Passion on The Pantiles

IT’S A RARE sunny day on The Pantiles in the wet summer of 2024, and Alex Boyd owner - with his wife Virginia - of the 64-seat cafe and restaurant Kumquat is telling me how he makes what the Japanese call nasu dangaku; miso-glazed aubergine, to you and me.

As he talks about steam baking the aubergine (rather than roasting or grilling it) and mixing the miso sauce, there suddenly is that flash of passion that proper chefs always have when they talk about food. I think it’s what happens when the thing you love to do becomes who you are.

Miso-glazed aubergine (£9.50) is a simple enough dish, but it takes time and, as Alex tells it, it is put together with great care and a few personal twists. On the plate, it looks beautiful with a scattering of sesame seeds, edamame beans and tiny shisho leaves. In the mouth it is soft, sweet at first and then there’s a big miso and sesame, garlic and ginger umami finish. It is superior food.

And why would it not be? Alex Boyd started his career at 15 and has worked with some of the most famous chefs in the world. When he was still a teenager, he trained with Pierre Koffmann at La Tante Claire, he spent time at L’Atelier de Jöel Robuchon, he turned out Scotts of Mayfair’s famous fish pies, worked with the highly-regarded Paul Gayler at The Lanesborough Hotel in Belgravia and took over from Adam Handling as executive head chef at St Ermin Hotels, where he ended up running a team of 35 chefs across six locations. Along the way he cooked for royalty when he was executive chef at The Mansion House (official home of the Lord Mayor of London) was nominated for banqueting chef of the year and yet still managed to find time to spend three years in Hong Kong.

So, what’s he doing here in a tiny restaurant in Royal Tunbridge Wells when, clearly, he would be an asset to any fine-dining kitchen? There’s a longer version of this story on Kumquat’s website, and it’s worth looking at. But the short answer is that Virginia, who was born into a Hong Kong hospitality dynasty, wanted to open a cafe on The Pantiles and simply couldn’t find a decent chef. Alex stepped in to help his wife, and (since there are so many competing cafes on The Pantiles) ended up running a modern Asian-fusion restaurant, taking well known Asian dishes like Vietnamese pho and adapting them to his own style. After St Ermin’s, he says he enjoyed ‘getting back on the stoves’.

In Vietnam, pho (pronounced ‘fir’) is street food; a rice noodle soup, based on a rich bone broth laced with chilli and spices like star anise, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and herbs like coriander, into which slivers of raw beef or chicken are sliced to cook in the boiling broth. At Kumquat, the pho I’m served (£16.50) is built around short rib of beef cooked overnight to make an altogether more substantial meal. It’s delicious.

As we talk with Alex, I can hear Virginia chatting to customers in the background. She is a natural, with a winning smile and a gentle touch. Good service always makes great food better.

The food keeps on coming. Japanese leaf bites with home-made chilli jam and fillings of prawn, mango and coriander and tofu, carrot, coconut and ginger (£9 for three leaves, £12 for four) are delightful, ‘messy, but worth it’ as Virginia points out. The tuna tartare with mouli, cucumber, wasabi mayonnaise and cassava crackers (£12.70) is wonderful. A succulent soy and honey-glazed pork belly cooked for 18 hours comes with spiced red cabbage and sesame coleslaw and two soft-as-clouds steamed bao buns (£23.90) and is spectacular. Finally, there’s a mango cream with toasted marshmallows, passion fruit, lime crumble and freeze-dried raspberries (£8.50). It simply disappears.

This isn’t just good cooking, it’s hands-on cooking by a chef who worked in Michelin-starred restaurants - and it shows.

Kumquat

30 The Pantiles

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Kent

TN2 5TN

01892 487556

Website: https://kumquat.restaurant/