The best Margate restaurants and food spots for you and your chosen family

“I think Margate is incredible for the queer community,” says Will Jenkins, fizz in hand, at the bar of his new restaurant called – what else? – Willy’s. “The town naturally has an entrepreneurial and accepting spirit.  Everyone really helps each other out.” 

Margate is my birthplace, which makes me biased, but there’s solid evidence behind Jenkins’ claim. The coastal resort is widely respected for its unbeatable, community-minded annual Pride weekend in August, as well as LGBTQ+ venues like Margate Arts Club, Camp, and La, the new late-night lounge from the owners of the legendary but now-defunct gay bar Sundowners.   

Margate also boasts a history of queer-owned restaurants, from the award-winning seafront pizzeria GB Pizza back in 2011, hot on the heels of the ground-breaking Turner Contemporary gallery, to acclaimed taco joints Dive and High Dive. Then there’s the roastery We Are Here Coffee, and Okie’s poké bowls at the characterful waterfront Old Kent Market. 

Willy’s

However, it’s cosy diner Willy’s, housed in Jenkins’ boutique hotel Margate House, that’s become the latest hotspot after bagging a rave review from MasterChef presenter and Guardian critic Grace Dent in May.

In its tiny open kitchen you’ll find Middlesbrough-born chef Lewis Johnson (formerly at Michelin-starred Le Gavroche) who – he tells me as I perch on a stool at the counter – moved with his boyfriend down to Margate this summer. His concise and considered menu offers a personal take on classics: think umami-drenched steak tartare with horseradish, confit yolk and dripping toast, or tender roast chicken and anchovy Caesar salad. Or how about a ruby chalk stream trout with crispy skin, alongside watercress and a whorl of tangy orange hollandaise?

Everything I taste here is a hit – and yet, as I discover, this is just the start for Willy’s. “We’re building a cookery school next,” says Jenkins, with a smile. That entrepreneurial spirit? See, it’s for real.

Three more foodie musts in Margate 

The Wellington 

Previously gay-owned restaurant Duke’s, this fresh chapter for the Old Town’s landmark 18th-century watering hole is headed up by garlanded chef Billy Stock and his partner Ellie. The small but buzzy room was packed on my Saturday lunchtime visit, the daily changing handwritten menu delivering elevated plates such as golden-fried scallop toast, just-opaque skinless sea bass fillets with a herby green sauce, and lamb two ways on a stew of peas and sweet Tropea onions. 

Cantina Caruso 

Superstar Madonna was right: Bottega Caruso is one of the town’s top food draws – if you can bag a table to enjoy its perfect pasta. But few tourists know that its chilled candlelit sister wine bar next door offers a more relaxed ambience. My recommendation is a sparkling natural red wine to accompany exemplary pea frittata, stracciatella on toast, or ’nduja and fennel sausage ragu with polenta.   

Sète 

I love this elegant, French-influenced dining room on the furthest stretch of up-and-coming Cliftonville’s Northdown Road, whose blackboard lists rillettes, torched bream, cuttlefish, and chicken schnitzel, while a mainstay is the must-try shrimp vol-au-vent. If it’s warm, grab a pew in the Mediterranean-style rear garden – and don’t forget a drink before or afterwards at friendly LGBTQ+ bar Camp nearby.

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This is a feature appearing in the September/October 2026 issue of Attitude, available on digital platforms and in print now. Buy here