Ockenden Manor, West Sussex #MichelinStar

Some pictures of a recent lunch the Michelin starred Ockenden Manor – we had a lovely table with a delightful view over the West Sussex countryside but sadly much of the food did not live up to the quality we have come to expect from “Michelin starred dining”.

Home Smoked Mackerel – beetroots, apple, horseradish cream, oyster beignet

Newhaven Landed Cod – petit pois à la Française, Jersey Royals, broccoli

Homemade Trenchmore Farm Beef Faggots – cauliflower cheese purée, roasted carrots, savoy cabbage

Sussex Cheddar Rarebit – toasted brioche, Waldorf salad

Raspberry Soufflé – peach sauce, raspberry macaroon, white chocolate ice cream

Date of lunch: 30/08/16

Tweet

Follow @HungryHoss

Follow @OckendenManor

Chilli Pickle, Brighton

If you ask any Manchester based food blogger for the best Indian restaurant on the famous Curry Mile and they’ll most likely reply, “Mughli”. This wasn’t always the case.

In recent years, Mughli has been handed down from father to sons and with their modern ‘British Indian’ approach, “foodie” focus and canny business brains, the Arshad lads have left the local competition in their wake.

Brighton’s Chilli Pickle reminded me of Mughli.

Owned by English couple, Dawn and Alun Sperring (a chef who spent many years working overseas), the vibe is a world away from the hackneyed Indian restaurants, with their identikit stuck in the 70’s menus, which remain all too common.

It’s great to see that (albeit very slowly) more and more Indian restaurant owners are starting to realise that times and attitudes have changed since the 70’s. Thanks to ‘gap years’ and alike, many customers are now well travelled. Many will have grown up with Asian friends and may have sampled their home cooking. As a result, I believe expectations in terms of quality and willingness to try something a little different from the ‘norm’ are higher.

The team of specialist chefs that Alun has working alongside him reflect their regional backgrounds and specialities. The menu is refreshingly short and simple - there are a few familiar sounding dishes such as ‘Moti Mohal Butter Chicken’ but how many Indian restaurants that you know serve ‘Oxtail Madras’ ‘Chennai Skate Wings’ of the great sounding veggie dish ‘Tamil Kidney Bean & Veg Kuzhumbu’?

What Michelin say: The holder of a Michelin Bib Gourmand, ‘Simple restaurant with a relaxed, buzzy vibe and friendly, welcoming service. The passionate chef uses good quality ingredients to create oft-changing menus of thoughtfully prepared, authentic Indian dishes with delicate spicing. Beside the terrace they also have a cart selling street food style snacks.’

Lazily, I’m not going to write at length about each dish. All dishes were presented beautifully with quality ingredients used throughout. As a general note I’d say the spice levels were fairly low, even on the ‘3 chilli’ rated Oxtail Madras.

The fact that the Oxtail Madras didn't deliver the expected kick really didn't matter, it was still a fabulous dish with layers of flavour and stunning slow cooked meat. The ‘Vegetable & Banana Avial’ and ‘Gobi Manchurian’ were our other favourites. Our only quibbles were with the pappy texture of the dosa and the dry paratha.

Gol Gappa – fill your own crispy puri shells with chickpea salad, tamarind pepper water, red pepper & herb apple chutneys.

Chennai Skate Fry – local skate coated in ginger, chilli & rice flour fried & served with orange & grapefruit cachumber and coconut mango chutney.

Pork & Jimbu Momos – steamed Nepalese dumplings with minced pork, jimbu mountain herb, ginger, green chilli served with red chilli sambhal & sweet apple pickle.

Gobi Manchurian – fried cauliflower florets in a ginger, chilli and rice flour batter with sweet & sour sauce & served with plum & ginger chutney.

Moti Mohal Butter Chicken – tomato, butter dried fenugreek, red chilli with riatta & garlic butter naan.

Seabass & King Prawn Macher Johl – Bengali fish curry with fresh seabass fillet, king prawns, mustard oil, panch phoran spice, potato, aubergine & fresh tomatoes with steamed rice.

Oxtail Madras – Sussex oxtail pieces slowly simmered in a medium spiced gravy with roasted garam masala, coconut & date molasses. Served with cumin pilau rice & riatta.

Mysore Masala Dosa – crisp south Indian rice pancake filled with spiced potato, curry leaf & ginger served with sambar & kuzhumbu curries & red coconut sambhal.

