Mermaid Inn

The delightful Cinque Port is not without its quota of ancient buildings, and this half-timbered inn is certainly one of them, rebuilt in 1420 on cellars going back to 1156. The bar's giant inglenook, with a priest's hole, is not to be missed, and the linenfold-panelled restaurant is an atmospheric room too. The cooking is based on Anglo-French foundations, with dishes in the recognisably contemporary mode, from venison carpaccio with roast beetroot, goats' cheese and basil jelly, to baked salmon fillet with chorizo, Puy lentils, braised fennel and spinach purée. Local ingredients are rigorously sought out: pan-fried Rye Bay scallops in a starter with cauliflower purée, bacon crisps and black pudding, and Cranbrook lamb - slow-roast shoulder, devilled kidneys and fried liver - in a main course with pan juices. Specialities include lobster thermidor and among puddings may be a seasonal assiette of strawberries.