Welcome to the fourth edition of Serving Up. We’ve got the best batch of features yet for you, including the first contribution from Amy Brooke of Brighton On The Inside, who has written about the very welcome explosion of pizza joints in the city. This edition also sees the first ‘Brighton Peers’, an occasional series of food, drink and travel-based interviews with notable Brighton residents. I spoke to Hong Kong-born artist and musician James Li, whose work you may have spotted adorning the walls of Stem in Hove. As well as being very talented, James is a serious foodie and has come up with half a dozen or so fantastic recommendations for where to eat in Brighton and further afield.

For this edition’s Out of Town, earlier this week, I took the train to Worthing. It was a beautiful spring evening and perfect for the 20-minute stroll from the station to BAUJI, a new Indian restaurant from chef Dayashankar Sharma, who also owns the Michelin guide-listed Heritage in Dulwich. During the evening, I discovered that Sharma had originally looked at opening in Brighton. All I can say is Worthing is lucky to have him. You can find out why in my review below.

The town is having a moment, with the imminent opening of Ebb later this month. The restaurant occupies the space on the pier that was home to former Brighton chef Johnny Stanford’s Tern, which has now relocated to Worthing town centre. Ebb will be headed up by chef Charlie Simmonds, who previously worked at Chalk at Wiston Estate and the Michelin-starred Ben Wilkinson at The Pass at the South Lodge Hotel. The sample menu posted on the restaurant’s website reads very nicely; they had me at ‘whipped cod’s roe, our prawn cocktail crisps’.

If you have any suggestions for destinations you’d like to see covered in Out of Town, or for future ‘Brighton Peers’ interviews (I have to credit my wife for the name, which I think is inspired), please let me know by commenting or replying to the newsletter email. I’d also love to hear if you have any favourite restaurants, gastropubs or bars you’d like to see featured in Serving Up.

Work continues behind the scenes on rebranding and rethinking Brighton’s Best Restaurants. A new website is under construction. We are getting close to deciding on a new logo, and the second I finish writing this newsletter, I’m starting work on an exciting new feature of the website that I think you are going to love.

I hope Serving Up will help inspire your eating and drinking plans over the weekend and beyond, I’d love to know if it does.

Andy Lynes
Co-director and Founder, Brighton’s Best Restaurants

Brighton’s pizza proliferation

How many pizza places are too many? In Brighton and Hove, apparently, that number doesn’t exist. At last (very approximate) count, the city clocks in at some 30 pizza-first joints – Neapolitan, Detroit-style, New York slices, the UK’s first vegan pizzeria, plus a mix of chains and fiercely loved indies. By our calculations, that’s roughly one per square mile.

So while we’re not quite at pub-level saturation, that’s still a serious amount of lovingly crafted dough flying around for one pretty small city. And that’s before you factor in restaurants with pizza on their menu or mobile operators like Slicycle (clue’s in the name), regularly popping up at spots like the Loud Shirt Tap.

But this pizza predilection is not a uniquely Brighton phenomenon. London’s been seeing a full-blown pizza boom, too, with residencies turning into permanent sites and new openings appearing from east to west, including viral sensations Crisp Pizza teaming up with the people behind The Devonshire, the most popular pub in the country, to open The Marlborough in Mayfair.

Brighton might move at a slightly more leisurely pace than the capital – three opened in just over a week in London last year – but the same appetite is clearly there. Pommy’s Pizza (New-York style, Italian-run) opened last June to great fanfare after a masterclass in how to build a brand on social media, adding a second site just four months later. Then came the return of Original Tony’s – fine-dining chef Toby Hackett’s hybrid take on Neapolitan and New York pizza, which opened on Trafalgar Street last summer, and quickly became another local favourite.

And the latest soon-to-open addition to the pizza gang is the eponymous Jack’s Pizza. After starting out making his Detroit-style pizza in his parents’ home kitchen, Jack went on to secure a residency at The Brunswick in Hove, and now has a full bricks-and-mortar opening in a prime North Laine spot, opening early April.

At the same time, Brighton’s also seeing a wider shift to in-person everything – run clubs, coffee meet-ups and creative gatherings across the city – as people hunger for real-life connection away from the 24/7 pull of the screen. And pizza fits neatly into that. It’s quick, sociable and best shared. Pizza’s nothing new, of course, but it’s never been this good or this everywhere before. And in an always-on city like Brighton, it’s an easy way to bring people together.

Words and images by Amy Brooke, co-founder and editor of Brighton On The Inside

Brighton Peers: James Li

Hong Kong-born artist and musician James Li speaks to Andy Lynes about his work and his favourite food and drink spots in Brighton and beyond

I was interested to see that you simply decided to become an artist and that you don’t have any formal training.
I was more of a musician. A few years ago, I thought I should revisit visual art, which I had done as a teenager. I think it was a way of processing what had happened in Hong Kong six years ago. Hong Kong’s visual identity has been erased quite quickly, so it felt like a very personal thing to paint it.

Are you still involved in the music side of things?
I still do some processed cello things, usually at my own exhibitions at places like the Adelaide Salon in Hove.

When did you move to Brighton?
Eight years ago. My first job when I came here was working front-of-house at Silo. I’ve made lots of really good friends from it, and it made me understand that food is also a creative art in the same way that music or visual art is.

Some of your paintings are on show at Stem restaurant in Hove. How did that come about?
Charlie, who works at Stem, came to my exhibition, and she was the one who recommended that my work should be in the new space. I was surprised they went with it because it’s not the most comfortable thing.

What is your earliest food memory?
Eating hokkien mee, or what we call black noodles, in Kuala Lumpur, where my mum’s from. It’s basically noodles cooked with pig lard that my grandma used to make. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted, but it’s very rich, very savoury.

What is your favourite comfort food?
There’s a deli called Time for Kimchi on Church Street, and they do a set menu for lunch that’s £15 pounds. It comes with six small dishes. It’s one of the best value lunches you’ll have because it’ll really sustain for the rest of the day. It has kimchi, seasonal vegetables, sometimes foraged, and a protein - usually pork, beef or tofu. It’s so nourishing, I think it’s extended my life by a few years.

