The Ambrette To Open In Canterbury
Dev Biswal,
chef patron of The Ambrette award-winning restaurants in Margate and Rye, has
announced The Ambrette @ Canterbury, with further openings on the horizon.
The TV chef,
who champions a ‘curry-free menu’ of south Indian style dishes utilising
locally sourced seasonal ingredients with a modern twist, has secured the site
of the former Beer Cart Arms.
Refurbishment works are under way, ahead of an opening expected sometime
during July.
The two
existing Ambrette restaurants are recommended by all the leading guides
including Michelin, AA, Waitrose Good Food and Harden’s. Their numerous accolades include the
prestigious Taste of Kent’s ‘Best Restaurant’ award.
Biswal, who
still spends several days each week in the kitchens, has moved from Ramsgate to
Canterbury as a more central location to his growing operations. A keen all-round cricketer, Biswal now
overlooks Kent County Cricket Club’s St Lawrence Ground. Although his offer to fill as a No.3 batsman
have been politely declined.
“Canterbury
is a fantastic historic town with a great food heritage and perfect
demographics for my style of cooking,” said Biswal, “We have over 2,000 people
on our customer database with a Canterbury postcode who have already made the
trip to the restaurants in Margate or Rye.”
Biswal was
been looking for suitable premises to open a restaurant in the cathedral city
after three very successful pop up restaurant events held at the Kent &
Canterbury Club in October in 2012. Open
to both members and the general public, the 8-couse tasting menu lunch and
dinners, sold out almost immediately.
Canterbury
will also serve as a training and development site, with centralised production
of marinades and sauces, to ensure consistently high standards across the
group, as operations expand.
Biswal hopes
to open a fourth restaurant, somewhere between Canterbury and Margate
specialising in seafood and vegetarian cooking, with the emphasis on gluten and
allergen free foods. The chef has also
set his sights on locations in Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton and London,
as part of his planned expansion.
The Ambrette
@ Canterbury site, with seating for around 100, will be larger than the existing
the restaurants in Margate and Rye.
“We plan to
explore all-day dining with an Indian accent and offer breakfast and afternoon
teas,” said Biswal.
Biswal
trained at the Dubai Sheraton, before moving to London in 2003, aged 26, for
spells at Mangoes and Eriki. With fine-dining restaurants rarely working as
scalable concepts, the chef is fully aware that others have tried to expand and
failed. He has also tried to distance
himself from the ‘fine-dining’ tag bestowed on him by food critics and customers
alike.
“We are a
mid-market restaurant with mid market prices,” he insists.”
As resident
chef on the Channel Four TV series ‘Superscrimpers’, Biswal regularly shows
viewers how to prepare gourmet meals on a budget using cheap ingredients, left
over and wild plants forged for free.
The Ambrette
@ Canterbury, 14-15 Beer Cart Lane, Canterbury, KentCT1 2NY
T: 01227 200
777
The Ambrette,
44 King Street, Margate Old Town, KentCT9 1QE
T: 01843 231
504
The Ambrette
@ Rye, 24 High Street, Rye, East Sussex TN31 7JF
T: 01797 222
043
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