In the last few weeks, various people have been coming up to us and saying - ‘Have you been to the new Italian restaurant, it’s astonishing’. Food-obsessed that we are, we were pretty keen to try it. Trouble was, it was meant to be practically next door to The George but we hadn’t spotted it! Those of you who’ve been to Rye will know it’s not a large town, so how could we miss this?
The reason: Tuscan Kitchen (as we later discovered it is called), is in one of Rye’s old tea rooms, formerly the Peacock Inn, and apart from the discreet menu outside and bottles of olive oil in the window, you could easily walk past, as we did. Again and again.
But no matter, because we were here now. And what a place it was. Think beamed, low-ceilinged room in Typical Rye (or old English town) style, but with bottles of wine replacing the milk jugs in the dressers, and jars of Tuscan honey, truffle oil, artichoke paste and more, on every available shelf. And very dark inside. It was a slightly surreal, if pleasant, fusion of Cream Teas and Clotted Cream with Tuscan Hunter’s lodge.
So we sat down, slightly disorientated we must admit, and proceeded to gobble-down some of the best Italian food (and best food full stop) we’ve ever eaten. There were huge plates piled up with Wild Boar and truffle salami, hams and cheeses, all of which come from the owners family farm just outside Tuscany. There was homemade ciabatta, olive oil (again from the owners’ olive grove), linguini with Clams and Mussels, gnocchi with pounded walnut paste, chicken liver pate that comes warm in a little burner for you to drip your bread into, and the most incredible Pannacottas and Creme Caramels.
Basically we stuffed ourselves, all the time wondering, ‘how did this place come here, it’s a miracle!’ Despite the Food Revolution in Britain, when it comes to Italian restaurants it’s still very hard to find a place that’s authentic: restauranteurs adapt their dishes for this country; it’s expensive to import the right ingredients; we’re used to what we’ve got. But Tuscan Kitchen is basically a country Tuscan restaurant, floated down as on a spaceship, straight into Rye, with all their produce zipwired down after them. And we couldn’t be luckier. Especially because the prices are really rather low.
This is a gushing post, and apologies for that. But we’ve discovered manna! When you’re next in Rye or staying with us, we urge you to go there (for lunch especially). We haven’t even spoken about the owners Genn and Franco (she’s welsh but has moved to Florence when 19 and only just returned, he’s Italian and has been cooking since the age of 5), and they’re the most wonderful hosts and chefs, embarking on this business for the love of it. But more on Genn and Franco soon, as we’re going to post a Q&A with them in the next post.
Tuscan Kitchen doesn’t have a website yet but you can reach them on 01797 223269,8 Lion Street, Rye, TN31 7LB.
