Eating out at Winifred’s
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- May 23, 2025
When chef Benjamin Cumberpatch invited myself, photographer, Steve and designer, Laura to come for dinner, we jumped at the chance.
Photos by Steve Painter
As I walked along the seafront towards the skatepark, it was warm and hazy, the sea resembled a millpond and my feet wanted to do nothing more than to go for a paddle. But my rumbling belly had other ideas. Tucked down in the Courtyard, a friendly northerner hailing from Nottingham and named Benjamin Cumberpatch opened his first restaurant, Winifred’s around 8 weeks ago.
Ben was previously the chef at The Stag Inn on All Saints Street and before that, at The Queen’s Deli. Now it was his turn to enjoy the limelight. And he does. He cooks about as close to his patrons as a chef can get. Not that anyone is watching him. Instead, we (Laura, Steve and myself) are devouring his food with “mmmmms!” and “oh wows!” and with plenty of lip-smacking.
”Sit down, we’ll bring you food and just tell me when you’re full” he says (although this isn’t Winifred’s usual method or service).
First, we enjoyed SOURDOUGH TOAST WITH MARMITE BUTTER. Now, I know that Marmite has a bit of a ‘love it or hate it’ thing going on but the haters aren’t gonna hate in this particular Marmite scenario.
Next it was SMOKED HAM HOCK TERRINE, ENGLISH PEAS AND DIPPY EGG. A really pretty dish of pink, green and yellow that tasted of summer and freshness. Really delicious.
Please note that whenever a plate came out, Steve (our perfectionist of a food photographer) would whisk it away from us for its close up while Laura and I sat impatiently salivating with knives and forks in our hands.
SARDINE BOLOGNESE ON TOAST was next out. Something that shouldn’t work but it just does! This was followed by PEASE PUDDING, TENDERSTEM BROCCOLI AND GREEN SAUCE and I don’t know what the green sauce was but it matched my jumper and I really enjoyed it. We also really loved the DEVILLED MACKEREL, HERITAGE TOMATOES AND HORSERADISH CREAM.
Two larger dishes then arrived at our table: RYE BAY SCALLOPS, CAULIFLOWER AND SMOKED CHILLI OIL and ROLLED AND STUFFED LAMB BREAST, PEARL BARLEY AND WHITE ONION PURÉE.
Winifred’s make it their mission to serve local produce wherever possible and we were washing all of this amazing food down with a local orange wine called ORTEGA by WESTWELL who are based in Charing, near Ashford.
Our bellies were full to bursting by this point but we just had enough room for not one but two desserts. GRAPEFRUIT MERINGE PIE WITH ‘MINI MILK’ SORBET. Oh my goodness, this dessert was light and fresh, tangy and sweet and simply delicious! And then came the crescendo: SET CHOCOLATE, PEANUTS AND BANANA ICE CREAM. This was embellished with a piece of lightly-frozen banana garnished with a hard shard of caramel.
This is the sort of dessert that will make your eyes roll into the back of your head with pure delight as you realise that there is a heaven after all, and even though we were bursting at the seams, Steve and I still had one of those really politely British arguments about who got to enjoy the last mouthful of creamy chocolate.
We were so impressed by the divine food, its beautiful presentation, the service (by a warm and charming Lyndsey), that we all vowed to come back with friends at our first given opportunity.
A huge thank you to Ben for a truly wonderful evening with some of the best food I’ve eaten in the area. The Courtyard is the perfect setting for a sociable summer’s evening but it’s also cosy and candle-lit in darker, colder months too. I urge you all to pay Winifred’s a visit, I think you’ll be as impressed as we were.
Enjoy your limelight Ben, you genuinely deserve it!
