new insight - eating out , restaurants & pubs in brighton

EATING OUT

Havan' it all

Havana
by Sarah Hendrickx

Feeling flush? Get some plush: our own divine miss Hendrickx fantasizes a parfait lifestyle

Oh, I just love it in here! This is truly a beautiful restaurant. When I hit the big time, I shall decorate my home like this: all cream with dark wood and big revolving propeller-like fans. I shall spend my days sitting under a huge yucca sipping vodka martinis and eating ice cream. In the meantime, I shall come here and pretend. It is so stylish, cool and spotlessly clean, and the loo is fab with its shiny chrome fittings and comfy seats.

Ant and I came for lunch accompanied by Jago (aged three). We ate from the restaurant menu, which has nothing specifically for children so he shared our food and scoffed all of the bread. This is certainly not the place for riotous children, and under fives are not admitted in the evenings when the atmosphere is distinctly up-market. I had Corn-Fed Chicken, Spring Onion Potato Cake with a Shallot Dressing (£7.25) and Ant had Roasted Cod on a warm Potato and Panchetta Salad (£10.50). Both were incredibly good and beautifully served on big white plates. The dressing on my chicken was a wonderful reduced stock gravy and the cod was meaty and substantial. The accompanying bread was of a fairly mediocre roll variety and, as such, a little disappointing in the presence of such divine food.

The dessert menu is droolworthy and not to be missed. I had Iced Caramel and Praline Parfait with Warm Chocolate Brownies (£4.95), Ant (I'm not a pudding person) went for Crème Brulée Infused with Orange (£3.95) and Jago had a pile of Vanilla, Blackcurrant and Raspberry Sorbet. Must have been home-made; it was sharp and velvety smooth.

The restaurant lunch menu is extensive with 14 main course choices of equal interest. Some of these feature in the evening menu along with other offerings such as Marinated Monkfish with a Fennel Vinaigrette and Breast of Gressingham Duck with a Peach Infused Sauce.

This is not cheap and speedy food, and perhaps due to this Havana is not always busy during the day. To remedy this, they have recently introduced breakfasts from 9am and a café lunch menu featuring salads, fishcakes and melts for £4-£6. It is still interesting stuff, a long way from the baguette and burger brigade and a fine place to taste some decent grub in the middle of a hard day, a lazy day, or just any old day.

In the evening the café area turns into a cocktail lounge and knocks out some serious concoctions both alcoholic and not, including the vodka martini required for my fantasy lifestyle.

Ben, the owner, is justifiably proud of Havana and believes it to be one of the best restaurants in Brighton. I would not argue with him on that one. It is well run with good staff, an excellent menu and impressive surroundings. For me, it felt a little intimidating, as it looks so plush, you can't help thinking that it will cost you an arm and a leg. A three-course evening meal here will set you back around £25 per person plus drinks; not the cheapest place in town, but certainly not a rip-off. Havana deserves success in Brighton but then perhaps Brighton doesn't deserve Havana.

HAVANA
32 Duke Street
Brighton
Tel: 01273 773388
9am-11pm 7 days

Disco Biscuit

Disco Biscuit
by Sarah Hendrickx

There's a florist's next to Disco Biscuit and outside there's a plant in a basket. Since I have been here deep in this sofa, I have seen two dogs pee on this plant. If I stay here long enough I will see someone buy it and imagine the intriguing perfume that will waft from it in a day or two.

It's pouring with rain and I have a bad head. What I really need is a great big fry-up to balance my yin and yang or something. Apparently, alcohol is very yin, or is it yang? And greasy food is the other one. So, when you have copious amounts of one, you will crave the other to try and restore harmony and balance within your body, or so I've heard.

Anyway, a bucket-sized cup of cappuccino and a squishy sofa are helping. It's very calm and ambient in here; nice music and blueness, which are gentle on the eyes and ears. Lots of cake. Looks home-made. Lots of breakfasts, even boiled egg and soldiers. I am confused by too much choice on the menu and ask the woman behind the counter what she would have. She suggests the Chicken, Peppers and Red Onion, Pan-fried in Lime and Paprika served with my choice from a wide range of breads. I go for that, as I have no brain today.

It arrives: it's big, hot and nicely oily. My yang is on the up. Loads of chicken, delicious bread, all on a bed of salad. It takes me ages to eat it but that's OK as I'm happy here watching the wet people go by. I can't eat lettuce with a knife and fork: it keeps falling off, so I have to leave some. That's what being working class does for you.

Disco Biscuit has a licence to serve alcohol with food and a real mixed menu of salads, burgers, sarnies and pasta as well as the fry-ups. They're open till late so you can hang out and scoff to your hearts desire, but if I were you, I wouldn't buy a ground level plant from the shop next door.

DISCO BISCUIT
North Street
Brighton
Tel: 01273 721221
Mon - Sat 8am- 11pm, Sun 10am - 6pm

Global canteen

Global Canteen at the Ocean Rooms
by Sarah Hendrickx

As it followed my worst morning after of the year so far I have a somewhat blurred recollection of my night at The Ocean Rooms. I know that I spent the evening with some very fine people and drank a lot of perfectly pleasant white wine. I also know that I had to drag myself into a taxi before I fell asleep in a corner or tried to pull the bouncer. I did take some notes while I was there but the writing is mostly indecipherable and stained by curry sauce, so no help there. Anyway, here goes:

The Ocean Rooms is quite a small place with a bar upstairs, a dancefloor downstairs and the new Global Canteen in the middle. This is where we eat. It's plain and cool and blue, I think, with a proper bar of its own and a nice chatty atmosphere. Didn't like the staff - far too attractive. They were really jolly and friendly as well. Decent sounds in the background and no noise from the club itself. This is not your run-of the-mill club fare. The Global Canteen seeks to provide a real meal experience and deserves to be digested before you go and fling yourself about .

As the name suggests, the nosh comes from all over. There is curry, chilli, steak, stir-fry and bangers and mash. Prices range from £7 for Mille Fieulle of Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables to £13 for Fillet Steak. There are plenty of vegetarian possibilities and several puds. The food is fairly basic and was tasty and decent. I had Thai Green Curry (£8.95), which was creamy, spicy, full of chicken and served with a pile of rice. This was all washed down with selections from a reasonably priced and equally global wine list.
The Late Menu is served until 1am and features a smaller selection of dishes. The idea of eating a Full English Breakfast washed down with a lump of Chocolate Fudge Cake at that time of night sure sounds good to me!

The major bonus of eating in this gaff is that you get into the club for free after you've finished your meal. Friday night is funky, Saturday more house-y, or so they tell me. I don't know: I'm too old to care, I'll dance badly to anything. This is just the best idea: to go and have a nice meal and chat to your pals and then hit the dancefloor without having to stagger across town running the gauntlet of taxi drivers and those even drunker than yourself. Brilliant! I'll be back, if they let me in.

GLOBAL CANTEEN @ THE OCEAN ROOMS
Morley Street, Brighton
Fri & Sat 8-11.30pm Main menu, Late menu served till 1am.