You'd think that vegetarians would burst into flames on passing the doors of MEATLiquor wouldn't you? Home of those messy, naughty burgers that everyone loves diving into, surrounded by graffiti, neon, chain mail booths and nightclub lighting. There's the name too. But here we are, behind the beast it's a pretty inclusive place.


I still can't get over how much I like it here. Anyone that knows me would probably laugh at this - you wouldn't think it would be my thing, but then my collection of heavy metal normally raises a few eyebrows too!

Although I like the standard burgers, being the carnivore I am, today was all about the vegetarian specials and the "dry" cocktails.


Starting with the "Poppaz", which were cheese and jalapeño croquettes, crumbed and deep fried. Eaten molten hot, there's not really too much to complain about. The ranch dressing served with them helped cool down the spice.


I can't imagine salad is the first thing on any one's mind here but after trying it, I would definitely order the Blue Corn Tortilla Salad again. Probably one of the genuine healthier options, this included a decent portion toward your five a day in the beetroot, corn, cucumber, tomato and lettuce. There was a sprinkling of feta and serious crunch from the crushed blue corn tortilla chips and sunflower seeds. It's a really generous size too - at £6.75 a bargain for lunch.


On the other end of the health scale were the Black Bean Chilli Fries. Beautifully thin fries topped with a well seasoned black bean chilli, jalapeño, finely diced white onion and mustard. (These are vegan without the cheese option by the way.)

Although I really like the chicken Monkey Fingers on the menu, the paneer version made a really nice alternative, the firm texture holding up well. Still slathered in that finger licking hot sauce and served with a blue cheese dip.


As there was so much food to get through, the cheddar and Hobo Beer dip for the tortillas had congealed a bit as it cooled. That savoury beery taste was there though and eaten hot this would not have been an issue.


Drinks were lush and even without the recommended booze addition for each, were really interesting. I hate fizzy soda (cola is the DEVIL), so if I'm not drinking booze I tend to struggle with drinks. Hopefully they'll keep these on past January. Root 69 with it's vibrant colour from the beetroot was fresh and zingy with soda and lemon juice and the Carrot Top with turmeric I could have been drinking in some clean eating cafe for twice the price.


Although people should be well and truly off the January wagon by now (MEATliquor even did a ‘Falling Off the MEATwagon’ package deal to celebrate), don't rule this place out if you are going easy on meat or if you are vegetarian/vegan. There are of course still the vegetarian and vegan options on the burger menus as well as the Setan Fingers and sides you can bolt on to the specials. Whilst I would still opt for a Dead Hippie or buffalo wings on future visits (because, you know...MEAT) I would absolutely consider the meat free options again after trying them out.


(Excuse the odd colour on the photography, the interior is bathed in a red light district ambiance.)

MEATLiquor Brighton
22-23 York Place
Brighton BN1 4GU

I dined as a guest of MeatLiquor. Words and thoughts, as always, my own. 

Is there anything better than a fried potato?*

It's a fact that Brighton is 65% Perspex now. Most of the openings of late have been the chain restaurants, descending on us like a swarm of money hungry locusts from the Capital. Some have been more welcome than others, but there is no denying that our high street seems to be changing quite dramatically.

Wading through the burgers and faux street food press releases, I was reasonably pleased to see that Leon had secured a site at the top of North Street. I have a couple of their recipe books on my shelf and always liked the quirky brand and tone of voice. And I totally agree with their core ethos - why the hell shouldn't fast food be nutritious and fresh?

I'm out and about a lot these days and it is quite hard to stay healthy on the fly. One of my current design clients are nutrition-focussed and you can see from their support forums, people really struggle with grabbing healthy food on the go, particularly for snacking. This is where Leon may be a high street saviour. Their breakfast pots; the black bean & avocado or poached egg pots tick the protein hit box and the porridge pots are a great shout for slow-burn nutrition. Also if you have kids this is a useful pit stop - their chargrilled chicken super pot is an ideal mini lunch for my toddler. Add in some toast and hummus and you practically have a feast for them.

I can't think of a food with a worse reputation than the kebab. In this country we typically think of that grey stack of rotating meat made from... well, best not think about it really.

Thankfully I waited until Cypriot Papa Pitta rolled into town to try my very first one. They want to change the way we think about them and, in their words, "reclaim the kebab from the drunk man".

