Dines Out: Murmur

There’s no denying that chef Michael Bremner is a star, 64 Degrees is rated 16th in the UK’s top 100 restaurants and he was a winner on BBC’s Great British Menu. So it comes as no surprise that he is branching out. At 64 he was king of the small plate, at Murmur it’s very different, large plates and very delicious large plates they are too.

I was joined for lunch by Mr L and Mr K and we were in the mood for a spot of al fresco delight, but rain stopped play and we dined in the doorway of his stylish new venture. He had already told me that he wanted to do something very different, create somewhere that he would like to go with his kids, that said they are very discerning young ladies.

The menu is pretty small, a welcome sign of fresh dishes to come and there were a couple of very appealing specials, but in the end we went with the list, Mr L & K starting with fresh tagliatelle with 64º egg, parmesan and fresh truffle. It looked, and smelled amazing. I chose the short rib skewers and loved the tender meat, brilliant pickles and tasty mayo. I was glad too that we had some of the amazing bread left for mopping purposes.

Another gem from Mr Bremner & his team

Mr K had the lamb rump with basil, fregola, charred and pickled courgette. He has a healthy appetite, useful when served such a generous plate of food, there’s certainly nothing mimsy about a Murmur portion, and he scoffed the lot loving every mouthfull. Mr L did the same with his cod, mussels and butter beans. I looked on with envy, it really was a fabulous looking dish with perfectly cooked cod, falling into pearlescent flakes.

I chose the ox tongue, a variant of his BBC winning dish, simplified slightly but to no ill effect. The hockey puck sized portion of tongue was incredible, truly divine, the salad of roquette and pickled shallot a perfect refreshing foil and a very neccessary one. I say this because the mash was killer rich, almost bordering on butter thickened with potato – and it was superb, unmissably good. I think butter should be one of your five a day and Mr B seems to think the same.

We should have stopped there but the temptations continued, a chocolate and raspberry pudding with vanilla ice-cream, a perfect lemon tart – incredible pastry, served with yoghurt sorbet, and for me a panacotta with strawberries. The wine line list is short but expertly chosen with some real treats. In fact the whole thing is a treat and I plan to return very soon for breakfast, lunch and dinner too. Another gem from Michael Bremner and his team.

Murmur, 91-96 Kings Road Arches, Brighton, BN1 2LN, 01273 711900