Are you a tea or coffee person and how do you take it?
I drink a lot of coffee. I have a filter machine, which I bought with the rest of my Arts Council grant money when I had an exhibition last year. It’s the one thing I bought with it that wasn’t art. I get my beans from Skylark in Sussex. They’re amazing, and fantastic value as well. If I want to treat myself to an espresso, I’ll go to Ikigai on Queens Road; it has to be the best coffee in Brighton. They make some Hong Kong pastries, like the pineapple bun, and they do it really well. it.

What’s your go-to Brighton restaurant?
Shaanxi Noodles. I think that’s probably the best restaurant in Brighton, honestly. The quality of the dishes is comparable to those you get in China and Hong Kong; it’s really that good. It’s amazing that it exists in Brighton, in a relatively small city. They cut their own biang biang noodles; you can watch them do it. It’s also really good value; the cheapest noodles are seven pounds for a plate. The sesame vegan dish is really good.

I also like Original Tony’s pizza. It just opened a few months ago, and I was there for opening day. Toby, not to be confused with Tony, used to be the head chef at Silo. I always get ‘Tony’s Favorite’ with tomato, mozzarella, pepperoni, jalapenos, stracciatella and hot honey. It’s the best pizza I’ve had, nothing really comes close.

What is the next restaurant on your hit list?
I just came back from Paris, and there was a Levantine restaurant there called Adraba. We just walked in, and I had the best service of my life. It was just so warm and attentive, and the food was fantastic. They used a charcoal grill, and everything just had a slight twist to it. It was also much cheaper than it would be in London or Brighton, so I’m really itching to go back there.

What is the best food destination in the world and why?
Hong Kong. You have the best of every cuisine represented in a 50-mile radius, and it really is the best of the best. They’re all competing with each other, so the standard of food and service is very high. At the same time, you could walk the streets and get noodles for two pounds. It was such a privilege to grow up in Hong Kong, to be exposed to every food culture.

If you are a first-time visitor, I’d recommend Oi Man Sang. They are the last dai pai dong in Hong Kong with a licence to cook with kerosene. They do traditional Hong Kong diner stuff like stir-fried razor clams and fried rice. When I was doing research for my exhibition, I found an old home video that my dad shot in the 80s at the restaurant, and it was exactly the same, the same people, actually.

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten in a restaurant recently?
The bagna cauda at Toklas in London. It’s an anchovy dip served with bread and raw vegetables. That was one of the best culinary surprises I’ve had; it was just so good. It’s owned by Frieze, the art magazine. It’s such a good restaurant. Jay Rayner loves their chips.

To find out more about James’s work, go to jjlpaintings.co.uk

What’s in James Thomson’s Glass?

Le Oche, Fattoria San Lorenzo 2023

‘‘Le Oche’ is a Verdicchio made by Fattoria San Lorenzo, one of the leading producers in the Marche region of eastern Italy, and one of my favourite (relatively affordable) wines in the world. As a counterpoint to generic Verdicchio, the producer uses a little well-integrated oak ageing - this one for about 12 months - and it’s spectacular. It sits on our list in my favourite ‘Oily & Textural Whites’ section alongside things like really good Chenin Blanc from the Loire and afar and Viognier from the Rhone and beyond.

Fleshy, waxy and ripe stone fruits, a faint nuttiness and just the most pleasant of oxidative undertones with low acidity and a richness that lasts forever on the palate - it’s the fullest of packages. Wines of this style, I feel, go particularly well with our cuisine all year round, but particularly in the spring with things like white asparagus and morels, which lend themselves to rich, nutty sorts of sauces. The perfect pairing would be roast chicken in a vin jaune or sherry sauce with morels and asparagus, or, on our menu at the moment, the roast monkfish with white vermouth sabayon, artichokes and hazelnuts.’

Le Oche, Fattoria San Lorenzo 2023 is available at Wild Flor, £65 for a bottle and £11 by the glass.

James Thomson is the Co-Founder & Managing Director of Wild Flor

From 23-26 April, Wild Flor will be popping up at The Brick pub with Wild Wurst, where they’ll be serving a menu of German-style wurst sausages to accompany The Brick’s curated selection of German and Czech beers. The collaboration’s finale on the 26th will be ‘Knuckle Sunday’ when whole crispy pork knuckles for two with bier gravy, potato dumpling, kraut and mustard will be served, priced at £20pp. Walk-ins welcomed between 23-25 April, booking is essential for Sunday 26th. Email reservations@wildflor.com. Follow brick.brighton and wildflorhove on Instagram for full details.

The details
Wild Flor
42 Church Road, Hove BN3 2FN
wildflor.com; 01273329111

Brighton’s Best Cocktail Club:
Boozy Cow by Josh Williams at Pearly Cow

Order at the bar or make at home

‘We make this drink with Sussex wagyu beef fat-washed Elijah Craig bourbon to give flavour and change the viscosity of the liquid. We combine the fat and bourbon when warm and then slowly bring down the temperature over a 12-hour period to give the desired flavour.

Our house-made Amaro is a neutral spirit infused with 10 botanicals, including wormwood, cacao nibs, pink peppercorns and citrus peels using an 8-hour sous-vide process. We add demerara sugar to give a bittersweet final product. Averna Amaro (available from Ocado and Masters of Malt) is a good substitute. We add Cointreau to brighten the final cocktail and keep up the ABV. You can enjoy the drink at The Terrace Bar at Pearly Cow Brighton, overlooking the beach, which is now open for the summer season.’

Ingredients for one drink
35ml beef fat bourbon
20ml housemade amaro
15ml Cointreau

Stir the bourbon, amaro and Cointreau over ice for about 15 seconds for the desired dilution. Strain into a frozen Nick and Nora glass (as per the picture above) to create a perfectly balanced, flavoursome and boozy cocktail.

Josh Williams is the Bar and Terrace Manager at Pearly Cow Brighton

The details
The Pearly Cow
123 Kings Rd, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 2FA
0330 055 4531; pearlycow.co.uk

Out of Town: BAUJI, Worthing

Opened last month on a smart residential road just off Worthing’s seafront and a short stroll from the town centre, BAUJI is the second contemporary Indian restaurant from chef Dayashankar Sharma, who also owns Heritage in Dulwich. Born in Rajasthan, Sharma trained at both the Oberoi and Taj hotel groups in India (the equivalent of an apprenticeship at The Savoy or The Ritz) before moving to London to head up the kitchens of Tamarind and Zaika. In her review of Heritage, Grace Dent called Sharma’s food unmissable and described the signature shatkora jhinga as ‘wondrous, bulbous, heavenly super-shrimp’.

