Thai food that was nice--but didn't quite hit the spot

Last night hubs and I decided to try The Green Mango, a Thai restaurant that opened up on Church Road not too long ago. There are lots of great places for Thai in Brighton and Hove, but we are always up for trying new ones and I was charmed by the restaurant's story. One of the owners is from Thailand, and for me that brought the hope of real, authentic, un-Westernized Thai food.

We got there around 7pm and The Green Mango was reasonably full. We didn't have a reservation but were seated at a nice table near the front. While reading through the tasty looking menu we quickly realized there were only two people frantically trying to serve the entire place, and expected service to be slow. The restaurant had about 15 tables or so and we empathized with the servers...why do they never have enough people to wait tables?

When we finally had a chance to order, I asked for the Thai iced coffee and was told they were out. I then said, "What about the Thai iced tea?" to which I got the same response. So I picked the roasted coconut water which sounded intriguing, but was again told that they didn't have it. I love Thai iced tea and coffee for their strong, sweet flavors, and it's not often that you find them in Thai restaurants here in the UK. So I was totally disappointed, more so that 3 of the things on the menu that seemed most authentically Thai were not available! I had to settle for a lemonade. Not the best start.

Hubs and I decided to share two starters--Thai sausages and the salt and pepper squid. We were so excited to see the sausages that we divvied them up before I remembered to take a picture! But they were delicious and my favorite dish of the evening, slightly sweet with strong flavors of lemongrass and chili. You can even see the amazing spices in the terrible Blackberry photo!

The portion was very generous and there was more than enough for two people to share. I think I would have been happy with just an order of the sausages and some sticky rice for dinner!

The salt and pepper squid was accompanied by stir-fried chilies and garlic. Really tasty but sadly the batter wasn't crisp enough and slightly on the greasy side.

For our mains, hubs choose the whole steamed seabass with a tangy chili, garlic and lime sauce, while I went for the moo yang--marinated pork steak with a spicy chili dip. We shared a sticky rice, too...in my view one of the best Thai foods!

The seabass was beautifully presented. The fish itself was cooked well, incredibly moist and flaky. The sauce was as billed--pretty spicy with a strong citrus flavor. Great with the fish and really nice poured over the sticky rice. This was my second favorite dish after the Thai sausages.

My moo yang was tasty but slightly disappointing. While the pork was nicely marinated the meat was a little bit tough, and the spicy chili dip wasn't quite what I expected. It was tamarind based, and seemed to have something like a sweet chili sauce mixed in. More on the sweet side and while the flavor was good, it was different to the fiery, more fish sauce and lime based sauces I've had at other restaurants.

Other than sticky rice, I can't have a Thai meal without ordering som tam, or papaya salad. I love the texture of the papaya and other ingredients, and the sauce epitomizes the salty-sour-spicy-sweet flavor combination. The som tam at The Green Mango looked pretty typical:

But I was so bummed after taking the first bite as it turned out to be a very mild som tam. I know that every som tam recipe is slightly different and it can vary by region, but the overwhelming flavor was the sweet, without the salty and sour to balance it out. It was spicy, but lacked the punch I usually love when I eat som tam, and it failed to satisfy my som tom flavor craving.

The Green Mango had a nice, relaxed neighborhood feel. Many regulars seemed to be pop in for takeaway (you get a 10% discount) which I usually take as a sign that people are happy with the food. And while we arrived at just the wrong time, additional staff arrived around 730pm and service seemed to run more smoothly after that. The bill was £55 including service, and hubs had two beers so pretty good since the seabass was one of the pricier items. But given the som tam was a disappointment, I don't think we'll be heading back as I'll use old standbys (I like Thai Connections on Blanchington Road) when that salty-sour-spicy-sweet craving hits me again.

The wonderfully local Foragers Pub

Friday night, hubs and I decided to try The Foragers, a gastropub hidden away behind a large Tesco on Church Road, Hove. The pub focuses on sustainability, and actually use foraged greens, herbs and spices! Everything is also locally sourced!

When you step in your are greeted by a very friendly pub atmosphere. We didn't have a table booked but were quickly led to the restaurant area towards the back. We immediately felt at home with the casual seating, with some people eating and others just chatting over a pint or two!

