Set in beautifully landscaped gardens, at the heart of Port Lympne Reserve, Babydoll’s Wood Fired Pizza is sure to delight lovers of authentic Italian cuisine.

The stylish and modern restaurant, was named after the much-loved gorilla, Babydoll, who at the grand old age of 57, was the last surviving original Howletts gorilla before she sadly passed away in 2018.  She was brought up from an infant in the cottage at Howletts and was adored by the Aspinall family and her dedicated keepers.

As the photos below will show, this restaurant and the surrounding area has undergone an amazing transformation from a fairly uninspiring cafe to a stunning restaurant dining area with beautiful landscaping.

We worked with the foundation to create the structure of the kitchen. As the kitchen would be very visible to the diners it was felt that the standard Upvc and stainless steel wall cladding usually offered would not look right, therefore, all areas viewable by the public were tiled with metro tiles in a brick bond pattern. For cost and practicality, other areas not visible were clad in the usual style.

As the building had a timber joist floor and the soon to be installed pizza oven weighed over 500kg we opened up the floor and poured a concrete pad to support this appliance. We then applied ply and Altro stronghold 30 slip-resistant flooring.

The addition of a suspended ceiling and granite works onto the front serving counter completed our works on this interesting and enjoyable restaurant project. 
We are delighted to see that after two years of being open this restaurant is gaining consistently high Trip advisor reviews and having dined there ourselves we agree with them.