Christmas Ploughman’s Lunch at The Mullberry Tree Restaurant – Ruxley Manor Garden Centre reviewed
Location –
The Mullberry Tree Restaurant
Ruxley Garden Centre
Maidstone Road
Sidcup
Kent
DA14 5BQ
Tel:020 8300 0084
Website – https://www.ruxley-manor.co.uk/
Date of Visit – 27/12/2025
Editor’s Note:
This was a Christmas Ploughman’s Lunch – so a slight variation on the usual, so I have modified the scoring temporarily for this particular Ploughman’s lunch. Trust me, it will make sense.
The Food
The Mullbery Tree’s Christmas Ploughman’s Lunch
10 – The Christmas bit
Regular visitors here will know that we start with the pickles, onion or otherwise. Well, there was no pickled onion, gerkin or beetroot. There was, however, Coronation Chicken, and it was (to my surprise) amazing. Not only was I surprised at its presence, but also how good it was. As a sandwich filler, it is all too often loads of mayo-mush with varying degrees of flavour. This had a good quantity of chicken, and the dried fruits and spices worked together brilliantly. I found it very enjoyable, and to my shock, very much at home on the plate.
8 – Pickle.
More Christmas shenanigans here. No pickle, rather a cranberry sauce. At any other time of year, I would have recoiled in horror. However, as it’s the season of goodwill, I indulged this whimsy. The sweetness did pair nicely with the other ingredients.
6 – Cheese / Ham.
Cheese.
Cheddar. Once again, a half-decent ploughman’s is blighted by very average cheese. I know strong cheese isn’t to everyone’s taste, but this was some of the mildest mousetrap possible. The Garden Centre has a cheese counter. Send a chef over there and stop using the catering supplier. Is there a Kentish or Sussex cheese? Have some of that. Make the lunch more expensive if required – but stop using crappy cheese. The quantity was good.
Ham.
The ham was pretty good. Nicely sliced and not modified. Likely Wiltshire cure. Unknown source. The Ham rescued the score here.
4 – Bread.
Looked good, but it wasn’t good. Very dry – I didn’t know bread could be that dry and not stale. Disintegrated trying to do anything to it, even soft butter troubled it. The taste was OK, but nothing special. Might have tasted better if it hadn’t absorbed every molecule of water in my mouth.
3 – Spread
Butter. Standard packets. It was hard, which is always a disappointment. Popped them into the bowl of chips to defrost them. There were only 2 packets, but the dry bread demanded 3 packets.
4 – Presentation
The presentation was good. Not stand out, but when it arrived, it looked like something you wanted to get into and eat.
5 – Salad, etc.
Nice: fresh, crisp, tasty. I think there was a dressing, but it was a bit homoeopathic – rather the memory of a dressing than a tangible presence.
5 – Originality
Top marks here. Awesome effort on trying something original. The Coleslaw was lovely too, and I presume fresh-made on the premises. A change of bread and some better cheese, this ploughman’s could easily be a leader.
Food Total: 44
Beverages
6 – Drinks.
Tea. The Tea was OK, but a bit weak (and I’m not a strong tea person). The teapot worked, and all remained dry, which is a refreshing change.
Drinks Total: 6
The Venue
10 – Service
The service was VERY good. The staff were very helpful, and all was rather excellent. Food and drink were delivered promptly and efficiently, and we were made to feel welcome.
Ordering the food was online. This worked well as there was a group of us. There were decisions to be made and options chosen (Brown / White Bread, etc). Much easier done together around a table. Easy to check all items are ordered and nothing missed out.
I believe that there was a counter to order at too.
There was a warning that the food may take a while as it was busy. However, the drinks arrived in a few minutes, and the food not long afterwards. Impressive.
5 – Atmosphere
It’s a garden centre, and a bit barn-like. It’s big, with lots of other people about. Some aspects of the restaurant looked tired, the furnishings, the menus and a few other items. This might be the time of year, as the place will have been hammered up to Christmas, and this stuff probably gets refreshed in the new year.
2 – Location.
Nowhere in particular, just next to the B2173 (Formerly the A20) between Sidcup and Swanley. Popular place for a visit.
4 – Toilets.
Standard, good.
Venue Total: 22
Score: 72
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Postscript
I thought it worth mentioning that although this might not be the highest scoring, it was a lovely lunch, and I thought it was good value for money.
If the cheese game was upped (and this may be easy to change on their ordering system), a top-tier category would be likely.
