The West House

There aren't many restaurants quite like The West House. Sitting on Biddenden High Street in a 16th-century weaver's cottage, this tiny, family-run restaurant has been Graham and Jackie Garrett's domain since 2002 — and over the years has attracted everyone from local regulars to serious food pilgrims and the occasional very famous face.

Its pedigree rather belies its size. Graham won a Michelin star within two years of opening and held it for 16 years, an extraordinary run for such a small independent restaurant. The West House remains in the Michelin Guide today and, more importantly, remains very recognisably as doing its own thing.

Then again, Graham didn't take the conventional route to becoming a chef. Before kitchens came rock music: he was a drummer in the 1980s, including with Ya Ya and the Dumb Blondes, before changing careers at 31 and going on to work with the likes of Nico Ladenis and Richard Corrigan. There is still something pleasingly individual about the restaurant he subsequently created. No grand dining room or brigade hidden away behind the scenes; just a handful of tables, old beams, an open fire and Graham cooking from a remarkably small kitchen.

The food is modern British, led by the seasons but informed by Graham's travels and more than two decades of cooking here. Guests choose between short and long set menus, both beginning with snacks, homemade bread and hand-churned butter, with an excellent wine list alongside.

Four individually designed bedrooms make it possible to stay over, including, appropriately enough, the Rock 'n' Roll room. But The West House is first and foremost a restaurant — intimate, idiosyncratic and rather difficult to pigeonhole. On any given service, almost anyone could be sitting at the next table. That's part of its charm.