Brasserie ABode - Canterbury

This is a review of the Abode Brasserie. The restaurant is a small plate eatery, we've been to a few small plate places and really enjoyed them, the menu sounded interesting and we wanted something a bit special as we were only in Canterbury for one night. We were met at the entrance by a man who waved us in the general direction of some tables and said we could choose where to sit, bit odd but fine. We sat down and after a few minutes he brought a food menu and explained how it works, that dishes would come when they're ready etc and recommended 2 or 3 dishes each. After about 10 minutes we were brought a drinks menu, then almost immediately we were asked if we were ready to make our drink order. After another 5 minutes (of us looking at drinks) we finally ordered. The first dish that came out (after another 15 minutes of waiting) was the smoked haddock soufflé. It was the size of a cupcake, so a mouthful each. It was a little chewy and bland. £10 for that. Then, a good 10 minutes later the pearl barley ragu with goats cheese came out in a cute saute pan about the size of a saucer. It was also a little chewy, tasty, but with the absence of any other dish the texture was hard work. We noticed the table next to us tucking in to what looked like a marvellous feast while we waited another 15 minutes for another plate. At this point we were considering leaving. The last straw was the lamb ragu which came in a miniature saucepan. There was about 1-2 tbsp of shredded lamb in gravy with peas and a small pile of mini hash browns - the exact same frozen ones we buy for our kids. £13.50 for that dish. I have never complained in a restaurant but I couldn't carry on. I asked if we could pay for what we'd had and go because it had been so bad. The waiter was excellent, very gracious and insisted we try the other dishes for free, which he then retrieved from the pass immediately. Why we had been waiting again i have no idea. The only dish that stood out was the gnocchi with fennel sausage, but at £12.50 for 4 bits of gnocchi and half a mashed sausage is madness. If the food had been outstanding it may have been worth the time and cost but it was disappointing at every turn. The 2 stars are for the waiter who did his best to turn it round!

I had dinner and breakfast here as a package and it was excellent. The dinner was three courses, wonderfully presented and tasted great. The service was very good and breakfast was equally enjoyable.

I was a little bit hesitant going here as per the Google reviews but I'm pleased we gave it a chance. We chose the three courses and enjoyed some really nice food served by very attentive and friendly staff (Claudio was especially good). I had the asparagus, hake, and banana dishes and found all enjoyable with some nice touches (the hake, for example, was cooked beautifully with accompaniments full of flavour). We did notice that the restaurant was quiet at a peak period and wondered whether the online feedback had played a part in that - a real pity given that the staff clearly cared about the experience and wanted to see people walk away happy. We look forward to visiting again in the future 😊