The menu was small but nicely formed with about 5 choices for every course. For starters I went with the crispy hen's egg, smoked haddock with potato (there was a fancy name for this but I've forgotten it) and samphire, hubs the cured salmon with horseradish.

Both were delicious and I was especially happy with my egg which was perfectly cooked and still runny on the inside, and the samphire was so tasty. Need more samphire!

Onto mains, which we were really impressed with. I went for the chicken liver ragu with gnocchi and hubs the roast pheasant.

I'm always a little bit wary of gnocchi, because while I love them they can be heavy and filling! But since I love  chicken liver I thought I would give these a try. I was surprised that they came out as giant cubes of gnocchi but there were light as a feather! And the ragout was totally tasty with bits of chicken liver--just the right amount without being too overpowering.

Hubs's pheasant was just as delicious. Perfectly cooked so it was moist and tender, with an amazing sauce. The squash puree was the ideal complement.

I went for dessert since I cannot say no to eton mess. I had the "Foragers mess" which had a variety of berries, Chantilly cream, meringue and fresh mint. A mess-lovers dream and hubs couldn't help sneaking a few bites despite my protests!

Overall, we had a great meal and really enjoyed the relaxed vibe. In fact as we were leaving we noticed a few turntables set up for some spinning...the party was just getting started! The bill came to about £45 with non-alchoholic drinks (hubs still in recovery mode) which is pretty standard for a meal out these days. And while the portions might have been a teeny bit smaller than you see at most gastropubs, it was still more than enough food. Service was excellent--friendly, knowledgeable when we asked questions, and most importantly PERSONALBLE! You don't get that very often! Their commitment to sustainability was an added bonus.

Quickest way to find it is to go through the Tesco parking lot on Church Road. Definitely worth the trip if you are looking for good food, great service, and a relaxing evening.

Food Obsession: The Collective Dairy Passion Fruit Yoghurt

Every once in a while (okay, quite often!), I get obsessed with a particular food or dish. Like roast duck or som tam, See's Candies butterchews or the black daal at Dishoom! It usually means that I will make sure there is a ready supply at home or haunt the place the makes it!

For the last few days my obsession has been the passion fruit yoghurt (yes, they spell it with a 'h') from The Collective Dairy in NZ. They recently launched in the UK and I was lucky to spot it one day in my local corner shop. The reason why it caught my eye is because it looked similar to an amazing yogurt we had while traveling in Australia last year--could it have been the same?

To be fair I AM a yogurt person. I have some almost everyday and I like all types, anything from Activia (rhubarb) to Yeo Valley Organic (greek yogurt with honey) and Rachel's Organic (coconut Greek yogurt)...to one of my absolute favorites, yogurt in France that comes in the little glass jars. There's just something about them! But I have to say that The Collective Dairy yoghurt is SO GOOD that it would turn anyone into a yogurt eater.

The yoghurt comes in a 500g pot and you can see from the pic that the lovely passion fruit runs throughout. Pry open the lid and you are greeted with The Collective Dairy's mantra--"No Bull!"

The yoghurt is a thick, creamy, Greek style yoghurt but doesn't have the sharp sour taste that some yogurts do--it has just the right balance of tanginess. The fruit is like a coulis which runs through the whole pot so you'll have some with every spoonful. No worries about rationing it because you have plenty at the bottom, too. A lot of times with passion fruit flavors they are either artificial or just not strong enough, but this is delicious with an amazing real passion fruit flavor. You can even see the seeds! The yoghurt is sweetened with honey to just the right level, and also contains a probiotic.

For me, The Collective Dairy has succeeded in making a yoghurt that has the right balance of everything--texture, tartness, sweetness, fruitiness. They talk a bit about their ambition to do this on their website. I eat this yoghurt pretty much any time of day: breakfast, snack time and dessert. I can get a new pot in about 5 minutes from my local shop (a privately owned Nisa Local), but they are also available at Sainsbury's, Waitrose and through Ocado. Currently there are four flavors available in the UK: passion fruit, Russian fudge, apple + spice, and luscious lemon. To be honest, I haven't tried the other flavors because I like the passion fruit so much I'm almost scared to try the others! But I'm sure I'll bring myself to try the others soon, and am hoping they eventually out bring some of the other flavors (rhubarb and strawberry, mango, and black plum...mmmmm)!

