Long weekend in Hove

We’re staying with M&G in Hove for the Bank Holiday weekend. After an excellent meal cooked by M on the Friday, we go to Pike and Pine in St James St on the Saturday. This used to just be a coffee place, but it has gone upmarket into a modern English restaurant. It’s still fairly relaxed and casual with a big counter for several diners – though we have a table.

Our table isn’t ready when we arrive, so we sit outside for a bit with a bottle of “Duke of Marlborough” NZ Sauvignon Blanc at £34. At the table G also tries a glass of Toh! from Italy, which we follow up with a bottle (£36), then a bottle of Soli, a Bulgarian Pinot Noir (£34). There were cheaper options, SA False Bay chenin for example, but it was good to branch out for a change.

 From the “small plates for sharing” section we chose the duck leg with peanut butter, citrus cured halibut fishcake, and two crab mayonnaise.  An interesting combination of flavours.
 The menu is rather limited, with just five “larger plates” options. However, we did manage to select four different dishes: lamb shank with an intriguing walnut pesto; chicken breast with truffled leeks; poached trout, unusually paired with ox tongue; pork belly with roasted peppers. Supported by confit potato with caramel onions and gruyere, and buttered peas with spring onions. Top marks all round.
 
 G decided he’d have the rice pudding with tonka bean (nope, me neither), so to keep him company I went for the popcorn cheesecake – remarkable.


 With some coffee and water, this came to a very reasonable £240 for the four of us, despite the pricier wines. Then they added only 10% service, a pleasing change from the norm. Service had been helpful and friendly, and the place had a lively buzz – a good choice.
 Sunday lunchtime is lovely and sunny, so M&G direct us to a backstreet seafood restaurant where we can sit outside. In fact, The Urchin is a “shellfish and craft beer” pub, so G was in his element with a huge range to choose from – this time he had the Beavertown Neck Oil, while the rest of us went with the French Viognier at £20.


 The regular menu here is very short indeed: cockles and oysters, 4 starters and 3 mains.  But the highlight is a very innovative sounding range of specials on the blackboard.  My first choice starter from the specials was already “off” even though we were eating early, so I had a spicy beetroot spring roll instead, which was surprisingly good. Other choices were scallops with chive, ceviche and potted crab (off the regular menu).


 Although these were all fine, the highlight was the mains – and how they were presented. All came in big round metal pots with lids that opened up to be used to put discarded shells.  B and I had similar dishes – Malaysian prawns from the regular menu, and Goan prawns from the specials.  Both dishes were 6 large prawns in a rich spicy sauce over pulses – green or red lentils – and very messy!  M’s feijoada, also included 6 prawns with the beans and rice, while G had Thai mussels.  It was intriguing to note the different attitudes to peeling the prawns: M peeled all six at once, while I peeled and ate. Something about being prepared to accept deferred gratification for a cleaner result against my urge to be greedy!


 The dishes were all very filling, so we almost didn’t need the chips, and certainly didn’t need the two dishes of leaves. No room to test out desserts.


 It’s only a small place, so the outside area filled up quite quickly, and it’s informal so you order at the bar. The staff were efficient and friendly though, and teased us about completing the meal without getting messy splashes on our clothes!


 With three bottles of wine and some water, the bill came to £170 without service – excellent value.  Well worth seeking out, away from the main drag.

JANUARY ROUND-UP

It was B’s birthday and we finally get around to going to see the Late Turner exhibition at the Tate. So for lunch we decided to try the Rex Whistler restaurant there.  Understated it isn’t.  The semi-underground room  is covered with murals – expedition in pursuit of rare meats – making it very dark and forbidding. The place is pretty much full, with the obvious demographic – we’re probably the youngest there.  

Our table is down at the back squeezed in near the server’s area, but it is at least near one of the small windows so we do get some natural light. The “award-winning”  wine list is extensive but naturally not cheap – we settle for the Klein Konstantia SB at £30. Not  “quick wine”  though, despite being near to the servers.

The set menu is £25 for two courses, £30 for three – plus a weird £1 per table suggested donation to the Tate!  To start I have the Dorset crab with brioche crumb – two small dollops of encrusted crabmeat. The sweet brioche works well with the crab, of which there is plenty, though the fragments of shell I could have done without.  B has the crispy duck egg with ham hock and green beans. The egg was cooked just right- slightly runny – and the ham hock a good salty accompaniment. 

For mains course I have the chicken breast with mushrooms - here’s not a great choice. That’s fine its way, just a little dry and with not a lot of flavour. B has the sea bass, again with green beans, which is a rather small fillet and again not with a great deal of flavour.  I’m tempted into the dessert by the coffee and hazelnut trifle, which comes with a huge layer of whipped cream and very stodgy coffee sponge – I don’t get close to finishing it.

Overall, at £133, not a great success, apart from marvelling at the décor.

