Part 4: Food glorious food
In the latest of our series of articles describing how one couple finds their new life in Rye, we have our appetite whetted…
Dinner for two?
OK, I have a confession to make: I’ll admit to being a bit of a foodie. For me, food is not mere fuel, but one of life’s great pleasures.
Living in London, we were spoilt for great restaurants and gastro pubs, street-food vendors and Michelin-starred chefs. Not to mention friends’ fancy dinner parties. How would Rye compare? How could it?
Fishing for compliments.
Our motivation for moving to Rye was mainly its coastal location; so we were naturally curious about the seafood.
On an early house-hunting expedition, we happened on Webbe’s. On another jaunt, we stayed at The Mermaid Inn, and treated ourselves to dinner in their restaurant. Conclusions? While quite different in style and presentation, the meals shared, shall we say: heartiness. But also, high quality. Phew!
But the real foodie fun started once we’d actually moved to Rye and experienced our first food festival…
Scallops ahoy!
I have a theory about Britain’s many festivals. A bad idea will quickly sink without trace; a good one will just keep growing… and growing. Take music: from the Goth festival in Whitby to Glastonbury and the Notting Hill Carnival, the crowds just keep getting bigger. Similarly for food fests, it now appears.
Friends cautioned us that the town would get busier for the Rye Bay Scallop Festival. Rammed was the word. More than one gastro pub ran out of scallops – and had to send runners down to the quayside for fresh supplies. Clearly this festival had reached a tipping point of popularity.
We sampled scallops with pork belly on skewers, and scallop chowder, courtesy of Tatner’s pop-up restaurant at Danny’s Olde Worlde Wines. Perfect combinations all round.
Meating of minds.
Out in the car, looking towards Rye reminds me a little of Brittany; here the fields are called “the salts”, where you find the famous Romney Marsh lamb, beloved of gourmets – and equivalent to the agneau de pré-salé just across the Channel.
Served pink (Of course!) salt marsh lamb is one of our favourites on the menu at The Standard Inn. Over at The Globe Inn, Sussex beef, in the form of a burger, adds to the local repertoire.
Home cooking.
Please don’t get the idea that we spend all our time – and money! – eating out. We’re just as happy dining chez nous. Question was: where we would get the ingredients for our home cooking? That salt marsh lamb, for instance.
Fortunately, top-notch suppliers were not hard to find. Popping into Rye Butchers on Cinque Ports Street soon became something of a Saturday morning ritual, choosing various meaty products – accompanied by some banter about the footy.
It’s the kind of butchers where if you ask for something out of the ordinary, they’ll do their best to supply it. Though we were surprised that the rabbit was “hawk-caught”. It made a fine dinner, with a talking-point thrown in!
Vegging out.
Of course, man doesn’t live by meat alone. Not a problem when we have Johnson’s in the High Street – for fruit, veg, herbs, and a good chat about recipes.
For cheeses, pasta, olives, freshly-gorund coffee, and scores of other goodies, you can’t beat Rye Deli. And we were pleased to see its recent expansion.
We’ve always got an eye out for new food experiences and local, indepedent suppliers. And now we can easily source a variety of artisan (Rye!) breads from Richard Hutley at the Lazy Bakery.
Life’s a beach.
Now we’ve got our feet under the table, what does our foodie future hold? Well, I recently had the chance to chat to Kyle Tatner, the award-winning chef, formerly of the Mermaid. Now he’s stepped out of the fine dining kitchen into a different world of street-food, pop-ups, parties, events and… outdoor eating.
He paints an enticing picture. Imagine you slow-roast a shoulder of lamb for several hours; the next day, you take it to the beach and throw it on a wood fire. Wine. Friends. Done.
Sounds like foodie heaven.
Photos: Simon Kershaw
Image Credits: Simon Kershaw .