Andrew Kay: Dines Out

The Year of Gastronomy

2015 was the year that saw the city of Brighton and Hove and indeed a large slice of both East and West Sussex gain recognition as a culinary hot spot.
When I moved here 30 years ago the city had a fair number of good family restaurants, places of note that offered great value and quality food – but there were very few places at the top end of the culinary spectrum offering innovative food, high gastronomic standards and a stylish dining experience. My how that has changed.
Where once there was perhaps only One Paston Place, now we have so many excellent places to dine, places that are drawing food lovers from way beyond the city, even from beyond the UK. So where did it all start and where is it going?
For my money, the start came when Terre á Terre opened their doors. Here were two people with both culinary skill and vision. Their chosen field of vegetarian foods may have held back the acclaim that they now have, but once the word was out their restaurant garnered award after award and their critical notices are of the highest standard. What stood out about T à T from the start was innovation. Whilst others were still making nut roasts and pasta bakes Amanda Powley and Philip Taylor were digging deep into an international palette of flavours and textures and setting the bar very high, not only for vegetarian cuisine but for any other restaurant that chose to take notice. And with the accolades mounting up T à T was hard to ignore.

 
My next food champions have to be Pamela and Ben McKellar and their incredible chain of Ginger dining venues. The Ginger Man first opened in Norfolk Square and was from the very first a breath of fresh air in the city, a new option for thos of us who enjoyed fine dining. Ben brought classical culinary skills to work with modern ideas, inventive cooking at its very best. And their small but perfectly formed chain of restaurants and pubs under the careful eye of Pamela continues to impress. But more than this, through their enterprise they gave voice to so many of the talented chefs who are now dazzling the culinary world.
One such chef is Andrew MacKenzie who cooks at Drakes Hotel. A lover of the classics Andrew has certainly made his mark on the city’s food scene. So too has Semone Bonner who now has his own restaurant, The Set at The Artists Residence. Bonner has the classic skills but his food is of a more experimental and innovative nature, exciting combinations of flavours and textures to tantalise the diner.

 
And if it is excitement you seek then look no further than Michael Bremner and his talented team at 64 Degrees. Michael is already a food star in the UK’s foodie firmament and his tiny restaurant has become a place of pilgrimage for food lovers with its offer of seasonal small plate dining. I love the constantly changing menu and the appearances of ingredients that I have never tried alongside some much loved ingredients that had until Michael been neglected.
But it’s not only the European food offer of the region that has raised the profile. So too has the rise of a few Asian food stars. It started with Indian Summer, a smart new take on Indian cuisine that dispensed with the old school flock wallpapered high street tandoori style restaurant. They were soon followed by Alun and Dawn Sperring at The Chilli Pickle, once small and now one of the city’s larger and more successful restaurants serving authentic regional dishes in smart modern surroundings. They too have received lots of recognition including a clutch of national food awards.
So too has Curry Leaf Cafe, a relative newcomer but already gaining that national recognition. Chef Kanthi Thamma delivers spicy delights and street food from across the Indian continent in relaxed surroundings and couples them with good wines and a fine range of craft beers. And that is just the tip of a culinary iceberg that stretched to The Pass near Horsham and The Curlew in Bodiam. We are more than lucky to live here if you love great food.