Restaurant Reviews

Too many restaurant critics confine their review to openings. A restaurant then is on its best behaviour and it may take a bit of time to bed in. Also regular diners tend to have their favourites and are not normally so adventurous as to try a new one. Add to this, the PR company of a new [...]

I have often complained that the British gastronomic tradition lacks the concept of the “restaurant du quarter” (neighbourhood restaurant) unlike France. So in this regard I am delighted to recommend Marrocco on the esplanade at Hove. Old man Renato Marrocco came to England in 1962. [...]

Chef Matt Gillan earned his stripes at the Pass, South Lodge Hotel near Horsham and deservedly so. The food on his grazing menu was spectacular, my only criticism that you had to perch on stools. He has now opened the Pike and Pine in Brighton. Curiously by day it is the Redcoaster Cafe. Brighton [...]

Most restaurant reviewers typically review new restaurants but I regard it as my function to keep regular updates on my faves. The reality is that most diners have 2/3 trusted places where they are known, like the cuisine , service and welcome and patronise these regularly. Over the past few days I [...]

I have praised before the neighbourhood local restaurant in France known as Le restaurant du qurartier. These are harder to find here but do exist. I believe I have found one at Bistro Nantais ,an authentic French brasserie in Hove. Cafe Rouge has tried to emulate such an atmosphere and gastronomy [...]

The description of a restaurant as ‘touristy’ is often used by locals to mean expensive or poor food and certainly a place they would not visit. I do not always think this fair nor conversely that local restaurants are always the best either. 3 restaurants I am reviewing today might be [...]