You'll find Papa Pitta in the charming,  ramshackle Diplock Market on North Road. The smokey bbq smell and sounds will greet you first as you pass the dusty books and warped picture frames on sale at the front of the market. It literally is a hidden gem. And they've certainly made the best of the space with beautiful attention to detail from the framed family photos on each table to the printed food wrap.


The menu is short but heck, you'll want it all. There are three kebabs of offer; chicken, pork or halloumi (vegan option to be added shortly). Meats are marinated for 24 hours, cooked souvlaki style over charcoal and fill the pitta with lots of fresh tomato, onion, cucumber and shredded lettuce for company. Tzatziki and a fierce chilli sauce are also served with it in pretty little glasses.




Although I really enjoyed the kebabs (what's not to like?) I actually think the rest of the menu is worth a serious look. I loved the beetroot salad with crumbled feta, crushed walnuts and mint. The village salad is fresh and varied. Dips and baked marinated feta are made even more delicious with the flatbreads that have been given a gorgeous smoked flavour and crunch from the chargrill.

The chubby coarse traditional sheftalias sausages are packed full of flavour. And great with your kebab if nothing else are the moreish twice fried badada potatoes.


Papa Pitta makes you feel like you are on holiday despite being slap bang in the middle of Brighton. It's sunny happy food served with a warm welcome. The food is ideal for sharing and with prices just a mere £2-4 for each side, you may as well cancel your afternoon, grab your family or friends, order absolutely everything and soak up the chilled vibes.

They are also very family friendly with toys and crayons as well as mini kebab pittas. Junior GF would be all over that!

It really is a unique place that (until they find a permanent residence) is there until the end of August from 12 noon til 10pm. Go go go.

It's been so long since I visited La Choza, the people who brought the sort of Mexican food I actually want to eat to Brighton. Formally, the offering was absolutely terrible and you'd only go for a stodgy tex-mex stomach liner prior to your big night out.

But up rocked La Choza in all of its shocking pink glory and we loved it.  The food was fresher, the flavours vibrant and the environment was fun. Service was a bit hit and miss and quite slow though and the last few times I tried to fit in a visit during a work lunch, my food would turn up an indigestion inducing 10 minutes before I had to rush back to my desk.

So yes, its been a while but then this week has seen me visit twice, once at the original restaurant and my first trip to the Hare and Hounds site (don't mention it as the new Shoreditch, don't mention it as the new Shoreditch, don't...)



My standard order was always the burrito with 14-hour pulled pork and hot sauce. A feed and a half. But time to diversify, so I chose the soft corn taco’s with chicken and their homemade chorizo. This was a lighter, fresher choice and I was very pleased with it. There was plenty of crunch from the shredded radish and the chicken was juicy and packed with flavour. The house chorizo was crumbled and spiced beautifully, probably very different in texture to what most would expect from it. I'm also a total chilli head so appreciated all of the fresh slices over it as well as the crunchy side salad.



My friend had the awesome street food salad which is a citrus and heat heavy with plenty of crunch and interest. There are also some pretty good specials to look out for like mackerel, seabass, mutton, goat and even cactus.

We did make an almost embarrassing point of needing our order within the hour and food arrived with a good leisurely half hour to enjoy. The staff were particularly lovely that day actually, engaging and fun.

A few days later I popped over to the Hare and Hounds which houses the La Choza pop up kitchen. This time I went for their burrito bowl which was layered with refried beans, green rice, cheese and sour cream. I topped this with the slow cooked beef.



This time the food turned up almost alarmingly quickly. I think I managed to pay, take a photo of the sign and sat down as the first of the plates turned up. I was less enamoured with the burrito bowl here, just mainly for the fact that the cheese had been melted into a congealed, greasy single layer which acted as a lid to the rest of the ingredients underneath. I imagine Mr. Microwave was at play here. Shame as the rest was good. The meats seem to be what La Choza really pin down well, the beef had a lot of spice, not just from gratuitous heat, but with subtle undertones of mellow spice and herbs.

We also ordered a bowl of nachos which I imagine go down a treat with the drinkers in the pub at munchie o'clock.

