Brendan Eades named head chef at Tillingham

Eades replaces Tom Ryalls at Tillingham’s main restaurant, which was awarded a Michelin Green Star in January 2022.

His appointment is something of a homecoming, with the chef having grown up just down the road from Tillingham in Peasmarsh just outside Rye. 

Eades - whose CV also includes senior roles at Aquavit and private members club The Conduit - will further develop the restaurant’s ‘farm-to-plate philosophy’ with a menu based on meat reared on Tillingham pastures, fish caught daily on Rye Harbour and from the new, and recently expanded, kitchen garden on the edge of the estate. 

Priced at £45 (wine flight £40), the new Garden Menu is priced at £45 and will change regularly, depending on the daily catch and seasonal produce available.

November’s sample menu includes focaccia, baby pickled beetroot and labneh; celeriac, apple and long pepper; Dungeness crab, nasturtium and black radish; seabass, verjus and caviar; and custard tart and white chocolate. 

The creation of this new kitchen garden is under the guardianship of gardener, Becca Davidson, who has experience working on mixed farms and market gardens. 

Founded in 2017, Tillingham is a biodynamic vineyard set amongst 70 acres of rolling hills and ancient woodlands near Rye, with 25 acres of vines, bedrooms and a more casual restaurant majoring in pizza.