Peasmarsh Restaurant Guide

The “delightful dining room” with “friendly service” at former Gusbourne boss Ben Walgate’s biodynamic wine estate is just the place for a “truly memorable special occasion”, whether it’s a “superb relaxed lunch” or a “delicious celebratory dinner” (“we went on my wife’s birthday”) – while you’re there, you can “enjoy an entertaining wine tour” or stay overnight in “a really lovely room”.

2023 Review: “If only every pub was like this!” – “a quirky place” a short walk from the town centre which makes the most of its olde-worlde decor. The food is “competent and innovative”, and there’s a “good range of drinks”.

Set in a row of Georgian shops, Martin Peacock’s neighbourhood bistro (est. 2010) has become a real beacon for locals and visitors alike (“our trips to Rye are worked round whether we can get a table here”). On the menu, local Romney Marsh lamb or “super-fresh” fish landed a few hundred metres away (including the gurnard which lends its tail to their logo) are cooked in a pleasingly unfussy way, all at “reasonable prices”.

“Consistently good fish at fair prices” wins very high popularity in our annual diners’ poll for this “somewhat cavernous” venue (with a cookery school upstairs) from chef Paul Webbe, who has championed Sussex produce for more than 25 years; “loved the amazing six-course menu during the Scallop Festival week”.

2024 Review: The “historic location” (a 600-year-old building with mullioned windows and many a beam) certainly adds to the charms of this old smugglers’ inn – “a little old-school, but that’s all part of the experience”. It’s been under the same owners for three decades, and while it’s not the main draw, the “lovely food” also has its fans.

This increasingly fashionable adults-only wellness retreat in a converted 1960s motel behind Camber Sands serves ambitious and “interesting” menus from MasterChef contestant Nico Fitzgerald, accompanied by what is said to be the biggest selection of English wines in the country.

2023 Review: “The most intensely tasty, well executed and imaginative street food outside of Shoreditch”, say fans of this new permanent home for a popular food truck familiar to visitors to Camber Sands: “great service and reasonable prices complete one of the best places for proper eats in this gorgeous little gem of a town”. Top Menu Tip – “the chilli brisket or buttermilk chicken burger with maple bacon and satay mayo will transport you into raptures to say nothing of the spicy chips with scotch bonnet jam that always remain crispy no matter the additions piled on!”.

“Tasty modern food” is “served with enthusiasm at a reasonable price” at former art student Rose Furnival’s smart little venue, which she has developed over eight years from a tea room to a full-blown restaurant-with-rooms. A contestant in MasterChef: The Professionals in 2023, she still serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, while dinner is a sharing small-plates affair.

“Top-quality small plates” based around seasonal ingredients from local suppliers are to be found in this quaint 15th-century former pub that “seems to improve with each visit” – it’s hidden away down a cobbled lane off the main drag in this attractive seaside town.

Former Bibendum head chef, Matthew Harris (who spent 28 years in Chelsea and is the brother of Bouchon Racine’s Henry Harris), leads the kitchen at this new incarnation of the dining room at the Gallivant boutique hotel behind Camber Sands (run by hotelier Harry Cragoe). It launched in February 2025, and missed inspiring feedback in our annual diners’ poll, but has immediately inspired great press reviews, including an April 2025 visit from The Guardian’s Grace Dent (“startlingly good”) and in May 2025 from The Telegraph’s William Sitwell (“A coastal paradise with a great chef in its midst”). Signature dishes include Magret de canard with braised endive, orange and peppercorn sauce and Tarte fine aux pommes flambéed table-side with calvados.