Please stop me from eating everything single pot in the UK!

*Please note that these opinions are my own and I am not affiliated with The Collective Dairy in any way.

Cay Tre - good food but basic service errors

An old friend was visiting from Zurich last night, so it was a great chance to catch up with her over a meal. She suggested we meet at Cay Tre on Old Street, one of her old favorites. I'd heard lots of great things about Cay Tre (and there's been buzz around their new place in Soho) so I was more than happy to try it!

It was already pretty busy by the time we got there at 7pm, and people were queuing out the door before we even ordered! Luckily we had made a booking so had no issues. Everything on the menu looked great, so for starters we decided to share the salt and pepper tofu and the fresh summer rolls. I was so excited to see my friend and eat that I forgot to take photos! But they were both delicious.  The seasoning on the tofu was just right, crispy on the outside, smooth on the inside...perfectly accompanied by red chilies, onions and spring onions. The fresh summer rolls were pretty standard (fresh herbs, prawns) but the spicy sweet hoisin for dipping was perfect. I would be very happy with just a big plate of summer rolls!

For mains my friend ordered the crispy sea bass with mango and nuoc cham, and I opted for the bun bo hue with prawns. The fish arrived looking lovely:

It was crispy and light and went really well with the nuoc cham, although I would have preferred the nuoc cham to be a little bit stronger.

My bun never arrived....and after about 10 minutes or so I asked one of the staff about my order. I was told not once--but twice--by two different people that it would be "just a second"! After watching bowls and bowls of steaming noodles go past to the tables downstairs it was pretty clear a simple error had occurred...my noodles had gone to someone else but they didn't even realize it! Clearly they were scrambling to make my order and it finally arrived a good 20 minutes after my friend's fish. We decided not to quibble and by then I was just SO ready to eat!

The noodles came with the typical pho sides--beansprouts, chili, herbs and lemon (although I thought it was usually a lime?) but with round bun noodles rather than flat pho noodles.

The broth was flavorful with just the right balance (I hate it when it's too bland) and it had LOADS of very fresh prawns (I counted 9). BUT, I'm convinced that I was just given bun noodles with a pho broth, as it was missing the distinctive lemongrass flavor I was expecting. I was too hungry at that point to complain or have them check (given how frantic the staff were and how quickly the queue was growing) but whether I really had bun bo hue last night will be a mystery!

Despite the delay in our food (and general lack of disorganization--I don't think anyone would have realized I never got my noodles), the tastiness of the dishes and positive reviews from Vietnamese friends are enough for me to go back. Total bill was £40.50 including service which is pretty typical for a meal out in London, and we were more than stuffed by the time we finished.

I think Cay Tre will be one of my go-to restaurants since it's pretty close to where I live and I often have random noodle cravings...and I can deal with so-so service if the food is always that good. Will probably check out their Soho branch the next time I'm in the neighborhood.

An average Sunday in Storrington

We had an errand to run today, so we decided to stop by somewhere close for Sunday roast. My husband did a quick search and based on a few reviews, made a booking at the White Horse Hotel in Storrington for 2pm.

We arrived about 15 minutes early and they showed us a table in a slightly isolated back section of the restaurant with no other people, but then said we could have a table in front if we wouldn't mind waiting for a few minutes. That seemed like the better option so we took a seat on some comfy sofas near the bar and got some drinks. A few minutes later they took our food order. Roast leg of lamb for both of us (although my husband was very disappointed they were out of the roast beef).

By 2:15 I was hungry and wondering what was going on, and they told us they would bring us in as soon as the food was ready. Hmmm......roast on Sunday should be ready to go, no? They finally sat us down at about 2:25 and to be fair the food did come as soon as we sat down, but it was all a little bit strange. Especially once we realized that the front area of the restaurant consisted of only about 7 tables and there were two servers.

