Lilac
Lyme Regis, Dorset
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Secreted in a 400-year-old basement beneath a local solicitors, Lilac is a 'credible second in line’ to its more auspicious grown-up sibling, Robin Wylde. The two restaurants share the same ethos – sustainability, eco-sourcing, zero waste – but that’s where the similarity ends. Lilac is a diminutive but elegant space, ‘bright and date-ready’ for aperitivi-style drinks and nibbles (from 5pm) and prepped for full restaurant meals five evenings a week. The menu deals in small but generous plates of food with lots of local and seasonal grace notes. Home-baked fennel-seed focaccia with pungent confit garlic oil and crisp house pickles sets the tone, while leaves, greens and salad veg from locally admired Trill Farm add vitality and freshness across the board – from radishes with labneh and dukkah to a ricotta-stuffed courgette flower paired with soft peaches, crushed hazelnuts, sprigs of allotment mint and honey (from a beehive across the road). Bigger plates merit serious attention too, from a ‘precise and satisfying’ dish of pearly hake topped with pangrattato in a pool of creamed spinach sauce to a rich, earthy hogget ragù spruced up with a scattering of ewe’s milk cheese. If you hanker for something sweet, consider the chocolate nemesis or lemon meringue tart with yoghurt cream. The drinks list also passes muster, with plenty of zippy cocktails and craft beers alongside an inventory of ‘rare, local and low-intervention’ wines. Satuday brunch and Sunday lunch complete the offer.