I got to sample the shatkora jhinga during a media dinner in the restaurant’s private dining room earlier this week. It was indeed wondrous and bulbous, marinated in the ‘rare’ Bangladeshi citrus fruit shatkora and then grilled. It was great, but to be honest, it wasn’t even the best prawn I ate that night. Kasundi prawns, equally as plump, came in an addictively spicy mustard sauce which I greedily mopped up with the outstandingly good coriander and garlic naan. The rich and creamy dal makhni, cooked overnight, put me in mind of the version I ate at the legendary New Delhi restaurant Bukhara.

The meal (see the full list of dishes below) covered nearly every part of the menu, including small plates, grills, curries, bread and rice, and sides. Everything hit the mark, even the popodoms, flavoured with red and green chilli and cumin and served with a selection of chutneys, were terrific. However, I wasn’t as convinced by the combo of warm avocado, tomato salsa, spiced cream cheese and strips of venison, or the cranberry paneer kofta. But I loved everything else so much that I’m going back next week for the biryani, the one menu category we didn’t get to try.

BAUJI Media dinner 8 April menu

Popodoms with Chutney
Kale and Spinach Chaat
Tandoori Avocado and Venison

Grills:
Lamb chops
Shatkora Jhinga

Mains:
Lal Mass (slow-cooked Rajasthan-style lamb curry)
Kasundi Prawns (West Bengal-style kasundi mustard gravy)
Cranberry Paneer Kofta

Served with:
Bauji Dal Makhani
Rices and Bread Basket

The details
BAUJI
67 Rowlands Road, Worthing BN11 3JN
bauji.co.uk; 01903 962 911

Executive Chef, Black Rock Group

What’s your earliest food memory?
My mum’s trifle. When I go back up north, my mum always does me a trifle every single time I go there. It’s a classic sherry trifle, she always keeps it the same. It’s just one of those beauties; it’s nostalgic. I can eat more than one.

Are you a coffee or tea person?
A flat white, or a double espresso, and only one in the morning. I like Monmouth coffee, they’re fantastic beans. I’m not addicted to coffee like some chefs. I don’t need it. I’m full of energy myself.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?
I wanted to be a photographer before I wanted to be a chef. I’m very big into food photography.

What is the best thing about being a chef?
Being a chef, you have to love food passionately. Working in the five Black Rock concepts, it’s always about being creative, not doing the same food all the time and keeping it moving. It’s very important to be part of the seasons changing. It’s about getting in the kitchens with the chefs, teaching and training them, or just being in the kitchen and seeing the stunning food go out.

What’s the worst thing about being a chef?
I’d say the hours, but the hours don’t bother you if you’re engrossed in your work. I’ve been doing it for so long - over 25 years - it just comes naturally to me. I don’t really hate anything about being a chef. I love being around good people who care about their job, whether it’s the front of house or the back of house. That, for me, is the most important thing, being around that energy. If you love what you do, you want to come to work every day. That’s like gold dust; you want to be around positive people.

Who do you most admire in the hospitality industry?

Clare Smyth. We both worked for Gordon Ramsay and I’ve become a good friend of hers. She’s got three Michelin Stars at her restaurant Core and now another star at Corenucopia; her level of cooking is absolutely brilliant. She’s someone to really look up to as a strong woman in the industry.

What’s the next restaurant on your hit list?
Wildflowers in London. It’s cooking on open fire, it’s seasonally led, it’s got a great Mediterranean menu. I’ve also got Maré by Rafael Cagali in Hove on my list to go check out.

What is the best food destination in the world and why?
I’m a big fan of Bordeaux. I go every year. Where you’ve got great wine, you’ve got great food. I love French cooking. I love the style of it, the richness of it. A perfect confit duck leg, that’s my kind of thing.

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten in a restaurant recently?
An amazing cote de boeuf at Jason Atherton’s restaurant Sael in London. I also love their little Marmite English custard tarts. It’s fantastic cooking, it’s consistent every time I go.

It’s your birthday, how are you celebrating?
I’d normally go for oysters and champagne somewhere down in Soho for lunch. And then at dinner, I would find a restaurant that I’ve never been to before like The Ledbury and order a very good bottle of wine from Bordeaux.

Kim Woodward is the Executive Chef of the Black Rock Group, which includes The Coal Shed, Burnt Orange, The Salt Room, Tutto and the newly opened The Crazy Goose pub.

What’s in Anna Reilly’s Glass?

Chignin Bergeron, Domaine Jean Perrier & Fils, Cuvée Gastronomie, 2024 is from the super steep terrain of Savoie in France, where Domaine Jean Perrier & Fils has been growing vines for seven generations since 1853. Today, they have 59 hectares under vine across eight towns. This is a pure mountain wine; golden in the glass with an intense nose of clementine zest, apricot, hawthorne and white pepper. A coating mouthfeel with a complex palate, yet with vibrant acidity and a flinty finish. Electric and delicious. To be enjoyed with friends over a chicken roasted with lemon and thyme and buttery potatoes, or at Fourth and Church with burrata with saffron and preserved lemon, poached kohlrabi and mint and pistachio chermoula.

The wine is currently available on Fourth and Church’s by-the-glass list and is also available to buy here.

Anna Reilly is Events and Wine Development Manager at Fourth and Church.

The details
Fourth and Church
84 Church Rd, Brighton and Hove, Hove BN3 2EB
01273 724709; fourthandchurch.co.uk

This Sunday (29 March), between 12pm and 5pm, Fourth and Church are holding a Spring into Beaujolais: Try Before You Buy event. £10 for three pours. Special discounts available for cases purchased on the day.

