On the day that Sophia and I visited, The Bull Hotel was hosting pre wedding coffee and refreshments after having the bride, groom and guests over night in some of their 11 ensuite bedrooms, and fed them breakfast.  They were catering for them later and were still serving lunches to the general public!

Despite the rush, our host Martin could not have been more charming and seated us in the spacious bar area to take our order.  When we saw the menu it became clear that The Bull, like any other establishments lately, was focusing on local seasonal ingredients.  However, Martin’s efforts to reduce the ‘food miles’ of his dishes are rather more ambitious than most.  Whilst his team of English and French chefs have definite pan European style to their cooking, we were astonished by close proximity of his suppliers.

We started with an amazing version of the French fish soup, bouillabaisse – but this contained day boat fish from the South coast.  It was delicious, hot and flavoursome and served with croutons garlic mayonnaise.  Next came lamb steaks from Glovers Quality Meats, down the road in Hartley, and we finished with a Madera syllabub with Wrotham rhubarb!

All the hotel’s pork, including sausages and bacon, are orchard reared and free range from Roundwood Orchard Pig in Meopham, and cheeses hail from Winterdale Cheesemakers of Fairseat.  Martin is also committed to seasonality and TH. Brown supply Kentish fruit and vegetables.  At the same time of writing Martin and his team were anticipating the arrival of locally grown asparagus.

Martin is soon to launch a special lunchtime menu and is planning Jazz Alfresco and barbecue events.  Martin is also passionate about wine.  Currently they have a 70 bottle selection with approximately 30 different grape varieties – mainly from the Languedoc-Roussilon region in South France.  He is keen to expand his offering and is looking forward to fact finding tours!