Andrew Kay attends the opening of GB1 at The Grand Hotel Brighton
A Grand night out
Something of a grand old lady, The Grand Hotel (I think I should be mentioning the name De Vere here) has seen something of a renaissance over the last three years. In fact, since Andrew Mosley took over the reins. Under his management things have looked up and the ever popular but tired queen of south coast hotels is now returning to the form of its past glories.
The latest development to take the city by storm is the re-invention of the hotel’s dining offer. Gone is the tired, old school format, although I was a big fan of their excellent Sunday lunch, and in its place is GB1. GB1, under the guidance of executive chef Alan White is something of a revelation, proving that a large hotel can cut it in the increasingly competitive dining market.
With an emphasis on fresh, locally sourced and, where possible, sustainable fish, alongside the presence of a good number of meat and vegetarian choices, GB1 is already gaining some very positive notices.
At a launch event, partly staged to support the splendid Rockinghorse charity, the kitchen and front of house team did an amazingly impressive job. Over glasses of champagne we were treated to oysters, scallop popcorn and black treacle cured salmon, a dish that was truly delicious. Fuelled by a few (five) fat oysters, we were guided to our table for dinner where we joined Nick Mosley, managing director of the Brighton & Hove Food & Drink Festival and his right hand woman, Nathalie Gomez de Vera. Mr R and I had nibbled and sipped for a good half hour so we were rather surprised when our sharing platter of seafood arrived. A mountain of delights that included mussels, cockles, clams, cray fish, prawns, lobster and dressed crab, all served with excellent sourdough bread. There was great white wine to follow our champagne and later a delicious red from California that tasted of strawberries and ice cream, oddly delicious.
After our platter we had four choices. MR R and Mr M chose the piri piri sea bass, a big old beast in a spicy chilli crust that put smiles on both their faces. Ms G de V is a veggie and chose the risotto which she ate as if she had never seen food before as well as ordering seconds then thirds of the excellent bread.
I chose turbot fillets served with a shellfish stew in a morel mushroom sauce with a generous portion of the excellent mushrooms in there too. I love turbot, it’s about as fine a fish as one might ever get to eat, and given that the other choice was Dover sole, another king of the sea, it was not the easiest of choices. I loved it, it ticked all the boxes: delicate flesh packed with flavour and as fresh as fresh can be. And there was plenty of it too, maybe not as hearty a dish as the sea bass but more than enough to satisfy me.
Desserts were served back in the larger function room next door. I made light work of a good lemon posset and went back for a dainty lemon drizzle cake that packed a real citrus punch.
Brighton’s famous hotel has long needed a restaurant that will draw a crowd and this new offering focusing on fresh fish and local produce looks set to finally fit the bill. I very much look forward to returning and giving the full menu a serious workout, maybe at the same time retiring to the lounge to once again enjoy the mellow tones of Mr Matthew vanKan.
GB1 at The Grand Hotel, Kings Road, Brighton,
01273 224300 eat@grandbrighton.co.uk
www.devere-hotels.co.uk