My Food Hero

Anthony Bourdain by chef Dan Kenny of The Set

I read Anthony Bourdain’s first book, Kitchen Confidential, when I was about 14, and I started working in kitchens a few weeks later. I wanted to be a chef because it just sounded like so much fun. The description of a lot of pirates and misfits that wanted to be in an environment where they could get up to no good was quite appealing at that age. I’ve been a big Bourdain fan ever since. We eat a lot of Bourdain travel show-inspired dishes for staff food, and we have a lot of his favourite music on our playlist. We’ve always had the ‘Cook-free or die’ posters in the dining room of wherever we’ve been cooking.

One of Bourdain’s favourite cuisines was Vietnamese, and I lived in Vietnam for a couple of years in the late 2000s. I was actually in the same restaurant as him one evening when he was filming Parts Unknown in Ho Chi Minh City. A friend of mine went and borrowed a lighter from him, not knowing who he was. Then we saw all the cameras, and realised it was Bourdain.

Bourdain is one of those rare characters where I think 99% of people like him. There’s a lot of Bourdain fans, a lot of people who relate to his views and approach to life. He’s always been a bit of a hero, so it seemed an obvious theme for a pop-up; all the dishes on The Set’s Bourdain Residency at Cafe Rust are inspired by him.

The menu starts with an oyster, which was the first thing that Bourdain had when he was on holiday in France with his parents that blew his mind. The bream ceviche dish came from watching one of his travel shows about South America. The marinade changes every time we make it, but we use a really good quality vinegar and citrus fruits like yuzu and pummelo from Todoli in Spain. I always put something hot in there, like green chilli or jalapeno juice and finish it with some kind of raw allium and fresh herbs.

St John in London was Bourdain’s favourite restaurant, and I agree with him. The bone marrow, toast and parsley salad is such a famous dish that we had to include it. I like having a clean, raw start to a meal and then going into really rich, fatty big old chunks of bone marrow. Coq au vin is in Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook. We’ll use really good Sussex chickens from Barfields Butchers and make the mash with loads of butter and creme fresh. It’s one of those dishes you don’t really want to mess with. We’re finishing with a crème brûlée and then some Stichelton blue cheese, both Bourdain favourites.

Win a table for two at The Set’s Bourdain Residency - click here to head to The Set’s crowdfunding page and buy a raffle ticket for £2. You’ll also be supporting The Set’s effort to raise money to fit out their brand new site in the former Kitgum Kitchen premises on Preston Road, due to open at the end of May.

The Details
The Set Bourdain Residency
6-course menu £65pp
6pm and 8.15pm
15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 22nd, 24th, 29th, 30th April
1st and 2nd May

Cafe Rust, 50 Preston Road, Brighton, BN1, 4QF
Visit thesetrestaurant.com to book

Brighton’s Best Cocktail Club
Honeygroni by The Apiary

Order at the bar or make at home

Ingredients
20ml Honeybush infused gin (Apiary use 58&co. House Gin)
20ml Beesou honey apperitif (available online)
20ml Vault Meadow Vermouth (available online)
7.5ml Botivo British aperitivo (available online)

Combine all ingredients over ice, stir well, and strain into a frozen rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with a honeycomb tuile.

For the infused Honeybush gin
Use 5g of Honeybush Tea per 250ml of gin. Combine and leave overnight, then fine-strain before use.

For the honeycomb tuile
1 egg white, weighed (usually 30g)
30g butter (or the same weight as the egg white)
30g honey (or the same weight as the egg white)
30g flour (or the same weight as the egg white)

Melt the butter and honey over low heat until the butter has completely melted. Take off the heat and whisk in the flour. Wait until slightly cooled, and then whisk in the egg white quickly to avoid the egg cooking or scrambling. Take the batter and spread over honeycomb moulds (available online). Bake in the oven at 160°C for around 10mins, or until golden. Leave to cool, and then gently pop out of the mould.

The details
The Apiary
50 Norfolk Square, Brighton, BN1 2PA
07517087072; apiary.co.uk

On our radar: Chef Mishael Ahmed

Popping up with ‘Dastarkwaan’ at The Greenhouse, Hove, 3-5 April

How did you get into cooking?
My mother is a baker. I come from a very big family; I’m one of seven kids, so I was in the kitchen from a very early age. I moved to Brighton from Birmingham, where I grew up and got my first cheffing job at The Pond. From there, I moved on to Shelter Hall. As soon as I mastered one kitchen there, I was like, “Oh, give me another kitchen to work in”, so I was working at four kitchens pretty much at the same time.

I then met chef Kanthi Thamma of The Spice Circuit Kitchen, and he invited me to assist him with some of his pop-ups. I also did a few months at Salt Shed. I learned a lot from them about grilling and the balance of flavours and pairing pickles and meats, which was incredibly helpful for the Pickle Party events that I’ve been running this year. I moved from there to Kitgum Kitchen, where a lot of my skills were really shaped. Then I decided to go freelance because I’m not good at just doing one job; I like spinning a lot of plates and doing a lot of things.

What’s the inspiration behind your first pop-up, ‘Dastarkwaan’?
Dastarkwaan takes its name from the Urdu term for a ceremonial tablecloth. This menu is a tribute to the flavours of my childhood and Friday evenings spent gathered on the floor on a Dastarkwaan with my family, sharing our favourite dishes together. The menu consists of Pakistani food, Afghani food, and some Chinese elements. I love being really ingredients-focused and fusing them with loads of different techniques and cultures. My mother was an amazing chef; she cooked so many different cuisines, including Afghan, Lebanese, Syrian and Middle Eastern food in general, so she is a big influence.

Being Pakistani and working at Kitgum was really awesome because we made a lot of Pakistani recipes that were really authentic, so I wanted to pull that in as well because I’ve seen how easy it is to marry the flavours of Afghani food and Pakistani food.

Anytime I’m at home and I’m meal prepping for myself, it somehow seems to always be Chinese food. I’m really obsessed with Szechuan flavours, and so I’ve got the little theme of Szechuan running throughout the menu as well.

What else do you have coming up?
I work for a chef called Marios Miliorellis. He’s incredible. He’s had some experience at Noma. I have been helping him out the last few months, running his pop-up kitchens in North and East London, doing Greek and French fine dining. I also run cooking classes and do some private dining events in Morocco. I’m trying to attack every area of cheffing whilst also trying to do social media at the same time. Somehow, it calms my brain having multiple jobs. I will be posting any and all dates of my future events and classes on my Instagram @on.the.road.to.mishelin.

