“Cafe du Soleil”:http://cafedusoleil.co.uk/ was recommended by a friend and so we’d booked a table for our first night out in Canterbury. It was in a lovely location just outside the West Gate and we crossed the narrow River Stour by short footbridge to reach the entrance.
It was a very old building with lots of beams, flags on the floor and stone walls and it was nice to see single candles lit on each table. There was a beautiful display of orange Chinese lanterns at the entrance which caught the late evening sun through the window. The restaurant was reasonably sized, but potted plants broke it up and stopped it feeling cavernous. On the wall was a large type of living picture and we were told that they were real ferns and plants which had been injected with silicone to preserve them.
For a mid-week it was relatively busy. The theme was wood fired Mediterranean and the “menu”:http://cafedusoleil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/menu-march-18.pdf had pizza and other meat dishes. If you’re happy to eat before 6.30pm, you can enjoy 2 courses for £14.95 or 3 for £18.95.
As soon as we were seated we were brought a large jug of iced tap water. There were a number of aperitifs on the “drinks menu”:http://www.cafedusoleil.co.uk/PDF/Cafe-du-Soleil-WInelist.pdf all at £7.5 and we chose something new: a prosecco French 75 with gin and lemon. It wasn’t particularly chilled, but it had a lovely taste. We also shared a generous portion of olives.
I chose a roasted vegetable pizza with goats’ cheese and although it was a relatively thick crust, it was delicious. There was plenty of cheese dotted around it, the veg still had some texture and it was covered in pesto and peppery rocket. The lamb steak looked delicious, slices of pink lamb attractively arranged on a bed of spiced ratatouille and with a large celeriac potato croquette and minty salsa verde.
Service was extremely good with the young girl being friendly, chatty and very attentive.
Whilst I would have liked to try the orange and ginger cheesecake, I was just too full and we just sat and finished our bottle of French Sauvignon Blanc.
The bill came to £67.
