Touch of magic

Winner of the Kent Life and Kent on Sunday Chef of the Year 2016, dining at the Michelin-starred restaurant of chef patron Graham Garrett is a treat to be savoured. 

- Sarah Sturt

IF you bumped into Graham Garrett down the pub you would be forgiven for thinking you were chatting to an ex-rocker, not the Michelin-starred chef he has become.

In one of the industry’s more bizarre twists, after a previous career as a successful rock musician, Graham did indeed defect to cooking, but still carries the down-to-earth, somewhat dishevelled air of the days when he manned the drums for bands like the YA YA and Dumb Blondes.

Music’s loss, but the food world’s gain then – and Kent’s in particular, as for the past 15 years he and Jackie, his ‘partner in life and work’, have turned The West House in Biddenden into a must-visit little piece of gastronomy heaven.

Kent Life and Kent on Sunday’s Chef of the year in our inaugural 2014 Awards, he scooped the title again in 2016 after glowing praise from our category judge who found the whole experience, food and service faultless.

Graham brings an extraordinary pedigree to this simple dining room housed in a 16th century weaver’s cottage, having worked for both Nico Ladenis and Richard Corrigan and cooked for government and royalty.