The Details
Dastarkwaan by Mishael Ahmed
2 - 5 April 5pm-9pm
The Greenhouse, 55 Church Road, Brighton, BN3 3AJ
thegreenhousebrighton.com

The a la carte menu of eight dishes will include aubergine borani (£7), fried chicken wings in date, lemon and Aleppo glaze (£11) and gulab jamun sticky toffee pudding with miso chantilly cream (£8.5).

Out of Town: Other, Bristol

The talent that chef Zak Hitchman refined at places like Ynyshir and Casamia shines through every bite in Other. It’s just brilliant. The name is very apt; there’s nowhere in Bristol quite like it. Expect small plates heavy with inspiration and innovation; chicken and sesame toast, smoked beef cheeks and lamb fat-fried doughnuts that are so good they’ve been featured on the Off Menu podcast multiple times. It’s colourful, eccentric and well worth a significant detour.

The details
Other
32 Cannon St, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 1BN
07503 144325; otherrestaurant.co.uk

Review by Meg Houghton-Gilmour of The Bristol Sauce.

Welcome to the second edition of Serving Up. As ever, we’ve got a multi-course tasting menu of food and drink inspiration from the lovely people of the Brighton and Hove restaurant scene.

As I’m sure you’re aware by now, after 50 years, the city finally has a Michelin-starred restaurant, Maré by Rafael Cagali, to boast about. The last star to be awarded to a Brighton restaurant was Yves Battaso’s Le Francais at 1 Paston Place in Kemptown in 1975, a year after the Michelin guide’s UK launch. Apparently, stars of the stage and screen, including Shirley Bassey and Michael Caine, dined at the restaurant.

By the time I moved to Brighton in 1990, 1 Paston Place had become an outpost of London restaurant Langan’s and was co-owned by Caine. Later that decade, it became One Paston Place, run by the late chef Mark Emmerson and his wife, Nicole. I did a one-day trial in the kitchen, as, at the time I was considering a career change. I didn’t get the job, but I learned a thing or two and got to work alongside a young chef named Ben McKellar, now better known as The Gingerman. Small world, huh?

To celebrate Maré’s historic win, I spoke to General Manager Jake Garstang about the drinks he’s particularly excited about right now, and he’s come up with a couple of very interesting choices, one at Maré and one at everyone’s favourite place, Bincho Yakitori. I hope to be able to bring you an interview with Maré’s 24-year-old head chef Ewan Waller very soon, too.

This week also heralds the first contribution from Hot Dinners, the essential guide to London restaurants. They’ve recommended a new Italian in Soho that sounds just the ticket for the next time you’re visiting the big smoke.

I do hope you are enjoying Serving Up as much as I am writing it. Do let me know if there’s something you’d love to see in the newsletter that we haven’t covered already, but rest assured, there will be lots of new faces and places coming up in future editions. Work is continuing on preparations for the relaunch of Brighton’s Best Restaurants website, awards and OctoberBest festival, and we will bring you news on all three as soon as we can. I can say now that the awards, usually held in the spring, will be delayed but will return soon.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this edition, and please, if you can, subscribe below. It would really help us out,

Andy Lynes
Editor and co-director of Brighton’s Best Restaurants.

The Lowdown: Chef Bookie Mitchell of Namo

What is your earliest food memory?
When I was growing up in Lampang in Northern Thailand, there was a hawker stall next to my school. We called the owner ‘Uncle Kaew’. He would barbecue pork over a charcoal grill, and also he would make egg fried rice. He served it in a plastic bag and you just ate it like that with hot sriracha sauce. I’m thinking of putting it on my menu at Namo.

What is your favourite comfort food?
I like things that people don’t really eat - strange stuff like pickled plums. They’re salty and sweet. Sometimes I like sour green cooking apples with a dip made with shrimp paste, sugar, fish sauce and chilli powder.

Are you a coffee or tea person?
Matcha latte with oat milk is the new trend for me.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?
I wanted to be a florist, an interior designer or a photographer. I seem to have a random interest in lots of things. After I graduated from university, I applied to be a flight attendant but it wasn’t for me. Being a chef is where my passion and my creativity lie.

What is the worst thing about being a chef and restaurateur?
The long hours. Being the owner, it’s just kind of around the clock. Even though you finish your work, you are still thinking about it. But I enjoy it.

Who do you most admire in the restaurant industry?

My friend Kanthi Thamma of The Spice Kitchen. He’s just so talented. He would be the one to call me on a decision because he’s has so much experience, he’s been in the business for a long time. Sometimes he will say things that you don’t want to hear, but it’s a fact, and he wants to help you. He’s very creative; every time that we come up with pop-up ideas, we just click. We can do the menu 24 hours before the pop-up and we can just nail it because of him. He’s just so talented with lots of things. He can dance, he can do everything. He’s just amazing.

What do you eat for breakfast?
I rarely eat breakfast, but if I have to, I’m probably going to have a boiled egg, some avocado and brown toast. I’d start with tea and then follow with coffee. And then some fruit - berries and stuff.

Tell us about a hidden gem in Brighton
I like the bar at No. 124 Guest House. Usually, I will pop in for coffee because it’s quiet and it’s nice in there, but one cocktail I really love is Gimme Mûre. It’s made with Brighton Gin, pineapple, and blackberry. It’s one of those drinks that’s really easy to enjoy but still feels a bit special.

What is the best food destination in the world and why?
Thailand. I’m Thai, so I’m probably just a bit biased. I love the food so much. It’s fresh, healthy, vibrant and full of favour. The way we serve food is totally different from the north to the south and to central, so when you go to Thailand, you can try different things. Chiang Mai in the north offers something a bit different; there’s influences from being next to Burma. Kao Soi, which we serve at Namo Eats at The Eagle, is so popular; people just love it so much, and that is from the north.

What’s the next restaurant that you are dying to visit?

Interlude in Leonardslee Gardens. I have seen some things on Instagram, and I really want to go there. Where it is is so beautiful, so that could be my present for this year.

