Restaurant 2016

[CHAPPERS]

Second instalment of the Chappers’ trilogy of last weekend finds us for Saturday lunch at Fatto A Mano on London Road.

I’ve been heretwo or three of times now and really enjoyed myself and it seems to have got better and better. The pizzas are a very decent standard, cooked in their huge pizza oven that sits at the very front of the place. We had Caprese salad to start with some beautiful tomatoes and a generous ball of soft mozzarella then shared a special pizza topped with asparagus, mushrooms and parma ham. The Affogato (vanilla ice cream with a shot of espresso poured over) for pudding is a new one on me and one I will revisit as it’s BOOM TING! Tip of the hat to the local beers on offer which were a Bison Beer and a 360 degrees IPA which I had.

We ate with my pal and his daughters, who eat for free (small pizza each and ice cream for pudding) with a paying adult. They really have read the market well and it shows as the place is packed more or less all day at the weekend.

Well worth a go especially if you’re looking for somewhere to eat where kids are not only tolerated but actually made part of the experience.

9/10

 

[Pevenseagull]

Which branch?

The original one.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

where are the 'must go' places in Kemp Town? Just moved to the area

 

[CHAPPERS]

where are the 'must go' places in Kemp Town? Just moved to the area

BUSBY & WILDS.

Seriously. SO good. Make sure you book ahead as the secret seems to be out. Proper food.

 

[Guinness Boy]

BUSBY & WILDS.

Seriously. SO good. Make sure you book ahead as the secret seems to be out. Proper food.

Absolutely this. Had a cracking pre-Xmas dinner with the Dads at my son's school there. Bumped in to one on Saturday & was still going on about it.

 

[MattBackHome]

where are the 'must go' places in Kemp Town? Just moved to the area

I really like both Morris & Jaques and Neighbourhood.

Grubbs is obviously brilliant. So is the Ginger Dog.

Egg and Spoon is very good.

I would swerve 24 St George's.

 

[Biscuit Barrel]

Taking the family for lunch at The Rainbow in Cooksbridge at the weekend. I have not been since it has changed hands. Anyone know if it's any good these days?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Spot of lunch today with Mrs W to 'celebrate' our redundancies !

Went to Solera de Tapa in North Laine ( not the singular !!! ).

Great Tapas with a bottle of wine - meatballs were fantastic as was the chicken with orange salad. Six dishes plus a decent bottle of plonk all for 50 earth pounds. 9/10.

As an aside, anyone seen anything of [MENTION=409]Herr Tubthumper[/MENTION] recently ?

 

[Machiavelli]

Spot of lunch today with Mrs W to 'celebrate' our redundancies !

Went to Solera de Tapa in North Laine ( not the singular !!! ).

Great Tapas with a bottle of wine - meatballs were fantastic as was the chicken with orange salad. Six dishes plus a decent bottle of plonk all for 50 earth pounds. 9/10.

As an aside, anyone seen anything of [MENTION=409]Herr Tubthumper[/MENTION] recently ?

No idea, but he might:
-- have decided to go quiet post-Brexit
-- be on holiday

 

[CheeseRolls]

Went to Bincho Yakitori last night with Mrs Rolls. We rocked up 10 minutes after they had opened and ended up with the worst seat in the house. However the food was nothing short of superb and I could rave about meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. We were both knocking back plum wine, but there is a broad sake menu and a small but interesting beer list. Service is a little eratic, the restaurant is small and tucked away on the East side of Preston Street and only opens evenings.

If you are put off by a menu that includes chicken skins or chicken hearts this probably isn't the place for you. If Korean chicken wings excite you (these ones certainly should), or Wagyu Beef, fresh mackerel, Korean cauliflower - this place is recommended.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Back to an old favourite last night - Galileo in Woodland Drive. Service as always was impeccable. The feta on my Greek Salad was a bit too salty but other than that great food and decent plonk. Worth going in the summer months so you can sit outside. 8/10.

 

[whitelion]

Back to an old favourite last night - Galileo in Woodland Drive. Service as always was impeccable. The feta on my Greek Salad was a bit too salty but other than that great food and decent plonk. Worth going in the summer months so you can sit outside. 8/10.

Wasn't that where Gus and Vicente met?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Wasn't that where Gus and Vicente met?

Don't know but they have good taste if they did. Gus lived in Hove didn't he ? If so then it's quite possible.

 

[Machiavelli]

Went to Bincho Yakitori last night with Mrs Rolls. We rocked up 10 minutes after they had opened and ended up with the worst seat in the house. However the food was nothing short of superb and I could rave about meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. We were both knocking back plum wine, but there is a broad sake menu and a small but interesting beer list. Service is a little eratic, the restaurant is small and tucked away on the East side of Preston Street and only opens evenings.

If you are put off by a menu that includes chicken skins or chicken hearts this probably isn't the place for you. If Korean chicken wings excite you (these ones certainly should), or Wagyu Beef, fresh mackerel, Korean cauliflower - this place is recommended.

You're not the only one raving about this place. Must give it a go.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Don't know but they have good taste if they did. Gus lived in Hove didn't he ? If so then it's quite possible.

He lived in Orpington for many years. Unless he had a property in Hove too.

 

[CheeseRolls]

You're not the only one raving about this place. Must give it a go.

Please do - I hope it is part of a general revival for Preston Street. The Royal Sovereign is a decent pub and I like Binari the Korean restaurant, they just need a few more to step up.

 

[CHAPPERS]

The final part of by trilogy of meals out last weekend was at one of the best restaurants in town who have opened a new, larger venue on Third Avenue.

Saturday night was at Planet India.

