7403 8403
Website