Dines Out – Andrew Kay: The Jetty

After 30 years of living by the sea it seems hard to believe that only now are there real choices of places to eat that specialise in fish and seafood. It’s not that there was nowhere but those places that did exist were few and far between.

Now we have The Jetty, a new restaurant in the smart new Harbour Hotel on the seafront. I slipped in for a sneaky lunch soon after their excellent launch party and was pretty impressed but after visiting with Mr M and Mr F for dinner I would like to confirm that this place is serving very impressive food.

We started at the bar with a cocktail, excellent drinks made with style, before moving into the spacious dining room where smart staff explained the menus and the dishes, there are lots of options that need a little explanation.

We’re good mates with similar tastes so we decided to share the fruits de mer, a small one, to which we added a couple of extra oysters, well you cannot share an oyster, and a pot of cockle popcorn. It was all good, especially the fat mussels and creamy smoked salmon, I liked the crab mayonnaise but would have liked more brown meat in there to add that musky note, but the other liked it as it was.

Mr M chose plaice with brown shrimps and a side of buttered potatoes and declared it first class. I have to say that the chef certainly gave him a good portion of shrimp atop the plaice and I looked on with envy as these are amongst my favourite things to eat. It was certainly a nice plump fish and cooked perfectly so that the flesh lifted cleanly from the bone.

I looked on with envy as these are amongst my favourite things to eat

Mr F chose the stone bass which looked equally impressive as did the small potato topped seafood pie that sat on the plate. He enjoyed it too but felt that it could have taken a touch more seasoning. Not a huge problem and certainly better than over-seasoned fish which is basically ruined. His side order promised a little chilli heat and again he could have taken a little more – but all in all he enjoyed the dish.

I chose skate, my favourite fish and it came with capers, radicchio and bacon, a perfect seasoning for the huge wing that arrived. It was a more than generous portion and it was perfectly cooked and it came on a bed of buttery tender stem broccoli and French beans. It was so easy to eat, the long threads of sweet flesh lifting cleanly from the cartilage, yes no tiny bones with skate, and it was made easier by the provision of fish knives, yes I am a cutlery geek!

I also ordered a salad of avocado and pine nuts which was superb but not so easy to eat as the large portion came in a deep dish and diving in meant that it fell all over the place. It tasted great but could have looked so much better.

Mr M and Mr F both chose to finish with an espresso martini sabayon. Mr F scoffed the lot but Mr M was beaten. I guessed it would be rich and chose the boozy plums with ginger bread and yogurt sorbet. It was a beautiful autumnal dish with dark fruits and spices lightened by the sorbet and great contrasting textures from soft fruits and cake to shards of caramelised plum. A real pudding delight.

We drank an Argentinian pinot gris which was pretty good but moved on to a great Riesling from Alsace. The Jetty is cooking up a seafood storm and is well worth a visit, I will certainly be back very soon.

Brighton Harbour Hotel, 64 King’s Rd, Brighton, BN1 1NA
01273 916916
www.brighton-harbour-hotel.co.uk