Cook it!: The big feature
Brighton & Hove Food & Drink Festival proves that local is best
Well that’s another swathe of fabulous Brighton and Hove Food & Drink Festival successfully completed, despite me being laid low with a bad back. Sadly I was unable to attend many of the wonderful events created by Mr Nick Mosley and the festival team, but those I did manage to make it to were magical.
The final weekend of course saw me on stage at Hove lawns hosting the Live Food Stage with the very best chefs from in and around Brighton and Hove as well as guests from Guernsey and The Hague. Our activity with the International Chef Exchange project has made us many friends and it was a delight to see them back here to participate in our festival. Both Tony Leck and Bas Oonk took the stage and cooked up a storm.
Make Your Case was the usual wild and ribald wine tasting fun, and once again we managed to raise a substantial sum for Rockinghorse who support the Royal Alexander Children’s Hospital.
But my best night out had to be the Three Chefs Go To The Movies dinner, hosted by chef Kanthi Thamma and Euan Sey at the Curry Leaf Cafe. Mr Mosley and I, after a few drinks, thought that it would be fun to ask the chefs to theme their dishes around their favourite films. It proved to be a fun idea that inspired some truly wonderful food.
The first course fell to Semone Bonner, now of The Set. His choice of film was Jaws and his complex dish of pressed skate in a seafood broth with a chicken croquette and seaweeds was delivered to the tables through a mist of fog and to the scary theme from the movie. It was fun and it was delicious too.
The main course fell to Kanthi Thamma of the Curry Leaf Cafe and there was no surprise that his choice was his favourite Bollywood blockbuster. His team leapt from the kitchens and rushed around the tables streaking the diners with vibrant coloured powders in Holi style before delivering equally vibrant thalis. Kanthi’s food is stunning and on each visit I discover new delights and dishes that I have never, in over 40 years of eating Indian food, tasted or even heard of. Later that week I took Bas Oonk to their new venture, a kitchen based in the Temple Bar on Western Road where we enjoyed a great selection of street foods and a few beers too.
As usual I digress, Kanthi’s explosion of colour was followed by a thing of great beauty from chef Jimmy Grey of Jeremy’s at Borde Hill. Jimmy chose The Great Gatsby and in responce created a spectacularly opulent dish that had the room spellbound. A plate that boasted strawberry and Ridgeview sparkling wine jelly, fresh strawberries, dried strawberries, smoked strawberries (yes smoked), herbs, a chocolate truffle roll dusted in strawberry powder and flecked with gold leaf and finally a small jug of strawberry cocktail which on contact with the plate hit secret pearls of dry ice that sent up curls of mist.
If all of that was not enough, local burlesque queen Cherry Shakewell, dressed in 1920s showgirl glamour, complete with white ostrich feather fans, strutted her stuff amongst the diners and capped what was a quite extraordinary evening in the most flamboyant style.
In amongst the fun and glamour we also managed to raise a decent sum of money for the orphanage in India for children with HIV that Khanthi and his team are supporting. Brighton and Hove Food & Drink Festival is and remains the local food festival, is a CIC and has a policy of creating great community, open access events throughout its programming.
The Set, within Artist Residence, 33 Regency square, Brighton. BN1 2GG, Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday – Saturday 12.30 – 15.00, 18.00 – 21.30
Curry Leaf Cafe, 60 Ship Street
Brighton BN1 1AE
United Kingdom
01273 207070
Monday-Saturday: 12-3pm &
6-10:30pm Sunday: 12-3:30pm &
6-10pm
www.thesetrestaurant.com
Borde Hill, Borde Hill Gardens, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1XP, United Kingdom
01444 441102
www.jeremysrestaurant.co.uk
www.brightonfoodfestival.com
