A Kent restaurant has topped Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants list.

Tallow, in Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells, was ranked the overall best local restaurant by the guidebook.

The guide described the restaurant as “a down-to-earth, dress-how-you-want, genuinely friendly place”.

It continued: “This is the perfect neighbourhood restaurant, embodying everything we champion.

“Anyone wanting to know what we are looking for should come here to eat and note the simplicity of the set-up, the sheer deliciousness of the ‘unique monthly menus’, and the ‘excellence of the service’, dedicated totally to customer satisfaction and enjoyment.”

Tallow came in at 91 in last year’s guide, having been launched in 2021 by husband-and-wife team Rob and Donna Taylor.

The pair had previously spent eight years running the popular gastropub The Compasses Inn in Crundale, near Canterbury, and had won the eatery a Bib Gourmand and a top 10 position in the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs list.

Also featured in the top 100 were The Goods Shed in Canterbury, Quince in Westgate-on-Sea, Samphire in Whitstable, and The Folkestone Wine Company.

Quince was added to the Michelin Guide earlier this year.

The restaurant is run by Ben Hughes and Rafael Lopez, who had worked together at The Goods Shed in Canterbury for a number of years before opening Quince in May last year.