5 Dishes to Try at Sargasso

“It’s a privilege to work in a kitchen like Sargasso’s,” says Tess Dening, senior sous chef at Sargasso in Margate, the seaside sister restaurant of Brawn (50% off food on the CODE app) in East London. Every day, Tess gets to cook against a backdrop of Margate harbour and enjoy the crashing waves, setting sun, and exposure to the changing seasons. Sargasso’s menu changes regularly to take advantage of the best produce available but the five dishes below are some of Tess’s favourites. You can now find Sargasso on the CODE app at 25% off total bill.

Cantabrian anchovies and rosemary oil

The Cantabrian anchovies are Ed Wilson’s dish from Brawn. They have been on the menu since the opening. People get upset if they’re not on! It’s a simple dish using olive oil infused in-house over three or four hours with lots of picked rosemary. The anchovies are great quality Ana Maria anchovies, carefully placed by hand in the tins, layer by layer, so they never look scrappy on the plate. Whenever I come to eat at Sargasso, no matter how many times I’ve had them, I always order the anchovies.

Chocolate torte with Griottine cherries and crème fraîche

It’s rich, it’s decadent, it’s fudgy. It’s everything you want a chocolate cake to be. Because it’s gluten-free it’s a hit with so many people. It’s a labour of love to make because you’ve got to twice-bake it so it’s soft on the top with a fudgy, brownie texture on the bottom. When people see you slicing it, they usually order it too. You make one and sell all of it and it’s like, oh God, I’ve got to do it all again!

Asparagus with rosemary and anchovy butter

There’s a lovely farm called Sevenscore about seven miles away from the restaurant where we get our asparagus. This year, we’ve been doing asparagus with rosemary and anchovy butter. We cook it to order then just add a roché of the butter so by the time it’s reached the table it’s starting to melt and ooze on the plate. They don’t deliver so we have to go and collect the asparagus. It’s always nice to get out there and see the farm.

Cod with crab saffron sauce

This cod dish with crab saffron sauce and agretti is a firm favourite. One of our fish suppliers, Fruits de Mer, supplies us with fish bones and whole crab which we make a fish stock with, then the following morning we’ll roast off the crab meat, and sweat down lots of vegetables, fennel, red pepper, chilli, which go in with the fish stock. We add saffron at the beginning and the end as well so you’ve got the whole strands through the sauce. I taste it daily but I still ordered it last time I was in the restaurant.

Chickpeas, spinach and paprika

This is an Andalusian-style stew that we serve warm to order. It’s a really nice one, super simple but the chickpeas are delicious with the cumin and paprika. It doesn’t involve many ingredients – it’s not trying to be something fancy  – but it always blows customers away. It’s understated but delicious.