Apicius, Cranbrook, Kent

Occasionally A restaurant starts you pondering the economics of the whole business. It might be that perenially empty place on the high street, with the owner stationed balefully by the front door (my local version has had the same "specials" chalked up on a board outside for 10 years, but still somehow survives). Or the bistro that seems to have as many choices on the menu as it does seats, leaving you to speculate about what happens to all that uneaten fish and meat. Or, as in the case of this week's venue, it's a tiny husband-and-wife-run establishment, operated to the very highest standards, which serves brilliant food at prices that seem unfeasibly low. How can they pay the mortage, you wonder, let alone make a profit?

The place that set me thinking is Apicius, a small, storefront restaurant in the Kentish market town of Cranbrook. Chef-proprietor Tim Johnson worked with Nico Ladenis for many years, and in the early 1990s was in private service to John Paul Getty. No wonder he eventually opted to become his own boss. His wife Faith looks after front of house, and apart from one occasional waitress, that's it - the Johnsons do everything. And very well too, on the evidence of our recent Friday night visit.

From the street, Apicius (named for the Roman gourmet) looks rather starchy, the kind of knees-together, special occasion place you tend to find in country towns. Inside, though, there's a welcome hubbub, and a greeting that manages to be both friendly and relatively formal, setting the tone for the whole evening. There's nothing fancy about the room - seven tables robed in white linen, a golden wooden floor and plenty of the mandatory exposed beam-work. Only the framed memorabilia from the French Laundry and other gastronomic shrines signals the owners' ambitions.

The menu is short (just five choices per course), elegant and sprinkled with premium ingredients, including lobster, foie gras and guinea fowl. Amazing, then, to note that the prices are set at £19.50 for two courses, and £23.50 for three (and it's £4 cheaper at lunchtime). That's the kind of pricing you might expect to encounter in a gastropub, or during a launch period, but not in a restaurant sporting three AA rosettes, putting it up there with the likes of Anthony's in Leeds and Simpson's in Birmingham.

Starters ranged from the intricate - a tesselated assembly of saffron new potatoes and truffle-oil infused leeks, each one enfolding a dice of lobster and tarragon - to the brilliantly simple - a glossy cep risotto, intensely flavoured with mushroom stock and finished with veal glace (despite being marked as a vegetarian option - tsk). Salt cod brandade was also first-rate, the home-salted fish tempered with fluffy potato and spiked with spring onion, before being fried into delicate fritters.

With just one chef in the kitchen, main courses rely more than usual on elements that can be prepared in advance. Thus fillet of salmon had been confited - preserved in goose fat - and given the gentlest of exposure to heat, leaving it meltingly soft and mild. Guinea fowl, too, got the confit treatment, arriving both as a confited and roasted leg, and a plump, poached breast, with chestnuts and fondant potato. Best of all, though, was a boneless osso bucco, melting into a slick of buttery puréed potato; the kind of simple but deeply satisfying dish that announces a chef who doesn't feel the need to show off.

The produce is local where possible, right down to the mineral water, a brand called Kentish Hills. And the clientele is definitely local - though they could be forgiven for thinking they've sleepwalked fifty miles south and somehow found themselves in northern France. Apart from ours, every table held a middle-aged couple, and amazingly, they all seemed to be still on talking terms. The conversational buzz didn't even falter when one of my guests, a Labour insider, risked being lynched by loudly analysing the hopelessness of the Tory leadership candidates.

Under the circumstances, Tim Johnson could have been forgiven for offering a few fuss-free tartes and sorbets to finish, but instead the desserts were probably the most complicated element of the meal. A cone of iced hazelnut mousse came with a salad of winter fruit scented by brandy-steeped grillotine cherries, and a demi-tasse of red fruit "soup". A three-way chocolate offering combined a mousse and sorbet of dark chocolate with a shotglass of frothy red chocolate yoghurt. Perfect vanilla pannacotta was partnered with orange slices spiced with honey and cinnamon. And with coffee, home-made chocolate truffles, which were cheerfully bagged up on request to take home to the babysitting member of our party.

As we paid our bill, a jaw-dropping £100 for three of us, including a half bottle of Brouilly, we asked Faith about the empty table for four by the window, which seemed strange, given that we'd heard a nearby couple saying they'd had to book weeks in advance. The four hadn't turned up, we were told. Given that the dining room holds about 20 people, those no-shows probably made the difference between profit and loss for the Johnsons that night. Some people don't know a good thing when they see it. And as you may have gathered, Apicius is a very good thing indeed. E

Apicius, 23 Stone Street, Cranbrook, Kent, 01580 714666

Food

Ambience

Service

Lunch £15.50, two courses; dinner £23.50, three courses

Side Orders: Husbands and Wives

By Caroline Stacey

Braidwoods

Keith and Nicola Braidwood both cook - the bread's hers, the desserts are his. Then when the 24 customers come she keeps the Michelin-starred restaurant running smoothly, he mans the stove.

Drumastle Mill Cottage, Dalry, Ayr (01294 833544)

Hand & Flowers

If only all gastropubs had such a talented pair of owners. Tom (he cooks) and Beth (she sculpts and runs the show) Kerridge do it all beautifully, from making the sausages to making everyone welcome.

126 West Street, Marlow, Bucks (01628 482277)

Harry's Place

It's really Harry and Caroline's place; the Hallams run their 10-seat restaurant together. Highly skilled, meticulously sourced and precision food wows Michelin and the lucky few diners.

17 High Street, Great Gonerby, Lincs (01476 561780)

Mason's Arms

After 18 years with Michel Roux at the Waterside Inn, Mark Dodson and his wife Sarah have their own thatched inn. Locals in the bar; local produce cooked with savoir faire, and served by Sarah in the restaurant.

Knowstone, Devon (01398 341231)

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