A few of the sides: Kasuni Mustard / Tawa Paratha / Kenya Mix / Vegetable & Banana Avial – a fan of fruity dishes, my wife had the Vegetable & Banana Avial as her main; I had a taste and loved it too.

With my stepdaughters having moved to Brighton, we are sure to visit Chilli Pickle again. Especially as it is connected to MyHotel where we stayed and will most likely stay again. Hopefully, like Mughli and Chilli Pickle more and more Indian restaurants will start to realise that times and attitudes have changed and their menus will reflect this.

Tweet 

Follow @HungryHoss

The Pass at South Lodge Hotel – Horsham, West Sussex #MichelinStar

Of The Pass, Michelin say, ‘A unique hotel restaurant where every table is the chef's table! High level chairs and banquettes are arranged around a glass-walled kitchen, and TVs screening live kitchen action are mounted on the walls. Expect beautifully presented, intricate modern dishes in balanced, well-thought-out combinations.’

The Pass at South Lodge Hotel does exactly what it says on the tin… (to a degree.) Diners take up their seats within eyeshot of Chef Matt Gillan and his team as they calmly go about preparing dishes from your chosen tasting menu of 4 (lunchtime only), 6, 8 or 10 (dinner) courses.

Generally I love the theatre of open kitchens; meals at Bubbledog’s Kitchen Table, Momofuku Ko, Dos Palillos, Waku Ghin and Simon Rogan’s Aulis Research & Development Kitchen rank amongst my all time top dining experiences. The ‘experience’ at The Pass sadly did not live up to expectations in this respect.

Before you think this is heading down the negative diatribe route, let me first state that the food was exceptional – perhaps some of the best I have eaten in a one star establishment. The cooking may have scored an A+, but for me, The Pass ‘concept’ was a fail.

On their website, they big up the diners’ role in the ‘kitchen drama’ stating,  ‘Taking the 'Chef's Table' concept and exquisitely developing it, diners at our 26 cover Michelin starred, 4 AA Rosetted restaurant are closely involved in the kitchen drama!’ When it opened in 2008, The Pass would have been fairly unique but the number of places with open kitchens has since exploded; this may have taken the some of the edge off its selling point.

They had a 'Water Menu' I selected this number from Georgia. 

My wife and I were seated on the table closest to The Pass’ pass. From my vantage point I had a great view of a section of the kitchen that was not in use and, if I leant around my wife, a partial view of some plating up of dishes a few metres away… not exactly “closely involved”.

My poor wife had very little to look at apart from my ugly mug, a wall and a TV screen which showed nothing but a reflection of the overhead light. Neither of us observed anything that could be considered ‘drama’.

Fortunately, the drama played out on the plate and the palate was much more exciting. Each dish (with exception to the last which was much more subtle) delivered a succession of intense flavours. The service too was excellent from the chefs who served the dishes to the FOH staff who looked after drinks and general housekeeping.

Parmesan / tomato / sourdough – this was a contender for my favourite dish; the parmesan and semi dried baby plum tomato elements were certainly not shy flavours. Lovely textures too.

Beef / kohlrabi / horseradish – another delicious dish with two unctuous chunks of beef thin rib, blanketed in a thin layer of kohlrabi with horseradish ice cream and snow with sticky sweet shallots.

Skate / red lentils / trompets – complementing the delightful silky skate, the foremost flavour here was from clusters of acidic grapefruit cells; this sharp tart jolt shot through the spiced lentils, earthy mushrooms and sweet umami kissed roasted shallots.      

Venison / leek / blackberry – the pairing of fruit with game meats is not a new idea but the intensity of the blackberry was uncommonly bold. The blackberry element may have been somewhat strident but the wonderful quality of the venison still spoke up; deep gamey flavours came from a venison stock jelly; a rich reduction; a bonbon of confit haunch and a stunning piece of saddle with the texture of fillet steak.      

Lemon / oats / honeycomb – although simple in appearance this palate cleansing creation is a contender for my dessert of the year. The lemon was superbly sour, just as lemons should be.

Green tea / yoghurt / white chocolate – Chef Matt Gillan’s style seemed to be that each dish had one dominant punchy flavour. As such, I was expecting the green tea to be overpowering but this dish was actually very subtly balanced and refreshing; a lovely way to end the lunch.

For the food and service, I’d definitely return to The Pass but I’d know not to expect too much from “the experience” which purports to be central but has became secondary to the creativity of the kitchen.

Tweet

Follow @HungryHoss