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten in a restaurant recently?
There’s a dish I still think about from time to time. It’s Laphet Thohk, the tea leaf salad from Laphet, a Burmese restaurant in London. The main ingredient is fermented, pickled tea leaves, which might sound unusual, but the flavour is incredible. It’s savoury, slightly bitter, deeply umami, and full of texture. One of those dishes that really stays with you.

The details
Namo
24 Ship St, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 1AD
01273 911881; namobrighton.co.uk

What’s in Jake Garstang’s glass?

At Maré, I’m currently loving the combination of Barbadillo Obispo Gascon 15yr Palo Cortado sherry paired with our toasted brioche, liver parfait, winter truffle and preserved cherries. The nutty notes from the sherry complement the wonderful richness of the parfait and truffle, whilst retaining enough acidity to harmonise with the cherries. As a sommelier, I’ve found that sherry is woefully misunderstood, so we’ve got a wonderful selection by the glass to help introduce guests to the wide variety of styles.

If I’m out and about, one of my favourite combinations is Bincho Yakitori’s Junmai Gingo sake, poured in the traditional Masu boxes, paired with any of their delicious skewers. I’m partial to their chicken heart skewers with plenty of fresh lemon, and also their karaage. The crispy chicken skin and juicy meat contrast beautifully with the searing freshness of the sake, which cleanses your palate and sets you up ready for each next mouthful.

Jake Garstang is the Restaurant Manager and Sommelier at Maré by Rafael Cagali in Hove, which has just been awarded a Michelin star, the first in the city for 50 years. Before moving to Brighton, Jake worked in some of the country’s most highly regarded restaurants, including Ynyshir, Restaurant Story, Casamia and Wilson’s and has been named one of Taylor’s Port Top 100 UK Sommeliers.

The details
Maré by Rafael Cagali
60 Church Rd, Brighton and Hove, BN3 2FP
01273 055900; marehove.com

Brighton’s Best Dish #2: Beef belly laksa at Noodles Street

Bring your appetite to this hole in the wall canteen or you’ll struggle to finish the generously proportioned bowls of Chinese, Thai, Korean and Singaporean soup noodles, all available with a choice of udon, ramen, flat rice, rice and egg noodles. The must-order beef belly laksa featured chunks of tender short rib, tofu puffs, bean sprouts, spring onions and fresh chillies in a deeply flavoured spicy coconut milk broth.

The details
Noodles Street, 14 London Rd, Brighton BN1 4JA.
01273 888898
Noodles Soup, 37 West St, Brighton BN1 2RE.
01273 327888

Brighton’s Best Cocktail Club:
Tepache Margarita from Stem restaurant

Order at the bar or make at home

This cheeky twist on a margarita uses tepache (fermented pineapple juice, click here for a recipe) to add a slight fermented funk instead of a traditional triple sec, which then gets adjusted for sweetness with gomme (buy ready-made or make at home by dissolving 2 parts sugar to 1 part water) and fresh pineapple juice for a nice, rounded, fresh taste.

Ingredients
50ml Cazcabel tequila
30ml tepache (fermented pineapple drink)
20ml lime juice
15ml pineapple juice
15ml 2:1 gomme syrup
1 pipette of pineapple and star anise bitters.

Method
Add all the ingredients to a Boston shaker. Shake, then double-strain into a rocks glass and garnish with a pineapple leaf.

The details
Stem
41 Church Road, Hove, BN3 2BE.
01273 435582; stemhove.co.uk

Don’t miss: Michelin-starred chef Simon Hulstone at etch

On Tuesday, 24 March, don’t miss out on your chance to sample the technically brilliant and always delicious cooking of chef Simon Hulstone of the Michelin-starred restaurant The Elephant in Torquay. For one night only, Simon will be cooking at etch in Hove, alongside chef and owner Steven Edwards, where they will create a six-course £85 collaborative tasting menu celebrating the very best of seasonal British produce.

You may have seen Simon on one of his many appearances on Saturday Kitchen Live or Saturday Morning with James Martin. He also represented the South West on Great British Menu in 2012. He has run his harbourside restaurant The Elephant with his wife Katy since 2006. It was the first restaurant in Torquay to be awarded a Michelin star and the only one to retain it. The regularly changing seasonal menu incorporates local ingredients, including some from the restaurant’s own farm in Brixham, in dishes such as Brixham crab with melon, radish and smoked crème fraîche.

Simon is one of the UK’s most decorated chefs; he is a Roux Scholar and winner of the Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year award. He has twice represented the UK in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or culinary competition in France and was captain of the British team in the Culinary Olympics.

The details
To book for Simon Hulstone X Steven Edwards at etch on 24 March, click here. etch host regular guest chef nights. Check the restaurant’s website for more details of future events.

​etch. by Steven Edwards
214-216 Church Road, Brighton, BN3 2DJ
01273 227485; etchfood.co.uk

Furna chef Dave Mothersill’s storecupboard standbys

‘There’s a few things that I need to have in all the time. Good quality pre-cooked white beans, be it a butter bean, a flageolet bean or a cannellini bean. I’m a huge fan of Ottoleghi’s Green Harissa; it’s absolutely fantastic on salmon or chicken. Any of the Belazu Mediterranean ingredients, I think the quality’s great - things like capers and preserved lemon, and they do a fantastic tapenade as well. Mutti chopped tomatoes are bloody fantastic. They’re all versatile ingredients. The preserved lemon goes with the butter beans, or if you’re making a roast chicken, throw the butter beans in with the resting juices and the tapenade. It’s all so versatile and absolutely delicious.’

Dave Mothersill is the chef and owner of Furna restaurant

The Details
Furna
6 New Road, Brighton BN1 1UF
01273 031594; furnarestaurant.co.uk

Out of Town with Hot Dinners in London: Osteria Vibrato

London has seen a brace of new Italian openings recently (including the excellent Tiella) and this latest comes from Charlie Mellor, the man behind The Laughing Heart. Like his former Hackney restaurant, this Soho venture has a big focus on its wine list (Charlie’s teamed up with former Luca sommelier Cameron Dewar). The place has quickly become a proper scene, partly helped by the piano in the middle of the restaurant that has seen musicians from nearby Ronnie Scott’s on it, as well as their own extremely talented pianist/waiter

The menu has been created by an ex-Burro e Salvia chef (another much-missed Italian), and it takes a classic approach, with the tagliatelle with white courtyard ragu a must-have. Pricing may be punchy, but there’s real talent in the kitchen. It’s also a place to linger, mainly because you’ll want to have the baked-to-order amaretti biscuits, delivered hot to your table.

