‘You can tell a lot about a place by the quality of the basics’
I came across Frog And Scot on TripAdvisor, while researching a piece about how much I hate TripAdvisor. The irony is not lost on me. As part of the article, I wanted to examine how restaurant owners, particularly the more splenetic ones, responded to anonymous critics. Sadly, that bit didn’t make the final cut, but I was hugely impressed by the grace with which this new place’s owner, Benoit Dezecot, dealt with complainers, even those who deserved the lacerating edge of any tongue – those, say, who insisted their bavette was so tough they took it home and fed it to their pet crocodile, “who spat it out”. Deal in Kent is clearly home to the more discerning carnivorous reptile.
So off to this bijou, pastel-painted town, with its maritime history and crocodile-owning natives. My favourite Deal ex-native is Carry On star Charlie Hawtrey, frequently in trouble for his habit of hoisting seamen and rent boys into his 18th-century smuggler’s cottage. (It’s fair to say he’s not Deal’s favourite: he referred to the locals as “peasants”.) Here, Dezecot and his partner Sarah Ross – the eponymous Frog and Scot – have taken over a former florist’s and caff, and turned it into the platonic ideal of neighbourhood bistro.
Related: Rick Stein, Sandbanks: ‘I’m not buying it’ – restaurant review
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