Deeson’s British Restaurant

Deeson’s is an upmarket restaurant in the city centre of Canterbury that specializes in modern interpretations of traditional British cuisine. The quality is very high, the décor comfy and pleasant, the staff not too snooty, the regular (set menu) dishes moderately priced. Unfortunately, I wanted to be adventurous and ordered from the daily menu, for which my punishment was: exquisite quality, small portions and higher prices.
Deeson’s is a well-​established British restaurant just about 3 – 4 minutes from Canterbury Cathedral, which is of course the town’s premier historic and tourist attraction (the well-​preserved old town is pretty, too). The restaurant is split into different dining rooms, and the waiter/​waitress will seat you upon arrival.
There are two menus: the daily menu with more refined dishes, so to speak, and a set menu selection that includes more standard fare, at lower prices. When I visited the restaurant (early August 2015), everybody else but me seemed to have picked their dishes from the set menu — I was soon to find out why.
But after two days of pub grub I was in an adventurous mood, so I chose «pigeon breast on beetroot and salad» as a starter and «slow-​cooked pressed belly of pork with a layered terrine of Cumberland sausage and potato, served with broccoli and apple butter» (yes, apple butter). In short, the food was as exquisite as the portions were tiny. In the event, after I’d left I picked up some snack on the road because I was *still* feeling a bit peckish (But I’m a guy with a huge appetite).
I was initially disappointed that the decent selection of beers/​ales were all from the bottle. But soon I realized that the beers, mostly from microbrews in the area, were of high quality and surprisingly competitive in price, compared to the daily menu. I picked a Gadds’ No.3 Premium Pale Ale, which was excellent.
While the prices for even the set menus were notably higher than those at the many chain-​pubs (Taylor Walker, etc), the crowd in the restaurant was mixed and included some trashy people, too (see the obese woman on the left in one of my pictures — her demeanour reflected her looks). On the whole though I’d say the restaurant and its patrons were typical British middle class.
The décor in the restaurant is stylish, if a bit on the cool side. The staff were always competent and generally friendly, though I did detect a slight whiff of snootiness in the air sometimes.
Why did the others pick dishes form the set lunch menu? Well, while they might not have been quite as exquisitely refined as those from the daily menu, they looked very good too — the portions were CONSIDERABLY bigger, and, as said, they were still cheaper. Next time, if there is a next time, I will go for the set lunch menu.

A good food well design in a «vintage style» english house maybe a bit dark for me. Staff ok but not friendly could be more relax. Around 80£ for two, starter main and desert w/​water and 2 beers, quite pricey !

Fantastic food, great service and nice surroundings. The best place I have eaten in Canterbury and I have lived here for 24 years.

Excellent local, seasonal British cuisine! My husband and I were in Canterbury for the evening after having been in the car all day exploring the countryside. We rolled in at 9:30 PM behaving seriously like the American butt-​pack brigade (you know the stereotype — loud, uncultured). The staff were so friendly and kind and got us a table right away.
We had not eaten all day, so we ordered a ridiculous amount of food and not really in the proper order. We started with a broccoli and wild garlic soup (more for my husband), potted venison (to share) and smoked eel with samphire and apple jelly (all mine). All three hit the ball out of the park. The eel paired nicely with a Kentish sparkling wine I had ordered.
For mains, my husband ordered a steak and I had two starters — smoked duck and an asparagus with a «confit duck egg» concoction that I would describe as remarkable. After we finished, I asked our server to compliment the chef, especially on the duck egg. She explained that it had been braised for 45 minutes in oil at a low temperature. The resulting texture was velvety and amazingly rich. They change their menu frequently, so they probably won’t have the asparagus dish once it goes out of season, but I hope they will use that duck egg technique on another dish — definitely worth looking out for it.
In addition to great food, the staff were wonderful. We were there late, but they still encouraged us to order dessert (sticky toffee pudding with poached pear — yum). When my husband’s steak, which had been ordered rare, came out closer to medium-​well, they corrected it immediately, even though the kitchen had likely already closed.
It would be worth turning a day trip to Canterbury into an overnight (or a late night) to have dinner at Deesons.

Amazing food and the staff made us feel very special. Great place to go for a special occasion.

Why can’t I give 6 stars??? This place is truly great. One of my fav places globally — and a tribute to British cuisine and cuisine anywhere for that matter. Had both the lamb and pork belly dishes — fantastic. Loved the way the chef gives a few different angles on the meat in question for each dish. Had duck starter both times. Just perfect. Great wine and beer selection. Staff was great — professional, friendly, warm and just attentive enough. Atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable. You can dress up with a jacket or roll in with jeans and jumper and feel right at home. Go here!

This place was really good. We went for lunch and everything was perfect. I had welsh rarebit for 7 gbp and my son had a kids platter which was huge. Everything is locally produced. Even the water comes from a local village. Staff were very pleasant.

Beste englische Küche in Canterbury.
Nach dem ersten Besuch zum Mittagessen waren wir vom Essen begeistert und haben in Deeson’s auch einmal zum Abend gegessen. Abwechselnde Tageskarte bietet für jeden Geschmack etwas an.
Personal war freundlich und kompetent, gute Weinberatung, wenn man bei der großen Wein– und Getränkekarte den Überblick verliert.
Portionen sind groß und die Preise sind für die Qualität sehr fair.
Wir sind da mal etwas vorsichtig um es zu sagen, dass hier auch einheimische essen gehen aber die einheimischen, die in Deeson’s essen, sind bestimmt keine Fish & Chips Esser.
Reservierung wird empfohlen, ist immer gut besucht aber wenn man etwas früher als zu den Stoßzeiten dort ist, bekommt auch einen Tisch.
Sehr empfehlenswert

You need to go here!
It was so lovely — we had a great table in the window, a lovely waitress who was so friendly and helpful and then there was the food… We all had different roasts, I had the pork which I rarely order because I am not a huge fan. It changed my mind! I even ate the crackling because it was exquisite. Overall, this is such a gem — gorgeous décor, first rate food, warm and friendly service and extremely reasonable too!