Places To Eat In East Sussex: The Fig, Rye

I’ve been trying to get to The Fig in Rye for years. Because this cute little food cafe does not take reservations, during the summer months we’re better off heading to The Union for their excellent small plates, or just outside of town to The Plough (my favourite pub) because at both of these establishments. And then on Sundays J always wants to go to The Standard for their delicious central-Rye roast, so it took arranging lunch with a friend on a rainy Friday lunchtime to go. And, obviously, I wish I’d not waited to try their vegetable-focused lunchtime menu (meat tends to only appear for dinner service!)


Brunch stops at 12pm, so we settled in to check out the lunch menu, and the cafe menu of drinks and puddings. I had a non-alcoholic lychee cooler, which was fine, but I’d recommend instead going for one of the flavoured sodas rather than one of the mocktails.


Both of our lunches were absolutely perfect for the weather: Vikki had a cosy bowl of cauliflower cheese gnocchi, topped with roasted red onions, dressed rocket and a very tasty sourdough, hazelnut and rosemary crumb. I think we need to include more toasted nuts in our breadcrumb toppings!
I had the dahl which was lovely: hearty, generous and with a pleasant tamarind sourness, it was topped with coconut yogurt, pickles, micro-herbs, and was accompanied by a nice toasted flatbread, salad and a truly excellent kachumber salad I could have eaten an entire bowlful of.


Puddings also did not disappoint: I really enjoyed my cardamom panna cotta topped with mandarins, pistachios and dried rose petals (perfectly balanced flavours, and a little more setting agent in the panna cotta than usual which worked with the flavours to give a malabi-like touch) and a hearty sticky date pudding with hints of orange and a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream Vikki certainly enjoyed.
The Fig is a lovely little spot for a spontaneous bite at any time of the day, and I’m keen to go back one evening to try their small plates: from the current menu, the tuna ceviche, griddled goats cheese and figs, and the lamb aloo tikki all sound right up my street! Also, if you’re reading this from out-of-town and you want to try out a few more of my Rye food recommendations, they have four beautiful rooms available to stay in above the cafe.
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