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I’m not in the business of embarrassing chefs but this time I may just raise a blush. I simply can’t understand why Sam Metcalfe has not been plucked and polished for TV stardom. He cooks brilliantly and looks as good as his food. For that matter, so does Mark, head chef at the Sevendials branch of what has to be one of Brighton’s great food and drink successes.

Sam’s Of Brighton took over Paston Place and didn’t look back, so the decision to rebrand the original at Sevendials makes total sense. At the same time, they have given the place a bit of a face-lift, reworking the space rather than the style.

Given the changes, it seemed an appropriate time to stop by Sam’s Of Sevendials and give the menu a bit of a thrashing.

I have been a lover of Sam’s kind of cooking since day one. He has a passion for the robust flavours and traditional dishes that I love. He often re-constructs them and makes them his own, but on the whole his style of food is simple and true to the produce he sources so well.
Over the years, Sam’s has been one the best places to eat both game and fish but they have also dedicated a great deal of time to ensuring their bread and pastry sections match up to the same high standard.

That’s why Mr R and I rapidly cleared a basket of bread – that and the thick slab of good cold butter that came with it – on our visit. We also had a glass of good champagne that knocked all the sharp corners off a very spiky Saturday morning.

Mr R started with linguine with wild mushrooms and truffle oil. I didn’t get a look in but he declared it delicious and polished it off. I had the ham hock terrine with sauce gribiche and a French bean salad. Ham hock is the new black, but if you’re going to have it then you want it as good as this – and with a sauce as excellent as this, too.

Mr R moved on to roast Brookland white chicken with aioli. We eat these birds at home and they’re worth every penny. At Sam’s, the plate was simply piled with great chunks of leg, thigh, and breast, a pile of superb roast potatoes, a dish of heady garlic sauce and some buttered curly kale (more on the kale later). Mr R fell upon it like he had never seen food before and ate every last scrap, which was quite a feat with such a magnificent portion.

The cheeky souls slipped us a sorbet between courses – plum served with a sparkling Canadian ice wine; it was rather nice.

Back to the curly kale: whilst not a veggie I am a vegetable lover and often make my choices based on the accompanying dishes. I can be easily swayed by the promise of braised fennel or chicory and any kind of green will grab my attention. So the daily special of fillet of brill with sauté potatoes and curly kale won my vote. It was delicious too: dark green, bittersweet and basking in a glossy butter dressing. The sauté potatoes were good but nothing compared to the kale. As for the brill, well it lived up to its name, and the sauce of capers, brown shrimps and a little anchovy certainly worked. I loved the lot and ate it with due reverence.

Despite this being a lunch we both felt the need for a pudding. Mr R shocked me by not asking for the sticky toffee and choosing the plum tarte tatin instead. I sneaked a bit and it was excellent – better than apple in my book. The home-made vanilla ice cream was great too. I had the sticky toffee, which was surprisingly light with just the right amount of cinnamon to taste good and not medicinal. Mark and Sam tried to tempt me with a great plate of cheese but I was hot for a pud. Despite this, they sent out a taste of a Canterbury cheese that I had never had before and very nice it was too.

So there are some changes, yes, but there is no change in their commitment to excellent and satisfying food. Sam will be cooking at both venues on a two-week rotation and making monthly menu changes at each. The very popular brunch menu is now available at both restaurants, and at Sevendials there is even a chance to leave your kids – should you have any – with a childminder while you eat (from 10am until noon on Saturdays and Sundays). There is also an excellent children’s menu at lunch and up to 7pm in the evenings.

Sam’s Of Sevendials, 1 Buckingham Place, Brighton, BN1 3TD, 01273 885555; Sam’s Of Brighton, 1 Paston Place, Kemp Town, BN2 1HA, 01273 676222 www.samsofsevendials.co.uk

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 at 10:41 am and is filed under Andrew Kay's food & drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.