Bowled over by Updown

These photographs taken in opposite directions could surely have been taken in Tuscany. The entrance to the restaurant under a pergola is bright and verdant, and the sunlight is pouring in; just to the left of the lower picture there is even a vine. In the other direction, way past the chef working away, there are the beginnings of a swimming pool.

The short menu is also decidedly Italian. The first courses included a green minestrone with softened borlotti beans and salty ricotta; tagliatelle dotted with pieces of skate, plump mussels, succulent baby tomatoes and wild garlic (above); and buffalo mozzarella with the new season’s asparagus. All of this was mopped up with excellent focaccia doused in olive oil, and the wine list bears the unmistakable influence of David Gleave’s Italian-leaning Liberty Wines.

The four main courses listed on the menu opened with a vignole, the Roman stew of baby artichokes, peas, broad beans and morels, with parmesan-rich polenta that delighted JR so much that she asked to take home the remnants so she could enjoy it again the following evening.

I thoroughly enjoyed my dish of grilled fillets of Dover sole with blood oranges, white asparagus and agretti while marvelling at the plates of one-kilo Angus T-bone steak with morels, wild garlic and fried potatoes that, according to the chef, ‘fly out’ of his kitchen, despite a price tag of £150, for a dish that will admittedly feed three or four.

The full name of the chef is Oliver Brown, which may give my location away to the many satisfied customers of Updown. I’m in England – in Kent, the garden of England, according to King Henry VIII. This is almost the end of my delightful lunch in the restaurant in the converted outhouses of a 17th-century farmhouse which, since 2021, Brown and his partner Ruth Leigh have been transforming into a 10-bedroom hotel with a restaurant attached, and converting respectively the gatehouse, stables and the gardener’s cottage into three cottages for guests.

Brown and Leigh seem a perfect couple to be in charge of their hotel, their restaurant and their two young children. Each seems to possess an innate affinity for their profession. Leigh is the daughter of renowned chef Rowley Leigh and learned her profession as front of house at his Le Café Anglais on Queensway in London, where, inter alia, she met Brown. He is equally talented and adept at the stoves, cooking British, French and Chinese dishes. He was chef for two years at The Continental in Hong Kong before returning to London, where he cooked at Duck, Duck, Goose, and he is now cooking Italian food. Each of them appears to have the hospitality gene: she for making her customers, whether in her restaurant or hotel, feel welcome; he for ensuring that they never leave hungry.

It was in 2020, with a young baby and COVID rampant, that they began their search. ‘It took about a year to find’, Leigh admitted. ‘We couldn’t find anywhere quite right. Oli’s mum, Liz, had been living in Deal for about 11 years and was selling her house there and the agent mentioned a house that the owners had been looking at selling a few years previously. It was during the COVID years so we weren’t even allowed in the house at the same time together. But when we walked into that central quad [around which the house, barn and pergola sit], I think we all just knew. We bought it with Oli’s sister Vita and his brother Jamie.

‘It wasn’t in terrible condition but had been decorated about 25 years previously so needed some love, and the outbuildings were just starting to go. When we first pruned the vine that runs under what is now the restaurant roof, the whole roof fell down. It just rained glass – and money.’ Below is what the building that now houses the restaurant looked like when they arrived.

Below, the restaurant today, behind the green-framed doors, on the opposite side of the 'quad' from the hotel building.

I wondered whether there was one other place in particular that had inspired them? ‘I don’t think so’, came her reply. ‘We’ve always wanted to do something together. We loved hotels. We wanted to get out of London. We were looking for a site that would let us open a restaurant with simple rooms and it grew from there. Most of what we’ve done has come from the site itself, and what works in this unique place, rather than trying to fit a concept into the site. In that way it has grown very organically over the last few years, but I think our regular, long-standing guests have enjoyed watching that journey.’

And the food, I wondered – why Italian in the heart of Kent? Leigh’s response was immediate. ‘We both love Italian food and have spent most of our holidays in Italy. When we first looked around Updown – actually every time we looked around – it was hot and beautiful and felt like being in Tuscany. We could just see long lunches under the pergola with delicious things coming straight off the grill or out of the bread oven. The Italian influence just felt right.’

When I asked each of them separately about the biggest challenge of running Updown, they both came up with the same response. ‘Winter’, Brown responded, ‘when it gets dark at 4.30 pm and there’s not that much produce locally.’ Leigh went further: ‘I think winter for us just sums up the challenges that everyone running restaurants is facing right now – National Insurance, energy costs, cost of sales etc etc … I think most people running restaurants acknowledge that to make decent money we need to charge more than we realistically can when everyone’s broke, or it feels like they are. If every month could be August, we’d be laughing, but like so many outside London we’re a very seasonal business, which has its own challenges, particularly in doubling the size of the team each spring from 20 to 45. It takes so many people to run a site like this.

‘Staffing is unbelievably hard here. [They are just outside the seaside town of Deal, pictured below.] We’ve increased our opening times so gradually because it’s been so difficult to find chefs particularly. From 7 April we’re now open seven days a week but that’s taken us three years!’

Finally, I had to ask Leigh about the origins of the name Updown. ‘No one seems to know the etymology but there is an interesting story about Updown Girl cemetery on the other side of Northbourne Road from us. I particularly enjoyed the disclaimer of any connection to the Billy Joel song Uptown Girl!’

Our day out from London was great fun. The train to Deal and walk along Deal Pier in the sunshine, albeit with a strong onshore wind, were respectively easy and exhilarating. The 15-minute taxi ride (£15) to Updown took us deep into the Kent countryside during which our taxi driver lost his satnav signal. And the excellent meal, preceded by the house apricot margarita outside in the sunshine and followed by a quiet mooch around the extensive gardens and the extremely comfortable hotel lobby – all of this combined to make me want to return for a longer stay.

Updown Updown Road, Betteshanger, Deal, Kent CT14 0EF; tel: +44 (0)78 4224 4192

Every Sunday, Nick writes about restaurants. To stay abreast of his reviews, sign up for our weekly newsletter. 

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Nick Lander