- The Dorset now serves fantastic food.

It really is remarkably good and has the quality of a gastro pub without the excessive prices, faddy dishes or snootiness.Things have changed at the pub since a change of management and a major revamp in January 2006. The focus is now very much on the food and the pub offers an ever-changing fish menu, fresh from Newhaven, and homemade traditional dishes which will never see the inside a microwave.

All the veg is organic, there are at least four ales on the go,four traditional ciders and more wines than you'll find in Keith Floyd's recycling box.

Given the lack of fish restaurants in Lewes, the choice of reasonably-priced fresh fish is a bit of a no-brainer. Halibut, mackerel, swordfish, sea bass, lobster or whatever's the best of the local catch will end up just a few miles own the road in Malling Street.

On my lunchtime visit I shared a cracking seafood platter with a chuntering, but surprisingly knowledgeable, colleague. He correctly identified the scrummy smoked salmon as Irish rather than Scottish, and said something clever about the colour of it and the scales. We also had a marvellous plate of chunky crevettes, which had thankfully not travelled from the Far East and were excellently cooked with chilli and fresh coriander.

My main course was a perfectly roasted whole sea bream, with rosemary, chopped chives, and served in a skillet with marinated mixed sweet peppers. I t was exceptionally good piece of fish with a real infusion of flavours and would have been at home at a far more expensive seafood restaurant.

Also on the specials board was an adventurously aniseed sea bass, with baby fennel and Sambuca flambéed before the table. But in addition to the more inventive dishes there was still room on the menu for more familiar home-grown favourites.

The magic ingredient in both the beer-battered cod and chips and Steak and Ale Pie is, unsurprisingly, the town's favourite laughing juice - Harveys Best. But extra touches which go into the dishes mark them out from the usual pub grub.

My conservative colleague, both in life and at the table, went for the plump cod and chips. The cod was as fresh as a sunny morning in January, the chips handcut and the size of railway sleepers, and the buttered mushy peas and tartare sauce were both freshly knocked up from scratch in the kitchen. It looked and tasted great and the fresh cod was so good the tartare sauce went untouched. I signed off with a home made cheesecake which would have made even the fattest cat purr. Made with white chocolate callets and served with passion fruit and raspberry coulis it was the archetypal dessert to die for.

There's an obvious passion for food at the pub, you see it in the variety of dishes and the way they are crammed with different flavours and fresh herbs. Even the sandwiches sounded like the labour of love of a real foodie, including sirloin with caramelised onion chutney or smoked salmon with capers and a fresh seafood sauce. This summer has obviously kept the number of barbecues to a minimum but if there's any chance the sun does shine again, expect to see homemade burgers stuffed with mozzarella and rump steaks with lime salsa, rather than blackened processed meat in floppy white buns. The Dorset has an extensive well-thought out menu which offers exciting flair dishes, but doesn't forget the old favourites and does a superb job with both.

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