Oh Brighton, why didn’t you tell me you had changed so much! I’ve been avoiding this seaside town for the past 6 years or more now, with far too many bad memories from my partying days. Back then Brighton was known to me as the hen, stag and student party central, full of fast food chains and almost nowhere to enjoy a good glass of wine, artisan beer or quality bar snack. The dining and drinking scene back then was huge yes, but quality was a hard thing to find – unless you fancied fish and chips. However that’s all changed and nothing shows that more with Brighton now home to its own awards – Brighton’s Best. A website dedicated to finding, showcasing and ranking the top restaurants in the area – I for one had no idea there was so many. With the list in hand we took ourselves off to Brighton for a foodie extravaganza, starting with Brighton’s Best number 1 ranked restaurant – 64 Degrees.
I must mention, 64 Degrees is absolutely tiny, so booking ahead is essential. You may be lucky as a walk-in, but I highly doubt it – we arrived at the strike of midday and the venue was already half packed. An army of very welcoming staff sat us at the counter area, the best place to be in my opinion, leaving us to spectate over the chefs to watch the magic happen – masterpieces are created right in front of your eyes. We settled in with one of the restaurants daily cocktails and some excellent home-made bread and smokey butter. A great way to a new start in Brighton.
Food wise it’s all rather stunning here. Brighton’s Best have hit the nailed on the head when it comes to ranking. So far from what I’ve experienced in this city 64 Degrees really is Brighton’s Best! First dish to be presented to us was from the specials board, an oh-so succulent prawn served completely raw and sealed only with a covering of citrus, spring onion, apple and coriander. Even better still was the plate of seared scallops, kale and a lemongrass puree. An absolutely stunning plate of food, both in flavour and presentation. The kale was so crunchy it made for a lovely variant against the soft scallops.
Picking a favourite dish here at 64 Degrees Brighton was an incredibly hard task as it was all so good, however two dishes really stood out. Compiling part of my top 10 dishes to finish 2016 on, I’ve got a good feeling that this glazed parsnip with honey and Parmesan will be making an entry. The parsnips had been drowned in butter and cooked on high heat in the pan, resulting in a dish which was sweet, incredibly calorific, incredibly cheesy and absolutely delicious. Another stunner still was the Townings skirt beef with potato and tarragon. No words will begin to describe how good it was, so I’m hoping this photo will do all the talking for me – but I’ll help by mentioning that the meat was like butter in the mouth.
One thing you’ll get to notice is that 64 Degrees is like a mini little extended arm of France, because they love to abuse as much butter as they can – a restaurant after my own heart. The penultimate dish to our meal was another butter fulled creation of tagliatelle, egg yolk and winter truffle. An opulent and very decadent plate of food. The pasta was the cooked the perfect side of al dente, the yolk was served soft and also hard – grated over the dish, along with more truffle than my eyes had ever seen. A bargain at only £11.50. A small pre-dessert sorbet helped clean our palate before delving into any sweet treats.
We greedily had plans for an afternoon tea shortly after so were very well-behaved an instead decided to share 64 Degrees famous giant rum jelly bear. Vibrant, sweet and very alcoholic. 64 Degrees is without a doubt Brighton’s best restaurant, and I can confidently say that without even trying many other places. It’s small, the service is excellent, the staff all look like they’ve just left London Fashion Week catwalk and the food is exciting. I know where I’ll be coming back on my next visit to Brighton.
8.5/10
