Hotel du Vin Bistro, Brighton

I’m pretty sure parenting manuals probably lecture on about the evils of bribing your offspring with treats to ensure they behave; sweets to keep them quiet, dvd’s to keep them still, that sort of thing – totally not to be encouraged.

I, however, am not a child, nor am I a parent. So, when my gorgeous date suggested that we run the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon together she knew it would be necessary to engage in some serious food and hotel related bribery to get me on-side. Having previously stayed a couple of times at the very good Drakes and also enjoyed their restaurant immensely, the bar had been set pretty high.

(The restaurant at Drakes used to be part of the very good Gingerman Restaurants group but doesn’t appear to be anymore – anyone know what happened there?)

The Hotel du Vin, in Ship Street, was our base for the weekend (review here) and the food-based bribery started with a dinner in their eponymous bistro on Friday evening. Friday is normally my Borough Market lunch-binge day, but knowing I was eating out that evening I’d forgone my usual in favour of restraint and my stomach was complaining accordingly on the 50 minute train ride to the south coast.

(I must comment here about my skills as a food reviewer; currently, I’m fairly sure I have none. I hope, one day, to be knowledgeable enough about food and patient enough in my writing to produce reviews as inspiring and interesting as Food Snob or FXCuisine. However, at it stands I would feel slightly like a fraud if I tried to write too much about the preparation of, and ingredients within, the meals I eat. I hope that will change with time. In fact, this is one of my primary reasons for writing this blog; to gain an education in food through advice and interaction with others who know the subject matter in a much greater depth than me. Hopefully as my palate improves so will my depth of knowledge to a point where I’ll have the resources to assess whether a dish is well prepared and executed, or not. However, for the time being, when I write about meals had, descriptions will probably be brief and a little bereft of details, with little ‘critical’ content: I’ll say what I like and disliked, and I’ll probably post more questions than is strictly necessary (feel free to answer). This is not to be taken as a lack of interest, but more as a reflection of my decision to hold back from commenting when I feel I don’t know what I’m on about!)

(so, onward in baby steps…) I’m not sure when the hotel was built/converted, but it’s a vast improvement on the building’s previous incarnations (remember the Berlin Bar anyone?). Modern and comfortable, without being sparse, all rich colours, bare brick walls, subtle lighting and big art made for a relaxed pre-dinner drink from the (to be expected) large wine list. The Bistro itself sits just off the vaulted main bar area and was welcoming nicely ‘faux’ French in decoration (with some naked ladies, in paintings). Tables were quite close together but I liked this on a Friday night when it lent to a bustly bistro feel, somehow adding to the French-ness of the affair.

The menu was fairly standard bistro favourites, split into ‘Simple Classics’ and a regular menu which appeared well adjusted for seasonality (or at least it felt that way given it was cold out and a lot of the dishes looked like warming comfort food). Our meal was unremarkable; my gorgeous date chose a simple dish of moules marinières from the ‘classic’ starters, but had it as a main course. The few mussels I sampled were a little rubbery, but perfectly edible (how dominant should a marinière sauce be in this dish? Do you want the sauce to be rich enough to be a feature in itself – to be sucked up in some nice bread? Or would this over-ride the point of having the mussels in the dish?); either way, I thought the sauce was a little watery.

I had the smoked haddock fishcake as a main course, which I didn’t like too much as it was a little long on potato and salt, but the highlight for me was my starter of Devilled kidneys on brioche. I think I’ve only ever had kidney as part of a pie before, and I’ve certainly never had them ‘Devilled’ (what is ‘devilling’? how is it done? what makes it different to frying or grilling etc?). Slightly pink in the centre and given with a lovely smooth texture not dissimilar to a firm foie gras, these puppies were delicious. The brioche was the perfect accompaniment, bulking out the mouthfuls just enough without taking away from the flavour or texture of the kidneys. I would have happily had this course over again for my main, which kind of extenuated the disappointment that came when the fishcake arrived. With a couple of glasses of wine and, friendly, if busy service, the meal hit the post-work-spot just about; as far as food bribery goes, the kidneys were enough to ensure I stayed for the weekend.

Chance of me returning (independent of a marathon): 55%*
Chance of me recommending: 60%*

*Brighton has a raft of good restaurants so I think I would struggle to justify returning here for food before trying some others first.

Tagged as: Brighton, Restaurants