The food came and it was your pretty standard Sunday roast lamb (whoops, almost lost the gravy):

And the usual accompanying boiled veg (although the creamed leeks were a nice change):

The lamb was actually very nicely cooked, delicious with the mint sauce (the reason why I eat roast lamb) and  the roasted sweet potatoes were very nice.  But overall nothing spectacular and considering the price (£28 for two mains and two drinks) not really worth the 30 minute drive from Brighton, especially since we have great Sunday lunches near by (The Ginger Pig, The Connaught).  Plus, the service was so slow and while it's nice not to be rushed, we declined dessert because we couldn't be bothered waiting 30 minutes for it to arrive.

Nice place to know if you happen to be in Storrington and you're starving, but I won't be collecting any more meal tickets.

A lovely bistro by the sea

L'Eglise is a French restaurant on Church Road in Hove. It'd been a long time since we'd been there so my husband suggested it as a nice way to start the weekend! How could I refuse?

L'Eglise has very comfortable, relaxed environment and the staff there is always welcoming. We usually see at least one of the owners when we're there, and it's great to see their commitment to the restaurant. The bread on the table was a delicious sourdough (and actually sour enough!) and gave us some extra bread for our starters. I went for the home-smoked mackerel rillette with beetroot compote.

I love mackerel in any form but the mild smokiness of the rillette went well with the earthy beetroot. And as I mentioned before, they used more of the sourdough bread which added a nice mild tang.

My husband went with the pate maison, which was actually more like a terrine.

The pate was quite firm but wonderfully savory, and it went well with the apricot compote.

For our main course we both couldn't resist the braised beef cheek with baby onions (although we were briefly tempted by the cote de beouf for two on the specials menu).

I was happy to see that it came with roasted sweet potatoes rather than the more predictable mash--they worked especially well with the intense flavor of the jus. The beef cheek was wrapped in spring onion and then bacon (anything with bacon is a good thing!) and they really added to the tastiness of the dish. Below you can see the beef cheek hiding inside, which was super tender. Delicious!

We decided to take a deep breath and go for dessert.  My husband had the cheeseboard, where you were given the choice of 4 cheeses from an amazing list of 8 (you can also opt to try all of them)! All were lovely (sorry, I didn't get a good picture) but my favorite was the tete de moine - such a distinct flavor. Already thinking of when I can head to Le Cave au Fromage to see if they have some.....

I went for the healthy option--sorbet. L'Eglise offers a selection of homemade ice creams and sorbets (3 scoops in whatever flavor combination that you'd like), and I decided on the mango and raspberry.

The raspberry was very good but the mango sorbet was the star. So good, it was almost like eating fresh mango, and the texture was surprisingly creamy. I have a feeling I'll be craving it on a hot summer day (if we ever get one again)!

The total bill (which included sparkling water and 3 glasses of wine) came to £85. A bit more than for everyday but perfect for a special occasion, and the delicious food and good service made it well worth the money.

If you want quality food just a short trip away from the potential madness of Brighton, L'Eglise is definitely worth the trip!

No gingerism from this girl!

Last night we had dinner with friends at The Ginger Fox. Having been to The Ginger Pig and The Gingerman, we were excited to try another "Ginger" restaurant. It's a bit in the middle of nowhere but just a few minutes from Hurstpierpoint and about 15 minutes from Brighton.

Alas, I was having such a great time that I completely forgot to take pics of the food.  But we all loved our dishes and I had:


Free range chicken and chorizo terrine with tomato and cucumber salsa and toast - quite a firm terrine but delicious. My only quibble is that the toast was cut into very narrow, long triangles--way too small to really hold up the terrine slices.  It was a balancing act, especially when trying to add some salsa on the top!

Grilled mackerel with a warm Vietnamese noodle salad and gooseberry compote - mackerel was cooked perfectly!  The compote was so good with the gooseberries adding a yummy tang--could have used more of it.  And the Vietnamese salad was nice but I expected stronger flavors of lime and nam pla..

Raspberry and cream cheese tart with elderflower ice cream - the tart was very good but the ice cream was my favorite part. Just a very light elderflower flavor and SO creamy.


As with the other Ginger restaurants, the service was very friendly and efficient, and the whole place had a very relaxed, casual feel.  Would definitely go back!  I guess it's on to The Ginger Dog in Kemptown next....

Speaking of gingers, there's an (unrelated) Ginger that I've yet to try--The Ginger Pig in Marylebone and other locations in London. Meat, meat and meat?  I can't wait to check it out!