I'm glad I remembered how much I like La Choza. Although I may stick to the original venue (but eating in pubs is not really my thing and hell, the restaurant looks like a joyous fluro pinata on overdrive - I love it), the food is sunny, uplifting and invigorating. I sure won't be leaving it so long until my next trip.

http://www.lachoza.co.uk/

Main Restaurant:
36 Gloucester Rd,
Brighton, BN1 4AQ

Hare and Hounds:
London Road

So here I am on the third leg of my food home delivery service and it's a biggie. This time I'm trying out the UK's second best takeaway as voted by hungryhouse's customers from more than 10,000 restaurants. The vote is based on "their consistently positive customer ratings, their ability to deliver food to hungry customers without fail, and their high Food Hygiene Rating scores". All good news to me.

The dining scene in Brighton has changed such a lot in the past few years. Not only have we seen an influx of casual street food and pop up restaurants in pretty much every pub, there has also been a demand for something at the other end of the scale; refined, high-tech food that wouldn't be out of place in a lab rather than the kitchen.

And this is where The Set comes in, the eagerly anticipated restaurant from Dan Kenny and Semone Bonner, the former head chefs of the Gingerman and Ginger Pig. This is their first permanent venture, following a series of pop-up events and Christ, they have thrown everything they have at it. For work ethic, these guys get 10 gold stars. The restaurant sits comfortably at home within the Artist Residence hotel and also offers more casual food in the daytime as well, think seafood burgers with an unexpected twist.

I have to remark that the food offering at The Set is not for everyone. It's contentious, attention grabbing, ticks off every current food preparation trend in the book and will provoke and delight in varying measures. If you want safe meal and a full happy belly, then a plate of bangers and mash it is not. It's the sort of food that causes discussion and makes your palette work hard. The menu is written de rigueur as ingredients rather than dishes, so you also have to be happy with an element of surprise. And I think this is exactly what the chefs want. They want you to talk about their food and dare I say it, want to stir things up for recognition from the offset.


Prices are surprising, in a good way. There is a choice of three set menus of four courses which vary from £27-£35. (Let's face it, you could easily spend that per head in one of the chain restaurants for a full meal if you wanted to torture yourself.) Wine flights to match each course are also available for around £15-25 which is a really good idea and again, the typical price of a bottle of house plonk in other places. This is great news at it makes a restaurant like this inclusive to a wider range of diner, maybe the younger audience which can only be a good thing.

It's too early to really comment on the food in detail, so this is more of an overview than a review as such. New restaurants need some time to really find their feet but on the whole I was impressed with how smoothly things were running even though the paint was still drying here.


Highlights included a dish of baby leeks with an angel-hair pastry filled with cheese and honeyed pecans. There was also a little pile of kale powder which melted on the tongue, much like Coffee Mate. I think a chef once explained it to me as a pine oil preparation but aside from that, I loved the clean, fresh flavours on the plate.


The slither of compressed oxtail was also very good. Crisp on the outside and meltingly soft in the middle. This was the one dish that was designed to be harmonious with each element complementing rather than contrasting; sweet burnt lettuce, three purees, lightly pickled onion and a small piece of toasted brioche.


The amuse actually deserves a mention. I really loved the shredded "chicken nuggets" and could see these on the daytime menu with lashings of the red cabbage ketchup they were served with.


It was a shame that the octopus was lost in the seaweed broth as there was quite a lot going on with other ingredients. Pretty to look at though.


Maybe the dessert of cereal milk, spelt granola and milk ice cream wasn't for me. Even as a student I didn't eat cereal past 8am, and it's not something I want to see in my dinner. Granola is fashionable (and irritatingly, more so in meat dishes) so it's a trend I'm going to have to ride out. I did have writer Patrick McGuigan on my table that polished it off with gusto though. I will say the dehydrated (and boy, do these guys sure love to dehydrate!) milk shards and milk ice cream were a nice textural and temperature contrast.

The other thing I'm not too sure about is this trend for open kitchens. Chefs sure like to be seen and heard these days wielding their craft on the pass and to be fair, I kind of like the theatre. Luckily I just had a trip home but if you are heading out after, then you will smell like you've just done a shift in the kitchen yourself.

