More accolades for Canterbury’s Cook’s Tale restaurant

The restaurant, led by owner-chef Dev Biswal, features as the only entry for Kent in the new British Indian Good Food Guide www.britishindiangoodfoodguide.com, where it is named as one of the Top 100 Indian restaurants in the country.

The modern Indian fusion venue has also just received a Travellers’ Choice Award 2024, from TripAdvisor, based on 2,000 customer reviews, placing it in the top 10% of restaurants worldwide.

The Cook’s Tale has also retained its place in the prestigious Harden’s Guide 2025 www.hardens.com, where entry is determined by subscriber reviews. Comments included: “On top form” and “Never fails to deliver interesting and delicious food at reasonable prices.”

The restaurant also features in the new Good Curry Guide www.goodcurryguide.net, now revived and available online for the first time more than a decade after the last hard copy edition was published by the late Pat Chapman. Still a work on progress, the Guide is initially confining early entries to elite Indian fine dining venues. It describes the iconic Canterbury establishment as, “Much vaunted ... showcasing the best of the abundant sustainable, hyper-local local produce, with high levels of originality, flare and deft spicing. Regularly changing seasonal menus.”

There now follows a busy festive period in the restaurant, with Biswal personally serving a spectacular 20-course signature tasting menu, with rare and exotic ingredients including white truffle, Beluga caviar, and Koli Wada lobster, at £350 a head. During the exclusive dining experience, which takes up to 3 hours to savour, Dev tells his ethos behind the sourcing of rare and exotic ingredients and his own culinary journey which has taken him around the world.

In January, Biswal will return to his native Odisha in India, hosting a 12-day culinary tour for a party of international gastronomes, Full itinerary details at: www.thecooksadventures.com

Later in 2025, Dev will welcome his first group of in-bound visitors to the area to join his personally curated ‘Kent Experiences’ of local food-based experiences. In November, he attended the World Travel Market exhibition at ExCel London meeting international travel organisations, which could help bring more overseas visitors to boost Kent tourism.

The Cook’s Tale, 14-15 Beer Cart Lane, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2NY

T: 01227 200 777 www.thecookstale.co.uk