The Greys

The Greys (105 Southover Street, Brighton) has had something of a torrid time over the last two years, with numerous changes of landlord and even more changes of chefs and types of cuisines.

However, Chris and Ben have now taken over the pub and promise that this is for the long term. Chris is now chef in residence, and offers tapas/meze style dishes (at £2.90 each or £9.90 for four) during the week and on Saturday. However, on Sunday there are a selection of roasts on offer.

Eva and I went there last night and sampled eight of the dishes (including meatballs, sliced meats, prawns and potatoes in olive oil) from the menu above. They were all great, good flavour, well presented and sufficiently filling.

However, I would make two modest requests:

1 Please add Padrón peppers and a tortilla to the menu.

2 Bread needs to be served with the sliced meat dishes.

All in all we very much enjoyed the food, and wish Ben and Chris every success in The Greys.

The Big Breakfast At The Walmer Castle

Kudos to chef Shane of The Walmer Castle (95 Queen's Park Road Brighton) for adding to his most excellent menu an all day big breakfast, served only on Saturdays from midday.

The breakfast (pictured above) consists of:

- 2 eggs
- 2 sausages
- 2 bacon
- mushrooms
- tomatoes
- hash browns
- bubble and squeak
- beans
- black pudding (Scottish black pudding, at the insistence of Barry)
- toast

The breakfast is nicely cooked and presented (not swimming in a layer of fat), and tastes great.

My hearty endorsement of the dish, at £12 for two you can't go wrong!

Happy World Egg Day!

Today is World Egg Day.

Rejoice!

The Constant Service - One of The Beacons of Hanover

At the risk of sounding like a scratched record (not that they ever play those in the Constant Service), I would like to once again complement the chef at the Constant Service (96 Islingword Road, Brighton) for offering and cooking another imaginative and tasty range of specials last night.

This time I ate skewered chicken with herbs and garlic, accompanied by a salad, tzatziki and rice. The dish was generous, well flavoured, tender and moist. Cooking as it should be.

Eva had a chicken stew consisting of good sized and generous chunks of chicken, chorizo, potatoes and cheese. Bloody marvelous!

The reason that I yet again mention the food at the Constant Service, aside from the fact that it is very good, is that whilst some pubs in Hanover also produce good quality home cooked food others fall lamentably short.

Naming no names, there are some pubs (and chefs) in the area whose imagination doesn't extend beyond burgers (calling them "gourmet" really doesn't cut the mustard with me) and a Thursday night "curry" (served with a mean portion of rice). You cannot populate your menu mainly with burgers and call yourself a chef.

Those Hanover pubs and their chefs that have fallen behind the curve should look to the Constant Service as a beacon as to how menus should be constructed, food cooked and customers' wishes be taken into account.

To compare and contrast attitudes, last night I asked for rice instead of the flat bread that was on the menu for my dish. This request posed absolutely no problem for either the landlady or the chef, who were perfectly happy to do step up to the plate and cater for my request. In another Hanover pub, some months ago, I asked for mash instead of chips and was told that the portions of mash "had already been allocated" (ie "No"). The lesson is clear, do as the customer asks (if the request is reasonable) and the customer will return, do as you wish (and ignore the customer) and you will end up with no customers.

Pubs and chefs that don't cater to their customers wishes will not survive, as is evident by those pubs in Hanover that are sadly empty.

The Constant Service

Kudos to the chef at the Constant Service (96 Islingword Road, Brighton) for cooking a first class Coq au Vin, amongst other specials, last night.

The dish tasted fantastic, and was enhanced by the fact that fresh thyme from the garden of the Constant Service was used in the recipe. The accompaniments of mash and cabbage were superb.

Two Coq au Vins and a very decent bottle of Blush, all for £30!

How To Befoul Food

Today's Special

Yummy!

Mouse Droppings Found at Jamie Oliver's Butchers

Jamie Oliver’s butcher’s shop, Barbecoa (near St Paul’s Cathedral), had to temporarily close after inspectors from the Food Standards Agency found serious hygiene problems including mouse droppings, mould on carcasses and out-of-date wagyu beef.

Barbecoa closed its doors for 24 hours after public health officers scored it one out of five on 8 January. It reopened after the issue was addressed.

Pasty Aid

When your world crumbles and you are feeling depressed and hungry, turn to a pasty for comfort and nutrition.

Pasty Aid shows how the "humble" pasty is an efficient, transportable, cheap and tasty means of feeding people.

First Class Lamb Curry

My compliments to recently returned chef Greg of the Sir Charles Napier (50 Southover St, Brighton), for bringing the food menu back to life at this excellent local hostelry.

Aside from serving homemeade pizzas during the week, on Fridays and Saturdays there is an a la carte menu offering dishes such as scampi, homemeade meatballs, gammon etc.

The menu changes each week, and last night one of the dishes was a lamb curry.

The curry was first class, tender lamb in a rich spicy curry served with basmati rice and nan bread. I can also commend the boar and beef meatballs.

On Sundays traditional roasts are served.

Triple Cooked Chips

I have to say that I find the current practice by some chefs to offer "triple cooked chips" on their menus to be an unnecessary and pretentious fad.

However, if they insist on doing this they should at least ensure that the chip is placed in the oil/fat only when the oil/fat is hot enough. Failure to so means that the chip absorbs the oil/fat; this in turn leaves an unpleasant fatty taste in the mouth, that lasts until the next day.