Restaurant reviews | 64 degrees, Brighton

Restaurant reviews

64 degrees, Brighton

The mark of a ‘good ‘critic, my dad always used to say, is that you agree with them. This certainly applies in the case of the Guardian’s Marina O’Loughlin whose view of what makes a great meal (good simple food, lack of pretention) I totally sign up to.

So when I knew I was going to be in Brighton last week I booked the restaurant she had glowingly recommended, sixtyfourdegrees or 64° as it calls itself.

The only thing her review hadn’t quite prepared me for was that it was so small. A few tables (with one you had to share), the rest at the bar. Although it might seem second best you MUST go for the bar which basically fronts the kitchen so you get a ringside view of the chefs at work and even chat to them.

The menu is based on small plates which may make you sigh but these are such clever delicious dishes of such inventiveness you won’t feel short-changed.

As we were beside the seaside we stuck to fish rather than meat and worked our way through all four options. Fabulously fresh scallops with romesco, tomato and almond was probably the highlight though I also loved a dish of plaice with mussels, spicy celery and capers and a bizarrely good combination of salmon with watermelon and wasabi. Sardines with fennel and lemon sounded slightly more exciting than it was. A touch oily.

We also tried a couple of the veg dishes which if anything I liked even better - a selection of summer veg - some tempura-ed, others pickled and some sweet little steamed peas in the pod with miso and cream cheese - and possibly the best dish of the evening - potato knödel (dumplings) with seared cabbage and smoked butter - or “little pillows of potatoey loveliness*” as the chef aptly described them. I avoided the egg dishes which I suspect would have been slow-cooked

We weren’t going to have pud but the cheese course of Barkham Blue with pickled cherries sounded too good to miss (it was) so we then felt we should try a dessert in the interests of ‘research’. Described as ‘cherry, white chocolate, Bluebird tea, it was a cherry and chocolate roulade (I think) with poached cherries and shards of white chocolate which I’m not normally that keen on but which was unusually delicious. I’m not quite sure where the tea came in (You can see why Marina is the Guardian’s food critic, not me …. )

As usual with small plates the cost mounts up so we ended up spending £50 a head sharing a bottle of dry rosé (made by the students at nearby Plumpton College) and a couple of glasses of sweet wine (a Tokaji) which we didn’t need and which didn’t really go with the dessert but we really didn’t care by that stage.

So, as anticipated, a great evening out. If you’re planning to be in Brighton over the summer, go. And book. You’ll need to.

* the menu changes every week so they won't necessarily be on when you go. Sorry.

64° is at 53, Meeting House Lane, Brighton BN1 1HB. Tel: 01273 770115. You can read Marina's review here.

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