The Details:
Osteria Vibrato
6 Greek St, London W1D 4DE
osteriavibrato.co.uk

Recommended by hot-dinners.com, London’s biggest independent dining-out publication with all the insider knowledge on what’s happening on the London food scene. Hot Dinners is headed up by the brother and sister team of Catherine and Gavin Hanly.

Welcome to Serving up

Serving Up is the first ever newsletter from Brighton’s Best Restaurants. It marks our 10th anniversary and a new era as we pursue our vision to become the definitive and most relied-upon expert curated guide to the independent restaurant and bar scene in Brighton and Hove and surrounding area. We are launching with a twice monthly publication schedule, so please use the subscribe button below to make sure you get Serving Up #2 in your inbox on Friday 13th March (gasp! I hope you’re not superstitious.) Our goal for Serving Up is to bring you a bit closer to the people behind the Brighton and Hove restaurant scene and harness their knowledge and expertise to help you get the most out of dining and drinking in the city and beyond.

Serving Up is aimed at Brighton and Hove residents and visitors to the city, but we’ve also designed the newsletter to be of interest to anyone who loves restaurants, food, drink and travel, so expect plenty of UK and Worldwide recommendations as well as hints and tips you can apply when you are eating and drinking at home.

We’ve partnered with The Bristol Sauce to bring you recommendations from Brighton’s spiritual twin city. Serving Up will be returning the favour and making Brighton recommendations to the readers of The Bristol Sauce. We hope to be announcing a London partner soon too. Above all, we want Serving Up to be a really good read and something you look forward to seeing in your inbox twice a month. We are really excited to share the first edition with you. We hope you enjoy it. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments,

Andy Lynes - editor and founder and co-director of Brighton’s Best Restaurants
Sue Woodward - co-director of Brighton’s Best Restaurants

The Lowdown

Chef Dominic Sherriff, Bonsai Plant Kitchen

What’s your earliest food memory?
Cooking with my grandfather. He was born in India, so we used to make onion bhajis, samosas, chutneys and stuff like that. I was very young. He would have me on a little footstool things next to the hob. My mum showed me a picture of me cooking with my grandfather and I was wearing a butchers aprons, which weirdly is what we wear in the restaurant now.

Are you a coffee or tea person?
Tea, definitely. I always buy Yorkshire Tea, maybe Twining’s Gold Blend if I’m feeling posh. Never Tetley’s. I like a strong stewing on the bag, three or four minutes until it’s jet black, and then a glug of oat milk.

What is the best thing about being a chef and restaurateur?
Taking raw ingredients, something very simple like a leek, and seeing that creative process through to the end product of a skewered braised leek with a teriyaki sauce. We’re an open kitchen at the restaurant, so customers come up and say, ‘That was amazing, thank you. I’ve never eaten anything like that before’ - that’s probably the best thing about being a chef.

As a restaurateur, it’s creating a space to give customers a level of escapism. I think that’s kind of what restaurants are about. That’s why we went for a low-lit, neon izakaya den feel. You step in and you wouldn’t know you’re on Baker Street in Brighton, you are transported to Japan.

What’s the worst thing about being a chef and restaurateur?
When you go into work and you’ve been out the night before with the team. You had about three hours sleep and you know you’ve got a 14 hour day ahead. You’re thinking, why did I not go home at 11 o’clock? Why was I having shots of tequila at four in the morning when the lights were coming on? That’s probably the worst thing - that regret, the pain.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?
A carpenter; another trade using my hands that’s creative.

Who do you most admire in the hospitality industry?
Jamie Oliver. Some people hate him and a lot of chefs don’t like him but I’m a fan. He’s authentically himself. He doesn’t do all the screaming, shouting and swearing. He’s very relatable and he cooks food that you can do at home. I think that’s important. With a lot of chefs you think, “I’m never going to go and buy some dehydrated seaweed from Scandinavia”, or some ridiculous thing like that. Whereas with Jamie, it’s more kind of, “Here’s a tin of white beans from Tesco. Here’s how you make a bean stew.”

What is your favourite comfort food?
Katsu curry instant noodles. I’d finish work on a Saturday night at around midnight, go home, get a packet of instant noodles out, put the kettle on and boil the noodles. I’d make up the curry paste, pour it all over the noodles and finish it with crispy onions.

What is the next restaurant on your hit list?

Plates in London is at the top of the list at the moment but it’s always got a three month waiting list. Chef Kirk Howarth’s plant-based food looks incredible; it’s really clever, really cool and very different.

Tell us about a hidden gem in Brighton
Blossom’s cocktail bar. I’m a big fan. Vodka’s the only thing that seems to agree with me, so I always order an espresso martini.

What in your opinion is the best food destination in the world?
In terms of value for money, Vietnam, just because the produce over there is incredible, really good herbs and spices, and there’s the freshness of it as well. I’ve been a few times; you’d have a massive lunch and it’d be three or four pounds.

But in terms of quality, it’s got to be Japan. My brother lives in Tokyo, so I’ve been over a couple of times. The service is impeccable and the attention to detail is just ridiculous. Even if you go to a late night ramen shop at three in the morning, you’ll get incredible food.

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten in a restaurant recently?
I was in a taperia in Benalauría in Andalusia a little while ago. It’s super remote. You pay two euros for a plate of tapas. Tomatoes were in season and they had beef tomatoes that were the size of a football. It was just a plate of local tomatoes with black salt and oregano that had apparently been picked that morning in the mountains, and just dressed in local olive oil. It was incredible. Something very simple, but really good ingredients.

Dominic Sherriff is the chef/director of Bonsai Plant Kitchen.

The Details
Bonsai Plant Kitchen
44-45 Baker St, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 4JN.
01273 708089; bonsaiplantkitchen.co.uk

What’s in Benjamin Arthur’s glass?