Design and interior wise I was a big fan. They have hit upon a really unusual combination that I don't recall seeing anywhere else but it really works. Concrete tile topped tables, industrial lighting, distressed reclaimed doors and corrugated metal panelling. They have teamed this with American diner, bluesy music which relaxes the whole place and the waiting staff are young and bouncingly enthusiastic. Apparently you will be as welcomed here in jeans and t-shirts as you would dressed to the nines and that's what the environment evokes.

And yes...plates. It seems I only ever talk plates but The Set have chosen really well with elegant designs and colours that show off the food. This is, happily, a slate free zone by the look of it.

So there we have it. The Set shows great promise. I'm sure they will be incredibly busy for months to come as people clamber to get a reservation at one of the limited number tables they have. I'd certainly be keen to return to try the more casual day time menu at The Set of Scales when it's fully running, as much as standard burgers bore me I'm sure their version of a dirty diner will be anything but standard.





The Set Restaurant
Artist Residence
33 Regency Square
Brighton BN1 2GG

I was a guest of The Set. Views are my own.

After enduring years of seeing Brighton laden with gaggles of women descending on the city with veils, L-plates, cringe-worthy blow ups and bottles of Lambrini, it’s good to see a new Hen in town. This one however, is a touch more stylish and inviting as the UK’s first ethical chicken shop.

Although I’m personally fatigued by 2014’s food obsession with upmarket fast food, I do appreciate that it has made a wider audience aware of what they are eating and heck, even McDonalds are suffering falling sales now people aren’t Lovin’ It quite so much.

At the time of writing, the exact definition of the chickens at H.en (meaning Happy. Eat Natural), wasn’t exactly black and white, complicated further with the very blurred lines as to what exactly defines “free range” “higher welfare” and “Freedom foods”. The chickens here are currently supplied by a small farm called Brooklands in Surrey that is not certified with any label but their hens are described as free roaming, higher welfare with no horrid additives or Frankenstein feed. I would hope H.en define this asap as it’s their main USP.

But what they do have is a limited menu and I love that. Simplicity and confidence is what I want to see when I order, nothing puts a downer on a meal than having to interrupt conversation for 15 minutes reading a restaurant’s version of War & Peace.

Here at H.en you choose from a quarter or half a grilled or fried chicken, wings or a chicken or vegetarian burger. Add a sauce and a choice of two sides (sweet potato fries, corn on the cob, a selection from their salad bar or grilled halloumi). Done. They also do brunch options, waffles and a chicken broth.



My fried quarter chicken was, for want of a better phrase, finger licking good (apologies Colonel Sanders). The batter was thick and crunchy, seasoned well and lightly herbed. I rarely eat batter on things but this wasn’t greasy and too tempting to miss out on and the chicken inside was succulent.

My salad was health-tastic kale, cucumber and raisin and along with grilled corn on the cob made an ideal, balanced meal. I would have liked a more interesting dressing on the kale other than lemon juice and dried raisins are a pet hate salad garnish, but I appreciate this is my pickiness.



The grilled version (I do appreciate the fact there is a healthier option here) that my dining mate ordered also looked pretty darn good too. Again simply seasoned and treated.

One possible contentious thing about this place is the fries are only available as sweet potato fries. They were thinner and crisper than I imagined they would be, coated in the house salt, but I think that the customer may demand the humble potato back on the menu before long.

Sauces were made in-house and the choice of three gave a good range depending on your taste. Personally, with chicken, the only way to go is spicy so it was The Duke for me, sweetened with dates and heat from ginger.

The drinks menu was good, with well selected bottled brands of soft drinks and beer, homemade lemonade or juices.



I have to mention the interior which is fresh and modern, on the right side of hipster with pegboard walls, industrial lights and planted succulents. HUGE plus point for the little kids table with chalkboard tabletop to keep the littlies quiet for five minutes while you, the parent, shove as much food as you can into your mouth while the kids are occupied (sigh, I know, I know…). The location is spot on and looks great from the outside, finally good to see the space used well after a couple of flops following the closure of the popular Nia Cafe.



Staff are young and friendly and the vibe exactly right for a modern chicken shop.

H.en is just in its first few weeks so obviously there are a few small points to iron out but once running smoothly, I imagine it will be very much welcomed as a casual dining spot with a conscious.

http://henrestaurant.com/
87-88 Trafalgar Street
Brighton
BN1 4ER