A snowy Decmber day at The Small Holing, Kent

December at The Small Holding

Green Michelin Star 2021/22/23
360 Guide Three Green Circles 2024
Number 69, Harden’s Top 100 Restaurants
Number 89, Square Meal’s Top 100 Restaurants
Good Food Guide 2024 and shortlisted for best Farm to Table restaurant

December

The December menu at The Small Holding, Kent finds partnership in the soft, earthy and comforting flavours of root vegetables, brassicas, mushrooms, cream and fat tempered by the tartness of ferments, vinegars and pickles. Now is the time for the larder to shine, stacked high with Kilner jars, to brighten these cold, thin days providing a burst of invigorating colour, taste and texture for the plate and palette.

The Small Holding

As winter tightens his grip, The Small Holding’s December menu moves from ‘just picked on the farm’ to the preserves of the pantry, where the most important ingredient is ‘time’. Barbecued Orkney scallops are dressed with yuzu vinaigrette, preserved wild garlic and smoked scallop roes; beef sirloin is paired with black garlic purée, nasturtium flower vinegar gel and dried calendula and finished with a beef sauce made with smoked bone marrow, while one of the two desserts this month is Douglas Fir, Plum, Yoghurt Whey where plums are fermented with plum brandy and served with toasted buckwheat and a foraged Douglas Fir sorbet.

Book a Table at The Small Holding

The December Full Acre menu at The Small Holding

Snacks, Sourdough and Hinxden Butter

Brassicas, cheese, tomato
Jerusalem artichoke, walnut, gherkin

Scallop, squash, wild garlic
Bass, celeriac, mushroom

Turkey, bread, sprouts
Beef, potato, cabbage

Douglas Fir, plum, yoghurt whey
Chocolate, chestnut, chicory root

Cheese (optional)
Sweet Treats

The Small Holding is open Wednesday to Sunday with an eight-course Full Acre menu costing £95 per person and a five-course Half Acre menu costing £75 per person, with the option of a wine flight. A three-course set menu (from the full acre menu) is available on Thursday and Friday lunch time, priced £55 per person. The drinks list also includes housemade soft drinks, kombucha and non-alcoholic wine, beer and spirits.

About The Small Holding

The Small Holding is a Michelin green-starred kitchen and farm on a country lane in the village of Kilndown on the Kent and East Sussex borders. Run by brothers Will and Matt Devlin, as Chef and Head of Operations, respectively, The Small Holding is part of Acre, which also includes Birchwood in Flimwell, East Sussex. 

The 36-cover restaurant and farm is set in one acre of land, permitting a unique connection between the land and table. Growing, foraging and cooking the best ingredients is at the core of The Small Holding, with monthly changing tasting menus, using home-reared and home-grown ingredients from the farm, which is less than 10 feet from the kitchen.

The menu is defined by the farm’s own produce. Vegetables and fruits are harvested within hours of guests arriving; while charcuterie, sourdough and cultured butter and zero waste animal cookery from the farm’s own livestock, are made on site. The kitchen team works directly with growers, farmers and fishermen who share the same core values, and the team forage in the nearby hedgerows and woodland.

“Growing our own produce on the farm brings an understanding and honesty back to the kitchen, and vital freshness. Making the most of our harvests when the ingredients are at their prime - whilst also preserving and conserving them to use throughout the year, keeps us concentrated on the natural cycle of the land and helps us to create full flavoured and imaginative dishes.” Will Devlin 


For more information and images for The Small Holding, Will Devlin and Acre, please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room 07730 039361 | hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk