Tasteem Review | The Corner House, Minster, Kent

Once the capital of the Isle of Thanet, Minster is a sleepy village of 3,500 people on the edge of the Minster marshes, the remnant of the Wantsum Channel that separated Thanet from mainland England.

The legend is that a Saxon princess, Domneva, came to claim what was owed to her for her murdered brothers. Instead of money, she was offered all the land that a hind could cover in a day. Domneva used the land to establish the first Abbey in 670 AD, and the hind has been the emblem of Minster ever since.

The Corner House in Minster was originally a row of 18th century cottages. It has a restaurant and tea-room and two lovely double ensuite rooms available for booking. Located a few miles from the seaside towns of Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate, the Corner House has free car parking and is minutes away from Minster Rail Station.

Source Desk and view of Minster Church in the ensuite king-size Steeple Room.

East Kent is becoming known for its gourmet eateries with the Sportsman at Whitstable, The Little Ships in Ramsgate and the independent Corner House Restaurants in Canterbury and Minster.

The Corner House Minster is critically acclaimed and has won the title of Kent Restaurant of the Year in 2015 and 2017. It opened in 2013 and was originally headed up by Matt Sworder who trained at Gordon Ramsey's La Noisette. The Minster kitchen is now run under the expertise of Head Chef Predrag Kostic, who takes enormous pride in the quality of ingredients and ensuring that your visit is one to remember. Source

The restaurant is cosy and intimate, a string of rooms one behind the other. We were in the upper dining room by a pretty window with a cool breeze coming in from the garden outside.

The upper dining room, nicely furnished with solid tables and chairs, heavy cutlery and linen napkins.

The pretty outside garden area.

The menu is seasonal and features locally reared and brewed food and drink, including local gins.

We had to go for the lamb, locally reared on Romney salt marshes. The aroma permeated the whole restaurant, a real childhood smell.

The lamb shoulder is brought to the table whole, the bone removed - completely clean of any meat - and the joint is cut up as you wish.

Our second choice would have been confit belly of pork with black pudding beignet, hispi cabbage, mash and cider jus. I didn't get to taste it, but the plate was cleared!

The lamb came with dauphinoise potatoes, roasted root vegetables, kale and a lamb jus (gravy, and plenty of it, so I was happy).

The menu had a good range of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes for starters (£6-£7.50) and mains (£15-£24). There is a separate vegan menu. The dessert menu was a pleasure to read and included Kentish Gypsy Tart (a teeth-curlingly sweet dessert, served in schools, with a filling of caramelised condensed milk and brown sugar) and a cheese-board (£4-£9.50).

To be honest, though, you would be hard-pressed to find room for either a starter or a pudding with the very healthy sized mains. Next time, I might try a couple of starters and pudding.

Service was great, and we tried a couple of the local gins as well as the delicious Chapel Down Curious IPA.

The bill came to £92 for three mains and five drinks. Not bad for locally produced, excellently prepared cooked and served food and drink.

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Restaurant Information

The Corner House

42 Station Rd, Minster, Ramsgate CT12 4BZ, UK

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Tasteem Review | The Corner House, Minster, Kent
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