Artisan- Lewes' restaurant with an arty slant

Artisan
197 High Street
Lewes BN7 2NS
Tel: 01273 479713

Artisan is a café and restaurant that caters towards the arty people of Lewes, of which there are a fair few in the quaintly alternative town that nestles on the South Downs.

Its founder Kasia Zindulska is a former corporate lawyer who wanted an escape from city life and set up the café at the end of last year. After weathering the bleak recessionary Lewes winter and benefiting from a buoyant tourist season, she officially launched the restaurant this summer.

Coming from a family of artists (her father was the minister for arts in Poland), she wanted to get back to exploring a subject that's close to her heart.

"There are a lot of artists in Lewes, so it was perfect for what I wanted", she said. Which is seemingly a bit of everything, from local painters being able to sell and display their works, music (there are regular jazz and flamenco guitar evenings), and antiques ( Zindulska has a unusual mix of furniture dotted about from her travels around the globe).

The interior has a wide open kitchen with the chefs on view so diners can watch as they create the dishes.

Head chef Lewis Evans has been in the business for 11 years and has worked at Tony Tobin's the Dining Room in Reigate as head chef for two years. According to Zindulska Evans is, " an amazing chef. He is just so crazy about food."

The food itself is described as being an eclectic mix of traditional British and Polish with a modern twist, with local produce being used where ever possible.

Prices are reasonable, with the likes of Polish goulash on the menu at £10.95, or oven roasted fillet of barramundi (£11.95) and slow roasted comfit lamb shoulder (£11.50).

The wine list features the usual suspects, including the odd English wine such as Breaky Bottom sparkling (£26.00). A selection of bottled beers, all under £4, include Messina Sicilian beer, Zatec Czech lager, Tyskie Polish beer and Harveys Sussex bitter.

After escaping from the corporate constraints of City life, Zindulska is endulging her artistic and foodie passions to the max, and why not?

• Sommeliers