Emily Estlin finds dining delights in Lewes

Brighton is known as a culinary haven outside London, but competing for this title is the fine dining scene of Lewes.

I was pleasantly surprised on discovering The Dorset’s fine dining menu. The gastro pub formerly known as The Dorset Arms already boasts delicious pub food as a standard everyday menu; from small plates of shredded crispy duck on a mango and cucumber salsa with a spiced hoi sin dressing, to more traditional pub food with a twist such as Harvey’s fresh beer battered cod with hand-cut chunky chips, buttered mushy peas and home-made tartare sauce.

Today, however, I wasn’t here to try out the ‘everyday’ options. On entering the friendly local pub atmosphere, my boyfriend Hugo and I were led into the cosy restaurant and seated by the window so as to watch the sun go down. There are a lot of fresh fish options on the menu as well as the specials board; the restaurant gets a delivery daily from Newhaven and you can really taste the freshness. I opted for one of the specials and a main course recommended to me by the fantastic deputy manager here, Paul.

We were having trouble choosing a wine due to the variety of both fish and red meat available on the menu, but were recommended a bottle of the Chateau la Croix Chantecaille. This is a delicious full-bodied red that complemented the meaty chorizo and fresh scallop starter I chose. The combination of the two is a popular pairing, but with the addition of beetroot and a light salad, as prepared by head chef and proprietor Paul Abbott, was anything but “the usual”. Hugo went with the green lip mussels that were some of the plumpest I’ve tried, served with a herb crumb and sweet tomato and garlic sauce. Luckily, at the beginning of our meal we were served some home-made olive bread still warm from the oven which came in useful so as not to waste any of the sauce from both starters.

Hugo then kept with the seafood theme and went with the lemon sole and I with the lamb as recommended by the chef, who popped down to bid farewell to one of his regulars. I used this opportunity to ask a couple of questions about the menu and the new fine dining from Thursday to Saturday in the restaurant. A diner at some of Brighton’s finest restaurants and with an impressive history in the food industry, Paul is hoping to raise the profile of this little gem, just 15 minutes from Brighton with six en-suite guest rooms upstairs for those of us who fancy a little nightcap or just don’t have to get up early in the morning! Paul and his partner Lesley have owned the restaurant for two years now and have been changing and adding gradually to create this guest house/gastro pub in such a short space of time without great upheaval.

The lemon sole was very fresh, no doubt about that, and my herb crusted rack of Sussex lamb served with a rosemary rosti and rich port jus was cooked beautifully and again, just the right amount so as to leave room for dessert! The menu isn’t all red meat and fresh seafood, the ex-vegetarian in me was most impressed by the non-carnivore options on the menu and quite fancied the asparagus and ricotta crêpes with chive cream served on a bed of wilted spinach and pine nuts with a rocket, Parmesan and sun blushed tomato salad… next time!

Predictably, I went for the selection of cheeses that didn’t disappoint, not having a sweet tooth. All cheeses are sourced locally and mainly from The Cheese Man. Hugo went for the coconut and passion fruit cheesecake with red berry coulis and clotted cream, which looked very beautiful and tasted very exotic as one might imagine from the ingredients… again certainly not a disappointment!

All in all, this was a real culinary treat only a few minutes along the road from Brighton and worth the trip out of town. It made a nice change to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city for an evening, and The Dorset succeeds in every way, in terms of friendly service, value for money, excellent food and great location. Please give it a go!

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