St. Clement's Reviews

Having been lucky enough to have lived just round the corner from the restaurant; my wife and I have eaten at St Clements on many a number of occasions taking both friends and family and have never been disappointed. Not only superb food and great prices but the service is excellent also. Overall, for quality local food and value for money it doesn’t get much better than this.

St Clements my favourite restaurant in Hastings; well thought out balanced menu filled with delicious dishes and a superb basic list of quality wines with no branded supermarket vino on the list here. I often visit Hastings as I live in London and the food here is better than many top London eateries I have dined at. The £14 set lunch is as Mr Winner would say historic value and who cares if wine may not be poured; constantly go to a 2 star Michelin for such attention. If this restaurant was in London offering outstanding value there would be a line outside the door daily.

We visited for lunch on Friday. I started with the excellent Hastings fishcakes; both my friends had fish soup, which they said was as good as any. For my main I had the belly pork, which was as soft as butter and was served with mashed potato and a jus that matched the sweet pork perfectly. My friends had the shoulder of lamb, which they both agreed was great. For dessert we chose the tiramisu, which was not up to the standard of the other courses. In summary, the setting was okay although parking was difficult as we dined there on a Friday at lunchtime. Service was good and the food mainly excellent. The total bill was £75 for the four of us, and considering the quality of the food, it was not at all bad value for money.

My partner and I were really looking forward to eating at St. Clement’s as we heard good reviews. We had scallops and mash for starters, which was over priced, a little bland and gritty. My partner’s cuttlefish was overcooked. For mains, I had cod and my partner lemon sole - we were disappointed again as the food lacked flavour. The bread and butter pudding was divine and so was the wine. We found the staff inattentive - we had to fetch our own coats from the cloakroom and top up our own wine. Overall we were not impressed.

We arrived at St Clements on a rather wet and blustery Thursday evening, having heard the murmurings and read the reviews (jewel in Hastings crown) it was of no particular surprise to me that the restaurant was almost full. Initially my eyes were drawn to the particularly vocal guest ensconced in his high chair. Once seated, coats and greetings exchanged with the friendly restaurant staff I let my eyes wander, the restaurant itself has an unpretentious feel about it with its pine tables and chairs. I think I would have preferred daffodils or tulips to the hydrangea pots on the tables, I’m being petty my taste buds were excited. To the rear of the restaurant the corner bar area draws the eyes with its warm gold and red decor and then to the right directly through open doors a hive of activity in the kitchen prevails.

The menu is small but eclectic, a nice mix of both fish and meat the vegetarian choice this evening was a risotto, prices range from approx £5 for starters and desserts to about £18 for main courses.

Two of us chose the monkfish from the specials menu the other special being skate wing (a tad pricey I thought). My other dining companion chose the duck and braised endive with parsnip and potato boulangere.

Unfortunately we were then informed a little while later that due to popular demand the monkfish special had run out, which also meant the other monkfish dish was also off the menu, doubly disappointing!

The whole point of specials is to have something different from the printed menu.

Ok so it was at this point the conversation turns to my two dining fellows first visit where pretty much the same had happened but on that occasion it had taken over half an hour to be informed of this, don't get me wrong I wholeheartedly support buying fresh on the day from our wonderful fish market in the old town - which brings me back to my note on specials.

We eventually settle for two duck and the pollock, the pollock turns in an amazing performance, the sweet succulence of its wonderful freshness coupled together with the tomato/verde salsa danced about your mouth. Alas the duck was overcooked which was disappointing although to its credit the flavour was good, its redeeming quality was the braised endive and accompanying jus. Why didn't I go with the pollock?

This brings me to the desserts which amongst others included a tarte tatin and pannacotta, I have a rule of thumb, a bench mark if you like by which you can judge a chefs by how well they produce the classics tatin, pannacotta, another being the simple crème brûlée, and this chef having worked at Le Caprice and The Ivy (two establishments I have frequented often) would surely not disappoint.

Unfortunately this evening the tarte tatin was to be victim of what can only be best described as gastronomic homicide/death by microwave, the pastry so rubberised and apples too horrendous to mention I was not at all embarrassed to leave it almost untouched apart from our proddings and dissection just to see what they had done to it.

The pannacotta was good although a little too set for my liking and I would have preferred a little more rhubarb compote. Complaint made with regards the tarte tatin (I felt it my duty) and it was swiftly removed from the bill.

Fortunately for me this was my first visit to St Clements, unfortunately for my friends their second...another benchmark comes to mind, as a restaurant you really only get two chances.

I, for one, will return but may have to give the desserts a wide birth.

We were a party of five for lunch setting out to celebrate a birthday and st Clements which we knew from previous visits did not disappoint. Starters of Thai seafood salad and pork and celeriac terrine set up the taste buds beautifully, being well presented, but more importantly tasty. That's more than can be said for the watercress soup which came beautifully green but lacked the real punch that watercress should give in a soup.

Mains were all of a great quality. Monkfish with mussels and saffron sauce was spot on, especially for one guest who had never eaten monkfish or mussels. The whole Dover sole was judged to be perfect. The chicken and lamb were equally oohed and ahhed over.

We were almost too full for puddings, but pannacotta beckoned served with a classic combination of orange and rhubarb. It was very successful, though the pannacotta could perhaps have been laced with a little cognac or Grand Marnier to lift it into top place for being the star rather than the accompaniment to the fruit. A pear and almond tart was judged to be 'splendid'.

The New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc chosen from a short but well judged wine list was absolutely everything that New World Sauvignon should be. Service was attentive but the real stars are in the kitchen. We will be back. Often.

Since hearing about St Clements opening in St Leonard's I have been waiting for the chance to pop in for a meal, and my recent birthday gave me the perfect excuse.

Well, what can I say, I had a great time, the service was excellent, professional but relaxed, the owner even popped over and said Hi to us between courses, the food was simply wonderful, I will definitely be making it a regular haunt.