Circa

“Where can we take my mother for lunch? Somewhere nice? Not too pubby? In Lewes, because no way I want to drive?”
“Umm… Circa?”
It had to be. A place built to impress mother-in-laws-once-removed just back from a long trip to the Caribbean. A glass of wine in the oak-panelled coffee room, while we look at the menu. There’s a £14.50-for-a-two-course deal which I go for. Tandoori-dusted whitebait, kachumber and spiced yoghurt, followed by organic pork belly, curry leaf dhal and ginger cabbage. They both go for a single main at £16.50 - roasted lamb rump, sweet wedge, prickly pepper squash, mint salsa. How do they want the lamb? Medium rare. Like mother, like daughter.
We move into the main room, and get the big round table by the window, overlooking the garden. Another bottle of wine. Sauvignon blanc. The whitebait comes with a slice of lime, and chopsticks. The waitress is charming, and efficient. The main courses arrive, artistically laid out, the vegetables stood on their ends, defying gravity. The pork, truth be told, is a little chewy, and gets stuck in my teeth. I don’t mention this. The lamb is declared a hit. The conversation does its rounds. The annoying way the locals call Chichester ‘Chai’. How dyslexia works. The terrible flu bug going round that’s so hard to shake off. “I haven’t eaten this well for ages,” says the mother-in-law-once removed, as I go and pay the bill. £82.50, including service. Good value? Good value. Job done: beans on toast for tea. AL