The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
The Sportsman
We assessed The Sportsman in July 2026 and this review is based on the food menu and wine list at the time of the review. As menus and wine lists change, we name styles in order for the information to remain more useful as menus change. If things have slipped you can use the Vinealto Dining app including accessing an up to date reading using 'At the Table' from the wine list in front of you in the restaurant. How we assess
The Sportsman is a celebrated seafood-led gastropub on the north Kent coast where the cooking changes with the day and the tide. Its wine programme achieves real mutual elevation. It is a fairly priced, well-travelled list that meets the hardest plates on the menu, from salt-cured salmon to artichoke, with the right glass, and keeps a genuinely deep Sherry and dessert shelf behind it. It will most reward the wine lover who wants serious, honestly priced drinking in an unbuttoned setting and is happy to be led by the glass.
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Rocksalt
Folkestone, Kent
Seafood and grill, modern British
Rocksalt is a seafood restaurant in Folkestone, cooking Kent fish and shellfish with local produce at every turn. Its list of 131 wines leans proudly on Kent, with ten Kent sparkling wines, fair prices and 47 wines by the glass. It will suit anyone who wants to drink English sparkling wine with Kent seafood.
Read the assessmentLazy Elephant
Sandwich, Kent
Modern British sharing plates
Lazy Elephant is a modern sharing plates restaurant in the heart of Sandwich, cooking with chilli, smoke and plenty of seafood. Its adventurous list mixes Kent wines with rare bottles from thirteen countries at fair prices, and offers a sweet wine for every pudding. It will suit curious drinkers who enjoy asking the staff about something they have never tried.
Read the assessmentSargasso
Margate, Kent
Coastal small plates wine bar
Sargasso is a small wine bar and restaurant on Margate's harbour arm, serving shared plates of seafood and vegetables, and it holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Its 43 bottle list is a sharp selection of small growers with a strong skin contact section and chilled reds, though only the Manzanilla is priced by the glass. It suits curious drinkers happy to share a bottle and talk it through with the staff.
Read the assessmentBuoy and Oyster
Margate, Kent
Seafood restaurant
Buoy and Oyster is an all day seafood restaurant on Margate's High Street, with oysters, mussels and fish dishes from the coast. Its short wine list is grouped by what suits the seafood and makes room for Kent wines. It suits anyone wanting fish and a crisp glass of something local by the sea.
Read the assessmentFifteen Square Metres
Broadstairs, Kent
Small plates, entirely gluten-free
Fifteen Square Metres is a tiny, entirely gluten free small plates restaurant in Broadstairs. Its short list of 26 wines pours more than half by the glass and reaches from Sussex sparkling wine to orange wine and a Serbian Merlot. It suits small groups who like to share plates and try something unfamiliar.
Read the assessmentShesells Seashells
Folkestone, Kent
Seafood - oysters, lobster, moules
Shesells Seashells is a generous, unpretentious Folkestone seafood restaurant whose drinks list is a wholehearted, almost entirely Kentish affair. The wine programme does its everyday job well (crisp local whites and English sparkling that flatter the shellfish, nearly all available by the glass) while staying too short to answer the harder plates or to finish on anything sweet. It will most reward the diner who wants to drink Kent wine with Kent-landed seafood and is happy to explore a glass at a time.
Read the assessment