The Bull at Benenden — Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells

Thursday 26th of May 2022,||||On the way to Aylesford, with Aylesford Brigde in mind, we stopped at the Priory of of the Friars, a Carmelite monastery founded in 1242 with the support of Richard the Grey. As a result of the Reformation, a fire in 1930 and the following World War II, the order was able to buy back and restore the monastery in 1949. A unexpected walking on the grounds with one of the remaining Carmelite friars, who came to England from New Zealand some 40 years ago, resulted in an quite interesting chat. The bridge over the Medway River was less appealing than previous photos had shown, so hitting the road to Benenden was a quickly made decision.||||The Bull, a local pub and B&B in Benenden, sits next to the Village Green and on to main street, when we are arriving late afternoon. We booked two rooms to stay overnight on Thursday and Friday. Before checking in, we have a drink, sitting at a table in a bay window of the pub. Later on, upstairs, we are greated by the house cat and after settling in, we have time left for a shower before dinner at 7:30.||||Not entirly uncommon, locals mingling with other dining guests in the evening, setting the mood and ambiance for the evening. Moules & Frites, a dish that you hardly find on the average English pub menu, catches our attention and we decide to give it a go. In the summer months this is one of the Belgians favorites dishes. Although served different then we are used in Belgium, the mussels taste good, there 's even room left for dessert.||||The fatigue, after a long day of driving and visiting places, sets in as we decide to hit the sack. While the noices of the pub guests are fading, the silence of the night takes over the village. Good...

Thursday 26th of May 2022,||||On the way to Aylesford, with Aylesford Brigde in mind, we stopped at the Priory of of the Friars, a Carmelite monastery founded in 1242 with the support of Richard the Grey. As a result of the Reformation, a fire in 1930 and the following World War II, the order was able to buy back and restore the monastery in 1949. A unexpected walking on the grounds with one of the remaining Carmelite friars, who came to England from New Zealand some 40 years ago, resulted in an quite interesting chat. The bridge over the Medway River was less appealing than previous photos had shown, so hitting the road to Benenden was a quickly made decision.||||The Bull, a local pub and B&B in Benenden, sits next to the Village Green and on to main street, when we are arriving late afternoon. We booked two rooms to stay overnight on Thursday and Friday. Before checking in, we have a drink, sitting at a table in a bay window of the pub. Later on, upstairs, we are greated by the house cat and after settling in, we have time left for a shower before dinner at 7:30.||||Not entirly uncommon, locals mingling with other dining guests in the evening, setting the mood and ambiance for the evening. Moules & Frites, a dish that you hardly find on the average English pub menu, catches our attention and we decide to give it a go. In the summer months this is one of the Belgians favorites dishes. Although served different then we are used in Belgium, the mussels taste good, there 's even room left for dessert.||||The fatigue, after a long day of driving and visiting places, sets in as we decide to hit the sack. While the noices of the pub guests are fading, the silence of the night takes over the village. Good...

What a lovely village pub, the food was not good. We ate on the first night of our staycation, my husband did really enjoy his scallops, but my muscles had been over boiled, in fact when I took the lid of the muscle pot, they were still boiling and I couldn’t eat them for a good 10 minutes. I had booked for Sunday lunch the week before we went, on the phone I was told that they thought the cauliflower cheese was made with cornflour and the gravy was also gluten free, but check, which I did. Neither of them were gluten free, but was surprised about the gravy as most catering gravy is gluten free these days! But being a coeliac I decided to have the prawns instead, well the garlic butter tasted horrible, but I could eat them without dipping them in, some were ok some went pappy in your mouth, yuk, My husbands roast was not all that either, worse than mine, the potatoes were hardly roasted and as for the vegetables, they were raw, I think the cook forgot to cook them and told him this, there is al dente and raw, it was like a warm coleslaw without the Mayo, I’m not sure why he didn’t send it back, such a shame for the only pub in the village, so had to go further a field to eat. But as I say all the girls were lovely especially Daisy and could not criticise them,...