Wine & drinks
Menu and wine pairings
As our guests pre-book and pre -order, which helps with sustainability and zero waste, a menus is sent out in advance and usually includes a matched wine suggestion for the main elements. We suggest reasonably priced wines and sometimes a more luxurious wine as well. This is just a suggestion and you are free to choose whatever you want. We offer some wines by the glass and we have the Coravin system and an aeration system. We can on request send you a PDF of our current wine list when you confirm your booking and pay your initial deposit.
On the full tasting menu we also offer a full tailored wine flight for groups of at least six selecting it.
We use fine stemware mostly from Riedel, but have other fine glassware available for special tastings, including Schott Zwiesel, Alto, Jancis Robinson and Josephinenhütte. We also have fine cut lead crystal John Jenkins stemware which is photogenic for wedding celebrations.
Our list
We don't presently publish our wine list as it changes often as we visit new vineyards and suppliers, and refine our offering after tasting new wines. As lifelong fine wine enthusiasts we curate the list entirely ourselves and don't list wines / producers that we have not tasted. We don't aim to cover the entire world, but rather focus on favoured regions and styles that we are experienced with. We currently stock about 200 wines, including a range of champagnes and other sparkling wines such as Crèmante, and around twenty dessert wines ranging from our house Liberator from South Africa right up to Chateau d'Yquem vintage sauterne.
Because of our owner's German roots in the Rhineland, where her family has a vineyard, we specialise in German Rieslings, which we import directly ourselves, from vineyards that we visit regularly and where we know the producers - invariably family businesses. We also specialise in fine Bordeaux as lifelong collectors and en primeur buyers.
Our list covers a wide price range, from inexpensive European, Australian and South American wines, through to very high end such as Ch. Margaux, Palmer, Latour, Lafite and Petrus in a few vintages. We also carry what some wine enthusiasts regard as cult wines such as Ch. Musar, plus some exceptionally fine English wines from multi award winning Dermot and Ana Sugrue for example.
For things we do not import directly ourselves we work with a local wine merchant in Kent, Tim Fletcher who runs RJ Fletcher in Horsmonden, literally 5 minutes away from us in the Kentish weald. Tim has a huge range and for example supplies our finest Australian Shiraz, our French Cotes du Rhônes and our accessible Bordeaux and Burgundy wines. He also provides us with our most local wine, made in Marden (two villages away) in Kent: Herbert Hall sparkling, which we carry in half bottles and is highly recommended.
We can on request send you a PDF of our current wine list when you confirm your booking and pay your initial deposit. The list is always subject to change as wines do sell out and very fine wines which we sourced, often many years ago en primeur, have limited stocks of different vintages in our cellar.
Low and no-alcohol wine
We stock a small range of low (under 0.5% ABV) and no alcohol white, red and sparkling wines suitable for drivers and even children. We find at family celebratory event for example that (well behaved!) children can take part in the toasts and celebrations, and enjoy participating in the adult experience with a glass of zero alcohol sparkling wine.
Bring Your Own (BYO) policy
We are pleased to allow BYO. Corkage starts at £25 plus service for 75cl still wines. We don't allow BYO for wines on our list, so please notify us in advance what you intend to bring. We expect please one purchase of wine from us for every two BYO that you or your group bring. Zero or low alcohol doesn't count for this but half bottles including dessert wines and half bottles of champagne do. Please see our Terms & Conditions link on the booking page for our full policy. Sometimes we host events for wine groups and may allow a little policy flexibility. Please discuss with us in advance.
Cocktails and aperitifs
We can make most cocktails for pre-meal drinks, including non-alcoholic. We stock several different whiskies, malts and gins, vodka's etc along with a small range of fine sherries, ports, armagnacs and cognacs.
Beer & lager
Whilst as a fine dining restaurant we mainly provide wine, we also carry a range of craft beers, including a session, IPA and Köln German style from the excellent Tonbridge Brewery, which is only 2 miles away from us in the village of East Peckham, and so is as local as it can get, which is why we have partnered with them along with the fact that the quality is superb. Try their mixed packs to get an idea of the range they produce.
For low or no alcohol beer, we usually have Leffe zero, which tastes very similar to the quite strong Leffe with alcohol, and at least one other choice.
Cider & fine cider
We have also partnered with Kentish Pip, who operate from a farm near Canterbury in Kent that we visit from time to time. We stock both their regular premium craft ciders, and some of their fine ciders which are more similar to wines, bing aged on the lees and in bottle. One of these is a very interesting still cider under cork, called Jersey Chisel. We also stock their hedgerow berry cider, which is pink and low in alcohol for a cider.
Juices
We make our own apple juice from trees in our kitchen garden and adjacent orchard. We wash and juice the apples on the day we pick them. Juice we serve may be either fresh during the picking season or pasteurised in house otherwise. No sulphites or preservatives are added to this natural organic product. We also make special organic health drinks and smoothies for our guests sometimes as a free addition to our menus - this is usually seasonal and depends what we have in our kitchen garden on the day.
Water
We stock a range of quality waters in glass bottles, both still and sparking. This includes Mosel still and sparkling water that we bring back from Germany - so although that includes transport miles, as we go to and from Germany frequently there is no additional carbon footprint. We return empty bottles and crates to Germany as well where they are sterilised and re-used, which is greener than the much more energy intensive British system.
Tea
We stock a range of very fine Shi Bui teas. Shi Bui is a Japanese phrase for simple yet complex. We have tried numerous specialist tea suppliers and find the quality that this small family business based in Edinburgh, provide is superior and consistent. To be at it's finest, tea must be fresh and carefully handled by the importer. That's whet we get from Shi Bui. It fits nicely with our Japanese garden theme.
We also offer premium Japanese loose leaf tea, which we import directly from Yumoni in Japan and make in the traditional Japanese way. Because we have to import directly to get the quality we require, supply can be a little erratic. It includes a premium green matcha when supply is available of the quality we seek.
Coffee
We primarily serve freshly roasted and ground to order in the restaurant. We work with a small local roastery called Bean Smitten, based at Bewl Water in Kent which is not far from us and where we charge our electric vehicles. We have a selection of bean styles and types, and use our double boiler Rocket espresso machine to make totally fresh perfect coffee, which we fresh grind to order for each cup we make. We are quite fanatical about coffee quality too and use a Rocket double boiler professional espresso machine in the restaurant.