The Bay Restaurant, The White Cliffs Hotel - Dover
The White Cliffs, High Street, St Margaret’s-At-Cliffe, Dover, Kent, CT15 6AT
+44 (0)1304 852229
www.thewhitecliffs.com
Review by Sarah Jappy
 There are those who do not like goat’s cheese. To these poor misguided (and surely miserable?) detractors, I say, ‘Get thee to the Bay Restaurant and order some goat’s cheese fritters’. These delicious discs of divinity come with a scattering of fresh figs and a pat of moreish fig jampote, which I suspect would taste equally good slathered over warm brown bread with melting puddles of butter.
On a goat’s cheese high was how we began our meal, and on a goat’s cheese high was how we ended, when my boyfriend ordered a cheeseboard fit for a country squire. But in between this cheesy charm came plenty of other delights, to be expanded upon herewith.
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We were visiting the restaurant (which recently made it into the Good Food Guide) as part of a stay at the White Cliffs Hotel, and having already fallen in love with our room, the staff and the place in general, we were excited about testing out the culinary prowess of Gavin Oakley, the talent behind the nearby Wallett’s Court Hotel.
I’d semi cheated by perusing the restaurant menu within the privacy of our boudoir, and had experienced the enjoyable dilemma of being challenged in terms of choice - what to order when you want it all? A starter of home-made salt cod fresh fingers in saffron butter with sorrel mayonnaise, or mussels steamed in Weston’s cider, celery, garlic, thyme and cream with johnnycakes? Mains of sea-bass with fennel, garlic and herb chips, or lamb with aubergine and red onion, minted yoghurt and grilled flatbread? Blackcurrant mousse with liquorice ice cream or double chocolate brownie with cherry ripple ice cream?
 It’s testament to the strength of the menu that none of the above made it onto our plate – instead we collectively feasted upon the aforementioned fritters, pigeon breast with broad beans and black pig pancetta, chicken breast with clams and chorizo in a tarragon sauce with new potatoes, beef with summer truffle butter, woodland mushrooms and (in a Jamie Oliver-esque-menu moment) ‘real proper chips’. To finish, I opted for lemon crème brulee with a fabulous raspberry sorbet, dressed with mint – “The taste of the British countryside”, I drunkenly declared – by this point, we’d polished off the greater part of a bottle of Malbec. My boyfriend nibbled on oat crackers, celery, chutney and cheeses and happily supped his port.
In this simply styled space, we observed groups of women in their thirties, couples in their 20s, and in their 80s, a big group of family and friends, all dining with equal enjoyment in the small and warm room, with its wooden floors, stone walls, cheery staff and happy vibes. The Bay Restaurant is on to a winning formula, and if they keep serving those goat’s cheese fritters, that won’t change.
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