Blog
Thursday 11th July 2019The Kentish Hare hops to Pub in the Park
The big weekend has arrived, and we can’t wait to get cooking at Pub in the Park 2019! This is our second year at Tom Kerridge’s travelling food and music festival, which is returning to Tunbridge Wells’ beautiful Dunorlan Park for an even bigger and better year two.
With Tom Kerridge and Jason Atherton hosting, and live music by the likes of Rick Astley, KT Tunstall, Will Young and Basement Jaxx, as well as pop-ups from The Hand & Flowers, Berners Tavern, Café Murano, The Sportsman and more, it’s set to be one hell of a weekend ahead.
“Pub in the Park is a great event for Tunbridge Wells,” says Chris Tanner. “It’s a celebration of food and music, and the perfect recipe – pardon the pun – for a good weekend! It’s family-orientated and well-organised too, with some great local pubs. It’s just a brilliant event and a lot of fun.”
All told, we served almost 4,000 plates of food last year. For 2019, we’ve got some of the classics that people loved returning – including our hugely popular Hot Diggity Dog, which sold almost 400 on the Saturday alone – with a few twists thrown in for good measure. The Tanner Brothers will once again taking to the stage for some live cooking demos too, so there’s plenty to look forward to.
“Pub in the Park was set up originally as a birthday bash for The Hand & Flowers, and that idea is still the same, as it’s very much an excuse for the chefs to have a laugh and a good time,” general manager Paul Barber explains. “We’re going to just try and make sure we have fun, let our hair down and enjoy it again this year!”
Read on to find out what you can expect from The Kentish Hare…
Unmissable dishes
Our Hot Diggity Dog features merguez sausage, cool ranch dressing, slaw, crispy onions and chives, while the crispy monkfish taco comes with green salsa, lime, coriander and sour cream, wrapped in a flour tortilla. We’ve also got our Panzanella of smoked chicken, heritage tomatoes, bread, onion, basil, olive oil, vinegar and capers, plus a chargrilled summer courgette tortilla with refried beans, green salsa, piquillo peppers and coriander. They’re £5 each and all delicious!
Live cooking demos
This year, James and Chris Tanner are doing not one, but two live demonstrations. You can catch them on Saturday evening at 7pm, then again on Sunday afternoon at 3.10pm, when they’ll cook alongside The Small Holding’s Will Devlin, Robert Taylor from The Compasses, and Lexington Catering’s Robert Kirby, not to mention Daniel Clifford of Midsummer House, Atul Kochhar at Indian Essence, and Claire Clarke and Sarah Crouchman from Pretty Sweet London.
Lush festival vibes
One thing we loved about last year was bringing a taste of The Kentish Hare to our customers in a more relaxed, informal setting. With festival-style food, our customers can experience our award-winning pub and restaurant in a new way, while foodies who have yet to visit, or have been saving a trip for that special occasion, can come and see, smell and taste what all the fuss is about for themselves!