Planet India is a fully vegetarian Indian restaurant but I feel bad saying that because you REALLY REALLY don’t miss the meat here. The primary venue is based at Richmond Parade but you’ll be lucky to get a table in there on a Satruday unless you have booked a couple of weeks in advance and even on weekdays things can be a struggle. The new venue is an 80 seater affair and, even though they have done very little advertising , it was actually full by 8:30 leading to longer wait times than they would have liked but they have just opened and I don’t think they were expecting people to know about it yet, preferring a soft launch over a few weeks to bed in. Let’s start with drinks, as we had a few promptly delivered through the evening as the kitchen tried to keep up with the hectic pace. There’s only one restaurant, in my opinion, that even gets close to Planet India in terms of beer offerings, and that is Curry Leaf Café, but Planet India kills it. My pal and I stuck to the mighty Einstok White Ale, as it goes brilliantly with curry, but the beer list is long and thorough, mainly consisting of Scottish ales which keeps things really interesting. The house white wine is actually good (I think it’s a pinot grigio), if you’re into that kind of thing in a curry house.

The food was Pani Puri, which are crispy balls which you fill with chick pea and potato then top with a tamarind sauce and other shizz and pop it in yer gob. Marvellous things happen at this point. If you don’t get this then Dhai Bhel Puri is the one, a supremely fresh chickpea and coriander salad with a whack of tamarind that’ll have you scrabbling for more and has caused arguments with the missus in the past over who gets the final morsels. Mains were Masoor Dall, pea and paneer, spinach and paneer and something I can’t remember (blame the beer). All the cooking here is clean using totally fresh ingredients, especially evident in the spinach dish which held on to it’s irony flavour beautifully.

No room left to even look at the dessert list, to be honest I don’t think I even have as we’re normally spent by then.

The service is so so friendly, the guy that runs the place really knows his food and if you’re a first timer will guide you through the menu and is more than happy to tell you when you’ve ordered enough (two starters between four and a curry each is plenty. As I’ve said the service was slow but they have been totally taken by surprise by their popularity, which surprises me as they really are a GEM in the Brighton scene. We spent 140 quid (this included a large tip as we love em) between 4 which I think is great value considering we must have had 8 beers and a bottle of wine with a couple more glasses on top of that.

Go, but book!

9/10 (I’d love to give a ten here but I won’t, I’ll save my 10 for my next visit to Little Fish Market)

 

[MattBackHome]

That Dhai Bhel Puri is probably my favourite single dish in any restaurant in the whole of Brighton.

 

[Springal]

Went to Bincho Yakitori last night with Mrs Rolls. We rocked up 10 minutes after they had opened and ended up with the worst seat in the house. However the food was nothing short of superb and I could rave about meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. We were both knocking back plum wine, but there is a broad sake menu and a small but interesting beer list. Service is a little eratic, the restaurant is small and tucked away on the East side of Preston Street and only opens evenings.

If you are put off by a menu that includes chicken skins or chicken hearts this probably isn't the place for you. If Korean chicken wings excite you (these ones certainly should), or Wagyu Beef, fresh mackerel, Korean cauliflower - this place is recommended.

Sounds good... Don't tend to venture down Preston Street but will check this out.

 

[pishhead]

The final part of by trilogy of meals out last weekend was at one of the best restaurants in town who have opened a new, larger venue on Third Avenue.

Saturday night was at Planet India.

Planet India is a fully vegetarian Indian restaurant but I feel bad saying that because you REALLY REALLY don’t miss the meat here. The primary venue is based at Richmond Parade but you’ll be lucky to get a table in there on a Satruday unless you have booked a couple of weeks in advance and even on weekdays things can be a struggle. The new venue is an 80 seater affair and, even though they have done very little advertising , it was actually full by 8:30 leading to longer wait times than they would have liked but they have just opened and I don’t think they were expecting people to know about it yet, preferring a soft launch over a few weeks to bed in. Let’s start with drinks, as we had a few promptly delivered through the evening as the kitchen tried to keep up with the hectic pace. There’s only one restaurant, in my opinion, that even gets close to Planet India in terms of beer offerings, and that is Curry Leaf Café, but Planet India kills it. My pal and I stuck to the mighty Einstok White Ale, as it goes brilliantly with curry, but the beer list is long and thorough, mainly consisting of Scottish ales which keeps things really interesting. The house white wine is actually good (I think it’s a pinot grigio), if you’re into that kind of thing in a curry house.

The food was Pani Puri, which are crispy balls which you fill with chick pea and potato then top with a tamarind sauce and other shizz and pop it in yer gob. Marvellous things happen at this point. If you don’t get this then Dhai Bhel Puri is the one, a supremely fresh chickpea and coriander salad with a whack of tamarind that’ll have you scrabbling for more and has caused arguments with the missus in the past over who gets the final morsels. Mains were Masoor Dall, pea and paneer, spinach and paneer and something I can’t remember (blame the beer). All the cooking here is clean using totally fresh ingredients, especially evident in the spinach dish which held on to it’s irony flavour beautifully.

No room left to even look at the dessert list, to be honest I don’t think I even have as we’re normally spent by then.

The service is so so friendly, the guy that runs the place really knows his food and if you’re a first timer will guide you through the menu and is more than happy to tell you when you’ve ordered enough (two starters between four and a curry each is plenty. As I’ve said the service was slow but they have been totally taken by surprise by their popularity, which surprises me as they really are a GEM in the Brighton scene. We spent 140 quid (this included a large tip as we love em) between 4 which I think is great value considering we must have had 8 beers and a bottle of wine with a couple more glasses on top of that.

Go, but book!

9/10 (I’d love to give a ten here but I won’t, I’ll save my 10 for my next visit to Little Fish Market)

Do they have the strange pricing still? And do they still let you have half and half?