Cook It!: Pre-Theatre

If you have to eat out before you go out then choose well

I’m a regular theatre goer, which is hardly surprising for regular readers as I review for Latest 7. I’m a great believer that a night out at theatre does not have to include going out for dinner. Theatre times certainly don’t fit in well with dinner time and it means eating early, or at least it does in Brighton and Hove as very few places will still be taking orders after the final curtain has come down.
There are however times when I simply do not have time to get home and eat before the theatre, and on those occasions I have a few favourite places to grab a tasty and inexpensive supper. Two in particular.
You can often find me in Carluccio’s on a Monday or Tuesday evening. I can easily be lured off piste by the a la carte menu but more often than not I stick with the fixed price menu.
I know, I hardly look like a fixed price menu sort of a guy but the Carluccio offer is very good value and rather tasty too.
This week I was off to see a rather good, as it turned out, Agatha Christie at the Theatre Royal. I’m often joined on these occasions by Ms CtM, a good friend, theatre fan and foodie. She too thought that the set menu at a very modest £10.99 for two courses was a good idea, coupled of course with a glass of Sicilian white at £3.25.
Ms CtM started with the chicken liver parfait, which is my usual choice. It’s always tasty, always plentiful and unlike so many restaurants, comes with enough toasted bread to make sense of the amount of paté. She declared it very good.

I decided to have the soup for a change, a very nice courgette based vegetable soup with croutons and heavy cream in the middle. It was delicious and more than generous. I thought it might be too much but persevered and managed to finish it off.
Ms CtM moved on to the ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta, served in the traditional way with butter and sage. It arrived beautifully presented and she loved it so much that next time I plan to try it myself.
True to habit I chose the Milanese di Pollo a flattened chicken breast, breadcrumbed and fried, with rocket and baby gem lettuce, yes carb free (well almost). I often have this, well always I guess, because I really like it and it’s nice and light before sitting in a theatre for a few hours. We didn’t do puds as we didn’t need them and we left happily satisfied and not feeling cheated. Great service too by the way, Carluccio’s show how good a chain can be.
Carluccio’s, Jubilee Street, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1GE 01273 690493 www.carluccios.com
My other current favourite is The Chilli Pickle and they too offer a great value pre-theatre menu at £13.50 is extraordinary. It comes in the form of a thali and you get to choose the main element from a selection on the main menu. I did this recently with an old friend, and it was superb. I love the whole thali thing and the fact that every main element is accompanied by the appropriate side dishes.

Living alone as I do I seldom order an Indian take-away as to get the real experience of lots of dishes, you need to order too much. That was until The Chilli Pickle launched the Chilli Pickle Canteen, a take-away service that will deliver me a complete dinner, beautifully boxed and piping hot with everything I might need included.
I digress, I was talking about their pre-theatre menu which is exceptional and offers great value for such terrific food.
I did return to The Chilli Pickle a week later for dinner on a Saturday night. Mr L and I took a punt on them being able to give us a table at their busiest time. Luckily enough they were able to fit us in – just – and we had one of the best meals I have had in quite some time, truly spectacular and, for the first time, I managed to go the full three courses finishing with an epic rice pudding with roasted figs and tutti fruitti ice-cream. Okay, I confess that I chose the pud purely on the basis of that ice-cream and I was not disappointed.
The Chilli Pickle,17 Jubilee Street, Brighton, BN1 1GE 01273 900 383 www.thechillipickle.com
Eating in hurry is not so bad, if you choose well and it is certainly worth looking out for those special offers and fixed price menus. If you want to spend more and take longer then forget doing it on the same night as a trip to the theatre or to a concert.