What Lewes lacks, I always think, is a place where you can have a proper meal - say, a steak, or a bit of lamb, or some fish – that isn’t too posh. Sure, you can have these things in Shelley’s, or Circa. But these places are posh. I want to be able to go to a normal place and not have to choose between pizza and pasta.
So I try The Real Eating Company for dinner. I order these things: black pudding, rump of lamb, and Christmas pudding. To drink I order a dry sherry, chilled. It’s very dry. The black pudding arrives. It’s a thick disc of dried blood with an egg on top, something that could so easily go wrong. But it doesn’t. Not too dry, not too gross-out wet. That musty taste of blood. Egg not too runny. Apple sauce. Weird-ish, but great.
Downhill from there, I’m afraid. But not too far. The lamb could be a bit less tough; the vegetables could be a bit less bland. But still, it’s proper food, and there’s lots of other stuff here - pork belly, rib-eye steak, fried salmon. The Christmas pud is a good idea, not great, but not awful either. On the whole, if this place didn’t aim so high, it would have a better strike rate. And it would be cheaper. But it’s getting there.
So is it what I’m looking for? Almost. Which is to say: not quite. There’s still a gap out there.
 
Bill, with one glass of wine: £37