Eating out in Rye

If you have very deep pockets and a robust digestive system, you could eat out in Rye once every day for more than a month and never have to revisit an establishment. By “eat out”, I mean go inside, sit down and consume something you have bought on the premises. So it could be coffee and a cake, a five course gourmet meal or anything in between. That’s the joy of Rye.

Of course, if you choose to take on this challenge, it will take some planning. The variety of food on offer is one thing, but there is also a wide range of opening times. Some places are open every day, but some are not. Some, like the Cinque Ports Inn, serve breakfast and lunch but not dinner, whilst restaurants such as No 50 only open for the evening service. Cafes – of which there are many – tend to be open during the day but close by late afternoon. One thing you can be sure of though: the quality.

Then there is the question of what to eat when. You may not want to eat your evening meal at a restaurant three days running (although I’m pretty sure I could be persuaded to give it a try) but equally you may not like the idea of eating cake in the afternoon too often within one week. Faced with these happy dilemmas, I recommend some kind of calendar or timetable, meticulously organised, so you do not find yourself with only two cafes remaining on your list on the final Sunday, when you might be looking forward to a lovely roast dinner.

At the end of the process, when you have eaten your way around Rye, when you have savoured delicious food from Bangladesh to Mexico, from Turkey to many other European countries including our own, you may find you need to remain at home for a few days to reflect on the experience and perhaps rummage through your wardrobe in the hope of finding something that still fits. And if you have completely forgotten how to cook, there are a number of very good takeaways. 

Whatever is the case, perhaps you will find five minutes or so to write about how you organised your culinary expedition, and let us know all about it at Rye News. Then, if I win the lottery next week, you will have done most of the work for me. 

Image Credits: Chris Lawson .