The story
Shwen Shwen, at 1-2 Well Court on Bank Street in Sevenoaks, is a contemporary African restaurant that earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2026. Maria Bradford opened it in 2025 as her first restaurant of her own.
Bradford grew up in Freetown and learned to cook from her mother and grandmother. After moving to Kent she left finance, began catering in 2017 and later built that business into this dining room. The name is Krio for "fancy". Her cookbook, Sweet Salone, is sold at the restaurant.
The Afro-fusion menu runs from bar snacks such as lamb croquette with red palm oil and shito to small plates like kankankan octopus with romesco. Sharing dishes for two include beef short-rib with groundnut and coconut, and ox cheek in krio stew. Vegan dishes get their own chef's choice menu. For dessert, look for the moringa mille-feuille with pickled raspberries.
Dining is in two upstairs rooms, with terracotta tones and kpokpo fabric upholstery. The Cotton Tree Yard courtyard gives you somewhere to sit outdoors. Cocktails lean on West African flavours, and the Savanna Smoke pairs tequila with cardamom, tonka bean and dark chocolate. The tea list ranges from Fujian white tea to Malawi black tea.
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good quality, good value cooking
An elegant addition to Kent’s lively restaurant scene, Shwen Shwen (the name apparently means ‘fancy fancy’) is a celebration of Maria Bradford’s Sierra Leonean heritage and her feel for Afro-fusion cuisine. Daintily tucked away behind a sheltered courtyard terrace (great for alfresco meals), the place itself creates a real vibe with its warm terracotta tones, upholstery decorated with multi-coloured kpokpo fabrics and striking photos of Maria’s West African heritage. Dining takes place in two hospitable upstairs rooms with tightly packed tables, where personable staff are more than ready to guide customers through the intricacies of a menu peppered with unfamiliar ingredients. Sophistication and comfort define the mood, while culinary exploration is the name of the game, from small sharing plates pointed-up with fonio (a West African ‘supergrain’) and kankankan (a smoky, aromatic spice blend) to a mille-feuille dessert involving moringa-leaf cream. Fixed-price lunches, early dinners and a £75 ‘chef’s choice’ taster provide a decent overview of the cooking, and it’s also worth taking a serious dive into the drinks list with its global tea menu, creative infusions, zingy cocktails and well-chosen international wines.
Opened in 2025, Shwen Shwen is the debut solo restaurant project of Maria Bradford, who grew up in Freetown, Sierra Leone, before later moving to Kent. After training at Leiths and launching a catering business in 2017, Bradford developed the project into a permanent restaurant under the Shwen Shwen name, which takes its meaning from the Krio word for 'fancy'. The restaurant offers an intimate fine dining experience rooted in the flavours and traditions of Sierra Leone, reinterpreted through a modern lens. Bradford draws on recipes and culinary knowledge passed down from her mother and grandmother, combining West African inspiration with contemporary technique and presentation. The menu comprises small plates and sharing plates with a focus on bold, spice-led dishes that reflect the cooking of Sierra Leone while adapting it for a fine dining setting. Option include fermented chilli honey flatbread; mackerel pate with shito and pickles; beef short-rib with groundnut and coconut; and ox cheek and krio stew, but if you can't decide there's also a seven-course chef's choice menu of the most popular dishes. The cocktail programme is as creative as the food, with options such as the Savanna Smoke made with tequila, cardamom, cinnamon, tonka bean, dark chocolate and coffee.
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