John Dory Wine

Unpolished and bordering on basic, with rickety bare tables, walls lined with wine bottles, high aspirations and a come-as-you-please demeanour, John Dory offers a masterclass in how to run a new-wave wine bar. The focus is firmly on drinking well, whether by exploring quality wines slightly outside the norm or enjoying a bottle of something with friends for a reasonable outlay.

That said, food is by no means neglected. Indeed, when Harry Johnson is ‘on the pans’, it can feel like ‘you’re in a French bistro instead of our dear old Kent coast!’ You need to book in advance for the hugely popular Sunday lunch, where the likes of tomato and burrata with aubergine and chilli, exemplary roast chicken with chips, and lemon mascarpone with raspberries and basil have drawn praise. There’s house-made pasta on Thursdays (perhaps agnolotti stuffed with broad beans and ricotta) and steak frites on the first Wednesday of the month. 

Check out Instagram for collaborations with local and national restaurants, and consider the snack menu if you are visiting when the kitchen is closed. There could be locally made pies (we love the curried mutton), smoked haddock Scotch eggs, cheeses, and top-quality tinned fish. Service, led by wine experts Louisa Walls and Zeren Wilson, is just right, creating the sort of place where ‘you go in for just a quick bite and drink and end up staying for hours’.