My home town, Broadstairs in east Kent, has long been a popular holiday destination. Not Broadchurch, that’s a fictional spot much further south in Dorset, created for the TV crime series.

But we do have majestic white chalk cliffs here, too, along with sandy beaches, bracing water, a keenly marketed association with Charles Dickens who holidayed and sometimes wrote here, and a pink marble ice cream parlour, Morelli’s, which has been scooping for more than 90 years.

Last summer, Dua Lipa was spotted filming in the retro parlour and on the golden horseshoe beach below, Viking Bay.

But apart from outstanding haddock and chips and enough flavours of gelato to make an Italian blush, Broadstairs hasn’t always stood out for its food.

As a quaint Victorian seaside resort trading off its picturesque beach huts and Dickens connection – a festival celebrating the author is held here in June – the town has tended to attract visitors primarily interested in its good looks and golden sand. Unlike neighbouring Margate, it had not built a reputation as a dining-out destination.

But that is changing. In the past few years, there has been a succession of new food and drink openings, including a few from Broadstairs’ hipster neighbour Margate, which until recently seemed to snare all the best restaurant openings for itself.

Several hot chefs have made the move from Margate, including Swedish-born Tomas Eriksson who has opened a Basque-inspired small-plates restaurant eatery.

“Our cosy corner of York Street felt just right for Bar Ingo,” says Eriksson. “The town has so much to offer – an amazing fishmonger, interesting galleries and coffee shops as well as fantastic places to eat. So many of us also benefit from a really cool view, whether it’s the beach or the curious streets.”

The food on offer at Bar Ingo

Another newcomer is MasterChef finalist Tony Rodd. He and his wife moved from London to launch a Margate restaurant last summer, but soon traded it in for Broadstairs’ more chilled clientele, opening Fifteen Square Metres.

Rodd says that restaurant-goers in Broadstairs are quite different. “We love Margate, but it’s a much younger crowd. We decided that Broadstairs was more suited to my wife and I, both in our mid-40s with a slightly slower lifestyle than 15 years ago.”

Last autumn, Billy Stock, a chef who sent Margate’s French restaurant Sète straight onto the best restaurant lists last year, brought his Southern-fried chicken concept to Broadstairs for a long-term pop-up in the Neptunes Hall pub, which also does brilliant pizza.

Broadstairs has a lot to offer chefs. “The dining out and social atmosphere here is really vibrant and affordable compared to London,” says Rodd, who sold out his Valentine’s Day evening in a few hours. “When I finish at the end of the night, I walk out, turn left, and see the sea. We feel 10 times better here.” I’ve not seen Dua Lipa’s cult pickle drink here yet (for the uninitiated, it’s a can of Diet Coke topped up with pickle and jalapeño brine), but it’s certain the town’s culinary scene now has the style factor.

‘MasterChef’ finalist Tony Rodd and his wife moved from London to start Fifteen Square Metres

Broadstairs was named one of the coolest places to live by Which? magazine in 2023, and seafront restaurant Twenty Seven Harbour Street won a spot in reservation service company OpenTable’s Top 100 list for 2024.

This restaurant was one of the first to put Broadstairs on the map as a food destination. When I ate here while house-hunting eight years ago, it helped persuade me to stick around.

It serves high-end proper breakfasts and unbeatable roasts, innovative small plates and interesting local wines in the evening, while the bijou Txoko room hosts supper clubs and wine tastings. Local produce includes native Whitstable oysters and Viking Bakehouse sourdough from Ramsgate.

There’s a great coffee culture, too. When I moved here, it was almost non-existent and I stuck to tea. Thankfully, Smiths arrived with its silky-smooth lattes and warm banana bread, and has since been joined by a growing number of independent cafés.

These include Forts, another blow-in from Margate that’s serious about coffee with the best brunch in town; Salt, with its acai bowls and local wines whose surfing owners also run the town’s buzziest beach hangout, Namaka on Stone Bay; Kope + Loko, where coffee comes with generous slabs of home-made cakes and a side of fashion and lifestyle; and Staple in Reading Street for croissants and cruffins that’ll have you browsing Rightmove after one bite.

The rugged Botany Bay in Broadstairs (Photo: Ian Laker Photography/Getty/Moment RF)

Jo Scott is the director of the biannual Broadstairs Food Festival, which welcomes hundreds of vendors to the seafront event every Easter and October. “We have the fish offering you might expect at the coast but with a quality, innovative twist, and small and shareable plates have become the norm and not a novelty”, she says.

Before the new wave of innovative eateries blew in there were still a few great places to eat – my favourites include family Italian Posillipo and atmospheric tapas bar Albariño.

But the increasingly good and interesting options mean that there’s reason to visit outside of the summer season. The colder months bring vast, clear skies and empty beaches, and my ideal day is a windswept walk from Joss Bay to town, stopping off at the 18th-century flint pub, the Tartar Frigate, for a pint and a prawn sandwich while I plan where to eat next.  

Getting there

Southeastern trains run from London St Pancras, London Victoria, Margate and Ramsgate. 

Staying there

The Yarrow, a large hotel that trains students from the catering college next door, has double rooms from £100.

Broadstairs House Boutique B&B has double rooms from £130 B&B.

More information

Broadstairs Food Festival takes place 18-20 April, broadstairsfoodfestival.org.uk;

visitthanet.co.uk;

visitkent.co.uk