Latest opening: Sète
What: A wine shop, bar and restaurant in Margate’s Cliftonville area named after the French port city. Sète is in phase one at the moment operating as a wine bar and shop with a simple yet carefully conceived food offer with the restaurant - which is to the rear of the site - expected to open within the next month or so. The wine list is 80% natural with all the 60-odd bins available to drink in or takeaway at lower retail prices.
Who: Sète is the latest project from Margate-based duo Natalia Ribbe and Jackson Berg, who operate Barletta at The Turner Contemporary gallery just down the road in Margate’s Old Town. Originally from the US, Ribbe worked at a number of high-profile restaurants in New York and Vienna while Berg’s CV includes St John and The Quality Chop House. Though the pair have certainly put their mark on Barletta in terms of the food and service, it being located in a major art gallery means there are some restrictions on what they can do. “This will be properly us from the ground up and a real opportunity for Jackson and I to show what we are really about, what inspires us and how we want to operate,” Ribbe told us last year.
The vibe: As the name suggests, Sète is inspired by the various restaurant and bars the pair frequent in France, including trendy Parisian wine bars like La Buvette and La Cave à Michel as well as more earthy places in the south of the country including the tabac restaurants of St Remy de Provence and a number of locals hangouts in Marseille. The space has sand-coloured walls lined with bottles of wine, art work by local artists and vintage furniture that’s also sourced from the local area. Sourced by Ribbe and Berg in Grande Braderie De Lille, the crockery and glassware is also largely of the vintage persuasion. The space has 20 covers inside and a further 20 outside with the restaurant itself expected to have around 40 covers. There is also a phase three planned for the project which will see the creation of an all-weather dining area within the site's garden.
The food: Sète’s lack of a kitchen hasn’t stopped the pair creating a compelling food offer. The food is largely cooked off-site and is plated up by the front of house team, with options including chicken and egg mayo with anchovy; pâté en croûte with gherkin; potted smoked prawn with brown crab butter; and chickpeas with persillade. There is also a selection of cheese, charcuterie and tinned fish.
To drink: The wine list has leaning towards female winemakers, as well as wines chosen from regions in Eastern Europe where Ribbe spent much of her childhood. Some wines are on tap, allowing the pair to keep entry level prices approachable with bottles of wine to take away starting at a little over £10.
And another thing: Cliftonville was recently voted the 8th coolest neighbourhood in the world by Timeout. Despite this, tourist footfall in the area is quite low when compared to Margate itself, so Sète is largely pitched as a place for locals.
