A la Colthard/ Polpo
Polpo is now a chain of restaurants owned by Russell Norman modelled on the Venetian bacero, a back street restaurant serving small plates and young Italian wines. It is not smart but the equivalent of the French restaurant du quarter a kind of Venetian tapas bar. Russell Norman started as a waiter in Joe Allen and rose to operation director at Caprice Holdings which owned the Ivy and the Caprice. It was a big step to leave and start his own restaurant in 2009 and even greater one to take the bacero as his model.
It opened in Brighton last November in New Road, one of the central thorough fares which houses The Theatre Royal, several restaurants and overlooks the gardens of the Royal Pavilion. The Lanes would be too small and those on the front more fish orientated. I had a couple of meetings in the locality o tried it for lunch yesterday and was impressed. Most of the diners sat outside but I took a table inside where only a elderly lady sat. No matter. I had my iPad, and my thoughts of naughtier times with dark haired muscular gondolieri in my misspent past!!!
I ordered my favourite cocktail, Negroni, but not the regular one as I elected for the sbagliato (literally mistaken) with prosecco. It was good but not as good as the traditional one with gin. One of my delights when in Venice is to sit on the Doge’s Bar at the Gritti Palace and savour a Negroni whilst watching the maritime life of the Grand Canal in that unique city and hope I’m not picking up the tab!!!. Russell Norman has done well to recreate the vibe of that city. He has also succeeded in having he same menu in all restaurants. If you have a particular cuisine, you cannot really risk a chef who experiments. Mauro of Olivo stuck to Sardinian cuisine in its restaurants whilst Cote has the identical french brasserie menu in its many branches. It does make the operational side easier.
I ordered starters of and a heritage tomato bruschetta. For some reason the fritto misto arrived first. The batter was gloriously light and the calamari and prawns succulent. So far so good. I enjoyed the freshness of the heritage tomatoes on bruschetta. The pappardelle with rabbit ragu combined a freshly made pasta strips with a hearty meat sauce. The octopus salad was delicious. To finish I chose a refreshing endive and nut salad. I have used the word fresh a lot and rightly so. The waitress that served me was helpful even telling me I had over-ordered and agreeing with me the pace that the dishes arrived, something restaurants rarely do.
It does not offer a set lunch menu and here it may have a problem. Brighton restaurants unlike say Soho do not have a busy lunch trade till the weekend. The restaurant was 10% full. My bill with glass of Vermentino came to £60 a high price for Brighton. Brighton does not always to take to chains as its restaurant and gastro culture is as individual as its civic one. There is no doubt that this is an interesting and different restaurant to the more formulaic Italian but with an owner with an operations background it will need to make a bottom line profit not just serve fresh food.
