A Brighton Boy Blogs

As an old ex vegetarian I’m still probably more of an omnivore than any of my friends, and as open to good vegetarian fayre as any other cuisine. Terre a Terre, with its mad menus and gourmet dishes of diverse ingredients lovingly assembled with perfect balances of flavours and textures, is a favourite purveyor. Food for Friends was always reliable if unexciting, producing seventies style veggie bakes and brown rice in a typically home style manner, honest good food. The market changed, the likes of Terre a Terre appeared, and Food for Friends had to change too.

So, cut to the present day. The founder and original owner Simon Hope sold the business in 2004. Everything is about four times the price of the old Food for Friends, and the menu is distinctly more refined and poised, promising much… And sadly failing to deliver.

Our visit was marred by slow, fairly dismissive service from the start, almost as though we were an inconvenience. The food was unexciting, over-ambitious for the abilities of those preparing it, and lacking flavour. Flavours that sounded delicate and refined on the menu were in reality loud, brutish and unbalanced, such as my starter which tasted of nothing other than garlic. Towards the end the staff were eager to hurry us out to make way for the next sitting, despite the delays having been of their making. The final sting was the bill – for six adults and four children the total amounted to just shy of £250. If this had been good food, lovingly and skilfully prepared, and served with a smile by polite, courteous staff, then we wouldn’t have minded. Unfortunately the worst taste of the evening was the one left in the mouth by this monumentally failing, overblown, arrogant restaurant. Bring back the honest, well-cooked food.

My first memories of pub food was chicken-in-a-basket at a pub near Clayton. That was 1976, food-in-a-basket was all the rage, and my dad furiously sent ours back because the chicken drumsticks were not merely raw, but still slightly frozen in the middle. Thankfully things have largely improved since then, but as you’ll see if you’ve read my report on the Brewers Fayre/Neville Crest & Gun Incident, not all pub food is worth eating, or indeed paying for.

I had all but given up on pub food… but I yearned for a decent roast that I didn’t have to cook, and served in a nice garden on a summer’s day where my kids would be welcome and the food would be worth eating and my one pint would be the best I’d had since the previous week, and everything would be suitably idyllic. But alas, this particular holy grail was elusive.

I’d passed by The Cock, and even photographed their slightly comedic sign by the main A26 embraced by the model I was photographing that day; but never given it a second thought. One Sunday, however, Read more…

Some people reading my writings about food might think I’m a bit of a food snob. I can see how that might be misconstrued, so here’s something that might redress the balance. Read more…

15th September 2008: It was a Monday evening in Brighton, it was getting late for dinner, and we fancied sushi. Moshi Moshi would have been our usual destination, but being closed on Mondays we remembered YO! Sushi in Jubilee Street and decided to give it a try. Perhaps a little glimpse at the competition might prove eye-opening.

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… or how a friend’s 21st birthday party was ruined by Brewer’s Fayre and Whitbread plc at the Nevill Crest and Gun in Eridge, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

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