Weekly Review: The Sportsman (Kent)
Kent classic feels like your local, if it had a Michelin star.
This review drifts a little from my usual focus. It’s a one off, I promise.
Arriving at the Sportsman near Whitstable on a clear spring evening, the Thames Estuary stretches out into the distance. Blue water glistens in the setting sun. It wouldn’t be surprising to find Turner himself painting nearby.
The Thames Estuary has been feeding people for thousands of years. Estuaries — where tidal forces blend fresh water from rivers with salty water from the sea — are particularly rich places for marine life, especially oysters. And Thames oysters have been among the best from time immemorial.
The relationship between oysters and the estuary is symbiotic. Oysters are filter feeders. They literally clean the water and protect the ecosystem for other species.
As a result, whatever was in the water is in your oyster.
The Sportsman has a symbiotic relationship with the Thames Estuary, too.
The Michelin Guide’s capsule on The Sportsman says that “The Thames Estuary provides wonderfully fresh fish and oysters,” which ought to be true.
But it isn’t. At least, not right now.
These days, the Sportsman is serving oysters from Jersey — sourced, they emphasised very strongly, from a local Whitstable purveyor.
Why can’t the Sportsman, one of the UK’s finest restaurants, serve oysters from the fisheries that are in sight from their own dining room?
Because too many British water companies are terrible.
Up river from the Sportsman, Thames Water has wrecked its namesake waterway, from its source to its estuary, according to campaigning group River Action. The group ran their own tests for e.coli bacteria at Greenwich over four days in January 2025, and found the bacteria at 9 times the safe level for bathing.
In Kent, closer to the restaurant, Southern Water’s discharges have so blighted the area that the beach in nearby Deal has been slapped with a “Brown flag” by the Telegraph — which relied on data from the Environmental Agency — for being one of the 25 dirtiest in England.
In 2021, the Whitstable Oyster Company had to stop production after a hundred people were reported ill following Southern Water sewage discharges. The oyster company lost its access to the lucrative Hong Kong market as a result. And by 2023, it told The Times, sales still hadn’t recovered.
Thames Water and Southern Water are supposed to investing billions in infrastructure improvements, particularly to reduce sewage outflows. It’s not clear to me whether that’s happening or whether the investments are actually helping.
To take a macro example, the London Super Sewer project isn’t really being funded by Thames Water. Customers are footing the cost through a special levy that will add £25 to every household water bill for up to twenty years.
Progress on other improvements is painfully slow. Consider some micro examples: Two Thames Water projects near my house have sat unfinished for more than three years.
Meanwhile, human excrement continues to flow into the Thames watershed. Where, in due course, it is filtered by Whitstable’s oysters.
To be clear, oysters are remarkable creatures. They filter the dirtiest water, make it clean, deposit the bad stuff on the sea floor, and generally don’t poison themselves. They are almost always safe to eat, and purveyors and restaurants are careful about what they sell and serve.
But oysters aren’t perfect, and the more e.coli is in the water, the more likely are they are to retain some.
And so, the Sportsman has a choice: Risk customer health or import their oysters from Jersey, where the water is cleaner. And then, to really ensure everyone is safe, it’s best to simply and carefully poach them.
Put that way, it’s an easy choice for any restaurant operator, especially the clever people who run the Sportsman.
And I can report that the Sportsman’s oysters — poached Jersey rock oysters with pickled cucumber and avruga caviar, dressed in a simple hollandaise sauce — were fantastic. The perfect way to start our evening, paired with a pleasant glass of Chapel Down fizz. And that care and cleverness set the tone for our whole evening.
My own starter was fresh, local asparagus, served unconventionally with egg mayonnaise. There was a hit of pickling liquor in the eggs and some salty potato lurking. It was all really creative and utterly delicious.
For the fish course, I went for monkfish paired with a rich, creamy mushroom sauce that shouldn’t have worked with the fish, but did. A dose of lemon added acid and balanced the richness. My wife enjoyed sea bass that delivered a lovely hit of spice.
My main was local lamb wonderfully cooked, though the olive tapenade was probably a bit too salty and the accompanying aubergine was a bit too baby food. It was all meant to feel like an elegant take on Greek lamb, but while the execution was flawless, the concept didn’t quite work. Still, I would have gone for seconds on the lamb itself without hesitation.
My wife’s cheese soufflé was well made, although perhaps a bit heavy on the egg white and not quite bold enough with the cheese.
The highlight of the final courses was actually a pre-dessert of panna cotta with a bracing hit of sweet caramel and a lovely acidity in the custard itself. A chocolate tart had an impossibly thin case and delivered a brilliant bomb of chocolate.
The vibe in the Sportsman was worthy of any outstanding local pub. The wine and beer were flowing. Tables of fives and sixes buzzed around us, lost in their celebrations. And service as lovely. Attentive, engaged, conversational, and helpful.
All in all, I loved the Sportsman, and would certainly return.
I just hope that next time, I can enjoy the local oysters.
Quick hit: Clever, creative cooking on the water in Kent.
Details: Booking essential. Between Faversham and Whitstable. £££.
Restaurant website. More on Instagram and from Michelin.
Find it on Google Maps. Faversham Rd., Seasalter, Whitstable CT5 4BP.
Thanks for reading this week’s review. Sorry for going all serious in this one. I return to London with something lighter next week. I’d love to hear your views on the UK water situation in the comments. And please do subscribe if you haven’t already.
Just spent this week learning about work to restore the oysters in the Chesapeake Bay in the US, so this was very timely for me! Unbelievable our water is allowed to get so bad.
Well said. And no apology needed. Thames Water is a national scandal and a rancid blot on our reputation. I've not been to The Sportsman but will put it on my (ever growing, thanks to you) list.