I live just around the corner from 10 Green Bottles wine bar, which is great, but also quite unhealthy. They do an amazing wine called Integrale (INT3GRAL3 on the label) a rose pét-nat from Veneto in Italy that is incredible. It’s a really good price point. Really clean and fresh. If I’m cooking dinner and I can’t really think about what to pair, I’ll just get a bottle of that and it works with everything.

On our list at Embers, we have a wine called Cantina di Negra Corvina from Verona that basically goes with most of our dishes. It’s the only wine on the list that we’ve never changed. We found out quite early on that really big, bold wines don’t pair that well with the food here because they just tend to be competing. A slightly paired back, easier going wine list with good Italian reds and that kind of thing works a lot better; you’re not pitching big bold flavours against one another, so a Corvina sums up that mentality. It works particularly well with a steak with our fresh, herbaceous chimichurri sauce.

Benjamin Arthur is the General Manager of Embers

The Details
Embers, 42 Meeting House Lane, Brighton, BN1 1HB. 01273 869222; embersbrighton.co.uk

Brighton’s Best Dish #1

English Wagu steak with peppercorn sauce at The Crazy Goose

The Crazy Goose is the latest addition to Raz Helalat’s Black Rock Group that also includes Burnt Orange, The Coal Shed, Tutto and The Salt Room. It occupies the site of the original Coal Shed, tucked away in a quiet back street between the Lanes and West Street. It’s Black Rock’s first pub and the first project under the group’s new executive chef Kim Woodward who previously worked for Gordon Ramsay for 10 years and was the first female head chef of The Savoy Grill.

Set over two floors with a ground floor bar and first floor dining room, The Crazy Goose is somewhere between a gastropub and a Parisian bistro and has been kitted out with all the style and care you would expect from a Black Rock venue. Brighton’s Best Restaurant’s co-director Sue Woodward was one of the first customers through the door and singled out English Wagu steak with peppercorn sauce (£28) as the highlight of her meal.

‘This is proper comfort food territory with the addition of the luxurious elements you expect from a Raz Helalat restaurant. The wagu steak was cooked beautifully pink and had a deep, rich flavour, enhanced by the peppercorn sauce served on the side. I ended up dipping the steak into the sauce so I could taste it with and without. I chose two sides to accompany the steak; grilled brassicas, punchy with the addition of plenty of garlic confit, and some creamy mash given a serious upgrade by the addition of a rich bone marrow jus and a piece of bone marrow on top. I scooped out the marrow and devoured it. I could have eaten thing myself but reluctantly shared it. A glass of Cote du Rhone had a robust enough finish to match the rich flavours and textures of the meal.’

The Details
The Crazy Goose
8 Boyce’s Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1AN
01273 929079; thecrazygoose.co.uk

Brighton’s Best Cocktail Recipe #1

Green Chilli Pickle Bloody Mary by The Chilli Pickle

Ingredients
Vodka 50ml
Passata 50ml
Tomato juice 50ml
Green Chilli Pickle Juice 25ml (see recipe below)
Lemon juice 10ml
Worcestershire sauce dash
Black pepper pinch

Method
Stir over ice and garnish with a chilli, lemon slice, stick of celery and Tajin rim. Tajin is a Mexican spice mix. You can substitute a mix of equal amounts of celery salt and Kashmiri chilli.

To make the green chilli pickle juice:

Ingredients
Mustard oil 50ml
Veg oil 50ml
Fenugreek seed 12g
Mustard seed black 12g
Chopped garlic 50g
Chopped ginger 50g
Asafoitida 25g
Indian Green Chilli 200g
White wine vinegar 1 litre

Method
Heat mustard oil until smoking, then cool to remove the oil’s astringent taste. Reheat with the veg oil and add fenugreek and mustard seeds until golden and the mustard pops. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until golden. Add asafoitida, cook for 1 minute. Add green chilli cook until softens. Add vinegar and salt. Bring to boil, stir simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Strain all juice pressing with the back of a spoon. Place in a glass. When the mixture has settled, remove the oil from top.

The Details
The Chilli Pickle
6-8 Meeting House Lane, Brighton, BN1 1HB.
01273 442893; thechillipickle.com
The restaurant has recently launched a new menu that includes new and classic dishes, as well as an £18 set curry lunch.

Diego Ricaurte’s Storecupboard Standby: Cumin

Cumin in one of my favourite spices. It can be very powerful; it’s a pungent spice and some people don’t like it, but you just need to use the right amount. You can use it in in different ways - dry roasted, fried, powdered, roasted and crushed - and create different flavour profiles. It can bring flavour to a lot of things. For example, at Palmito, we roast quite a few vegetables on the open fire grill. We don’t try to do too much to them, just par-boil them and chuck them on the grill. But I always find that, if you add cumin in some form - to whatever the garnish is, or just on top of them, mixed with other spices - it really enhances the wood smoke flavour.

One of the nicest things is when we do grilled beetroots. We get some cold pressed rapeseed oil, some dry roasted cumin and a little bit of whatever chilli powder we’re working with like Aleppo or a South American chilli like rocoto, and we toss the beetroots in the oil. It brings a certain warmth, and it’s a really nice contrast to the roasted vegetable flavour. It’s one of my favourite things to eat.

Diego Ricaurte is chef/director of Palmito restaurant

The Details
Palmito
16 Western Road,Hove BN3 1AE.
01273 777588; palmito.co.uk

Out of Town: Bristol

Chez Candice, Boiling Wells Farm by Meg Houghton-Gilmour

Chez Candice is a truly Bristol bonkersness of a spot; a converted horse-box on a farm that serves one of the best lunches in Bristol, generally in the form of delicious-things-on-bread. It doesn’t get more field to fork than this, and there’s no better place to witness the first tendrils of spring on a sunny day. If spring is not yet in the air, take refuge in the on-site yurt, built by Candice’s parents. If you’re lucky enough to visit on a day when there’s tart on the menu, order it.

The Details
Chez Candice
Watercress Farm, Boiling Wells, Bristol, BS2 9XY
Instagram: chez_candice

Meg Houghton-Gilmour is the founder and editor of The Bristol Sauce, a publication and collective of writers dedicated to making Bristol’s food scene the best it can be through honest, transparent and paid-for writing.

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