Saturday, May 19, 2012
Brighton troughs
Started off at the Palm Court chipper in the middle of the eastern pier, last visited on or about New Year's Eve (see http://www.brightonpier.co.uk/palm-court-restaurant). Pretty good gear, with the only complaint being that my cod was slightly fishy. We were sufficiently charged up by our lunch that we managed to get a touch of sunburn afterwards while dozing on a sheltered bench and I was reduced to covering my face and hands with the Florentine scarf which I had thought necessary to shelter me from the sea breezes.
Tried the bar at our hotel later, which turned out to have nothing in common with the grandeur of the hotel at large. An entirely banal hotel bar, the sort of place I usually avoided when travelling for work. We paid about double what we would have paid at TB.
The following day in the tea room in the Royal Pavilion, following my own efforts of May 13th, took pear tree water (http://www.peartreewell.co.uk/) with fresh sweet scones, the sort with dried fruit in them (no citrus peel please). Fresh out of the oven they were and good for bought, although not quite as good as my own. Very slightly sticky, and in any case I prefer cheese to fruit: they had the cheese sort, but looking at them, not very clear what sort of cheese had gone into them so passed. In any event, presumably they mix up enough dough for a day or two at a time then bake the scones in small batches. Entirely manageable in a small & not too busy kitchen such as this one was.
Later on, having had a light lunch, went for a rather grander fish supper than that from the 'Palm Court' at a place called Arch 139 (see http://www.arch139.com/, operated by an outfit variously known at Beach Hospitality Ltd and Coastal Hospitality Ltd), an establishment listed for us in a foody bit of the DT. Very good it was too. For me, higher grade fish cakes followed by a grilled lobster with sautéed potatoes (something I have never managed to cook myself in a satisfactory way) and green beans, washed down with a touch of Sancerre. The service was sufficiently sensitive that I was able to vary the cheese, fruit & veg. and biscuits to bread and cheese although I stopped short of trying to get them to give me just one sort of cheese rather than a medley and they could not resist adding some grapes by way way of token fruit & veg.. Bring back the cheese board from which you were able to select what you wanted! That said, the four cheeses they gave me were all pretty good. 8 out of 10 for the beach flavoured DT; quite impressed that a small place like this had one at all.
Came down a notch or two for lunch the day after at the Wetherspoons at Brighton Marina, a new build affair with lots of old style chunky woodwork inside. Some with gothic styling. The usual good value.
Took our pre-supper drink in a very proper public house in Western Road. More or less original layout, plenty of interesting clientele and plenty of real beer, if obscure of brand. Luvvies strutting their stuff for free upstairs. I took my first half pint of beer - said to be rather wind inducing for persons in my condition - since before the deluge. Very nice it was too.
And then for supper to the Regency Restaurant, on the corner of Regency Square, an interesting establishment of café format doing bacon & egg sandwiches in the morning and fish flavoured meals later (http://www.theregencyrestaurant.co.uk/). Whitebait good but I suspect that my dover sole had been cooked from frozen, possibly even reheated in a microwave. Not bad and not dear but not the greatest thing in dover soles and I would probably have done better to stick with cod. But BH was well pleased with her mussels. Tiramisu good. Sancerre two thirds the price of that of the grander establishment of the previous evening.
Closed the session with a couple of toasted tea cakes in a retro tea shop (with a teddy bear theme) in Shoreham. Very good they were too, sufficiently so that I was moved to take a takeaway rock cake away in case I felt hungry later.
Tried the bar at our hotel later, which turned out to have nothing in common with the grandeur of the hotel at large. An entirely banal hotel bar, the sort of place I usually avoided when travelling for work. We paid about double what we would have paid at TB.
The following day in the tea room in the Royal Pavilion, following my own efforts of May 13th, took pear tree water (http://www.peartreewell.co.uk/) with fresh sweet scones, the sort with dried fruit in them (no citrus peel please). Fresh out of the oven they were and good for bought, although not quite as good as my own. Very slightly sticky, and in any case I prefer cheese to fruit: they had the cheese sort, but looking at them, not very clear what sort of cheese had gone into them so passed. In any event, presumably they mix up enough dough for a day or two at a time then bake the scones in small batches. Entirely manageable in a small & not too busy kitchen such as this one was.
Later on, having had a light lunch, went for a rather grander fish supper than that from the 'Palm Court' at a place called Arch 139 (see http://www.arch139.com/, operated by an outfit variously known at Beach Hospitality Ltd and Coastal Hospitality Ltd), an establishment listed for us in a foody bit of the DT. Very good it was too. For me, higher grade fish cakes followed by a grilled lobster with sautéed potatoes (something I have never managed to cook myself in a satisfactory way) and green beans, washed down with a touch of Sancerre. The service was sufficiently sensitive that I was able to vary the cheese, fruit & veg. and biscuits to bread and cheese although I stopped short of trying to get them to give me just one sort of cheese rather than a medley and they could not resist adding some grapes by way way of token fruit & veg.. Bring back the cheese board from which you were able to select what you wanted! That said, the four cheeses they gave me were all pretty good. 8 out of 10 for the beach flavoured DT; quite impressed that a small place like this had one at all.
Came down a notch or two for lunch the day after at the Wetherspoons at Brighton Marina, a new build affair with lots of old style chunky woodwork inside. Some with gothic styling. The usual good value.
Took our pre-supper drink in a very proper public house in Western Road. More or less original layout, plenty of interesting clientele and plenty of real beer, if obscure of brand. Luvvies strutting their stuff for free upstairs. I took my first half pint of beer - said to be rather wind inducing for persons in my condition - since before the deluge. Very nice it was too.
And then for supper to the Regency Restaurant, on the corner of Regency Square, an interesting establishment of café format doing bacon & egg sandwiches in the morning and fish flavoured meals later (http://www.theregencyrestaurant.co.uk/). Whitebait good but I suspect that my dover sole had been cooked from frozen, possibly even reheated in a microwave. Not bad and not dear but not the greatest thing in dover soles and I would probably have done better to stick with cod. But BH was well pleased with her mussels. Tiramisu good. Sancerre two thirds the price of that of the grander establishment of the previous evening.
Closed the session with a couple of toasted tea cakes in a retro tea shop (with a teddy bear theme) in Shoreham. Very good they were too, sufficiently so that I was moved to take a takeaway rock cake away in case I felt hungry later.
# posted by Jim @ 12:47 AM 
