Brighton seafront takeaway wins top food award

A Brighton takeaway has won an award at an event described by TV chef Jamie Oliver as the Oscars of the food world.

The Brighton Smokehouse won Best Takeaway at the BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards.

The awards were broadcast yesterday after the midday news.

The judges praised Jack and Linda Mills, who run the Brighton Smokehouse, for “taking takeaways and street food to a whole new level” and providing value for money.

Ten awards were presented at the NEC in Birmingham in an annual event put together by presenter Sheila Dillon and the team at The Food Programme.

The Brighton Smokehouse is Under the Arches on the Lower Promenade in King’s Road by the Brighton Fishing Museum.

Hot mackerel sandwiches, crab sandwiches and fish soup are among the regular items on the menu.

The fish is smoked with oak and applewood and the couple use no chemicals apart from salt.

The Smokehouse was featured on the Food Programme in 2009.

Mr Mills is a former trawlerman and the programme described the couple’s enthusiasm as infectious.

The Food and Farming Awards audience were told that they source seasonal fish for smoking in their tar-coated smoking house opposite their counter and serve it at an amazingly low price.

Mr Mills said: “My grandparents were fish smokers.”

Mrs Mils said that their secret was to buy fresh from local fishermen and cook it within the hour.

The judges described it as simple and delicious and Sheila Dillon told the couple that they were one of Brighton’s treasures.

But the plaudits came with a word of warning – watch out for hungry seagulls!