Dill

good quality, good value cooking

It might seem like a sweet little cottagey tea room from the outside, but looks can be deceiving. Inside, it's all rather humble too, but a buzz of anticipation comes when you study the blackboard menu – a veritable smörgåsbord of global flavours in bold and imaginative combinations. Small sharing plates and bigger platters mean you can graze or gorge as you please, while everything comes along at a sensible, steady pace. Among the snacks, an oyster arrives dressed prettily with perfectly balanced Japanese flavours, while lobster and crab arancini are deliciously rich with truffle. The small plates themselves – three each of meat, fish and vegetable – range from a stew of tripe, chorizo and morcilla (‘so hearty it could fuel a Spanish farmer for 48 hours’) to a fabulous piece of hake with echoes of French haute cuisine and cured sea trout popping with the flavours of Szechuan. Local ingredients are allowed to shine, as in the Parham Park venison featured on one the larger platters (a roast haunch with Harvey's Imperial Stout, bacon crumble and faggot). This is clearly a place which follows the nose-to-tail ethos – note the 'Martmite'-glazed ox tongue and duck-heart mapo tofu. To round things off, we found a Caramello chocolate tart a tad too sweet, although the rhubarb knickerbocker glory is a little piece of nostalgia for many recipients. Local beers stand out on their own blackboard, and the well-chosen wine list kicks off with house selections from £29.50. Lucky Lewes.