Viva Lewes Issue #134 November 2017

FOOD
Chaula's
Gujurati goodness
The Pelham arms
HIGH ST.
LEWES
A Great British pub,
a warm welcome,
wonderful food & ambience
Photo by Alex Leith
Today I’m not that ravenous, so I only fill my
tray twice. My record is four times. Chaula’s
restaurant has just enjoyed its tenth birthday, and
I can’t believe it was only this summer I started
making its lunch buffet a regular date.
I guess when Chaula was doing her sums to
work out how much the ‘fill your plate as many
times as you want’ deal should cost, she worked
out an average person’s consumption, taking into
account a couple of either-way outliers. I reckon,
with my ‘good’ appetite, I must be pretty close to
being an outlying outlier. I go there once a week,
on a Monday generally, and I love it.
It costs £8, and you get a metal tray with three
compartments, which you can refill as often as
you want from a buffet table containing at least
twelve different items. It always follows a pattern,
with a meat main and a veggie main and all
sorts of add-ons: today we have chicken hydrabadi,
sag aloo, tarka daal, potato bhaji, spring rolls,
rice, naan bread, poppadoms, raita, chutney, a
cooked cabbage side, fresh salad, and some burfi
sweets. A chap comes and fills the bowls when
something looks like it’s running out.
I always take a book, but the food is so absorbing
I rarely get to read it. Chaula’s food is Gujurati,
and she takes pains to make it here how it’d be
made back home: it’s spicy without ever being
too-hot-to-handle. Today’s highlight is the
chicken hydrabadi: succulent chunks of meat in a
tasty tomatoey sauce: the week before it was the
vegetable jalfrezi. Next week, who knows? AL
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Lewes’s first
Smokehouse
in a Pub!
Hand Crafted Food - Local Suppliers
Best Burgers for Miles
Award winning Sunday Roasts
Vegetarian, vegan & gluten free options
Abyss Brewing beers brewed on site
GREAT VENUE FOR CELEBRATIONS
children & dog friendly
OPENING TIMES
Monday
Bar 4pm to 11pm
Tuesday to Thursday
Bar 12 noon to 11pm
Food 12 noon to 2.30pm & 6 to 9.30pm
Friday & Saturday
Bar 12 noon to Midnight
Food 12 noon to 2.30pm & 6 to 9.30pm
Sunday
Bar 12 noon to 10.30pm
Food 12 noon to 8pm
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T 01273 476149 E manager@thepelhamarms.co.uk
Book online @ www.thepelhamarms.co.uk
@PelhamArmsLewes pelhamarmslewes pelhamarmslewes
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