 The following week, we’re off to Ronnie Scott’s, and decide to go try a place on Shaftesbury Avenue called The Noodle House beforehand. There’s an offer on to include a glass of Prosecco – fine if you like warm wine.  But the place is buzzy and interesting and the wine (a Tempranillo) reasonable at £19.  We start with some chilli ginger edamame beans, then have crispy calamari – very nicely done, melt in the mouth and light batter – and duck dumplings full of meat.  For main course we had black pepper beef with peppers and butter prawns (spicy) with jasmine rice ( no noodles despite the name). All very tasty and pretty good for £60.

G&S are down for a few days, performing at the Jermyn St theatre and then going to conferences etc. So after the show on the Sunday we aim for Cinnamon Soho – only to find it shut.  So we wander the nearby streets and happen upon a tapas place called Pix Bar (for pinxtos) in Ganton Street. Apparently there are branches in Bateman St, Covent Garden, Islington and Notting Hill too.  It’s just a small bar really, with the pinxtos dishes on the bar in true Basque style.  £1.95 for the ones with short sticks in, £2.95 for larger ones with long sticks.  The small ones a basically slices of bread with toppings; the larger ones more interesting, some kept warm in a cabinet, chorizo, ham.  Between us we manage 11 small ones and 14 larger ones! With a couple of bottles of Rioja at £21 and a whisky that comes to £126.  The service has been very friendly and the little place is quite full, including a couple of tables of Spanish people happily chatting to each other.  A find.

The next day (Monday) we’ve signed up for the 4 of us to go for a 10-plate dinner at Crazy Bear in Whitfield St, “Fitzrovia” (is that really a place?) at a special offer price of £29.95 (normally £39.95).  Crazy is the word for it!  The ground floor is not too extreme I guess, but downstairs is a louche bar, all dark and seductive. The loos are weird – you arrive at what seems to be a brick wall and wander up and down looking for door or sign. Eventually someone comes to help you and presses a magic brick and, “open sesame”, a door appears.  Inside the loo, it’s all black and sparkles. I give up trying to find the urinals (which I guess must be somewhere in the darkness) and use a cubicle which is at least visible. Washing your hands is an experience too  - as hands from the ladies suddenly appear the other side. Very odd!

This ten-plate dinner turns out be roughly three courses.  There’s a sushi course – salmon and tuna – then a dim sum course (har gau and pork dumplings), with some edamame beans appearing on the, and then for mains duck, seabass, beef curry, pak choi and rice.  It’s all very good indeed.

Wine is not cheap £27 for a Spanish white and £29 for a Malbec, but at £233 for 4 people overall it felt like good value.

Staying down in Hove with M&G, we go out for dinner at a lovely little fish restaurant – The Little Fish Market.  It is little – perhaps ten tables – and when we arrive there is one couple already there.  The waiter is absolutely charming and friendly and chats away with us throughout  - no sales pitch just a straightforward discussion.

The main topic of that conversation was why they moved from an a la carte menu to a five course set menu for £50 a head. Basically it came down to the fact that with just one chef and one front of house it was hard to sustain a full a la carte.

So we settle down to the meal - trout terrine with crispy quail’s egg to begin – excellent, full of flavour; butternut squash ravioli – not quite my thing; for the central course there is a choice: I have the beef short rib with cabbage - B has the lemon sole; this is followed by sea bass fillet with crab mousse; and then mango and chocolate with coconut.

For taste none of these courses could be faulted. But you would have thought that perhaps the central course might have been a bit more substantial – as it was it seemed like 5 amuse bouches. A quick kebab on the way home seemed an attractive prospect!

M&G generously treated us, so I don’t recall the wines we had or the total bill.  So would I recommend it?  If you’re not that hungry and want some great flavours, then yes; if you’re starving, try the local curry house.

The following day after a bracing walk along the seafront into Brighton, we head to M&G’s favourite lunch spot – Plateau, by the Town Hall. Another small, intimate and friendly place, this also has a limited menu. The eponymous platters – meat, fish or veggie – and a few specials on the board.  B and M share the meat platter – a fine selection of cold charcuterie, more than they could cope with; G has the special option of two small plates – a boudin noir and ox cheeks; I go for the bavette steak with fries and chimchurri – a seriously hot sauce.

With a couple bottles of wine this comes to just £140 for the 4 of us. Friendly service too. Go!

G&S are down again and have a late train back to the North on a Sunday.  So what better than a dim sum in Chinatown? Lots of options, but we settle on Harbour City, a slightly smarter than average place. It’s pretty busy so we get sent upstairs – this is busy too, so they give us a table for 8 by the window.  We order wine and tea, then settle down to examining the dim sum menu. We end up with Vietnamese spring rolls (good), paper wrapped prawn (excellent), prawn dumplings (two types, both OK), beef dumplings (so-so), prawn dumpling in spicy soup (certainly spicy), grilled dumplings (fine) followed by a half crispy duck and pancakes.  At £124 for 4 (only B and I were drinking) that was a pretty good deal.