Brighton in the summer is a time of plenty for your favourite scavengers. Tourists, blinded by the city’s light, can barely keep a grip on their picnics and barbecues as they stagger to the beach, and we see it as our job to help out. While the cafes spill onto the streets and fairy-lit restaurants stay up late, we provide a round the clock rubbish collection service. You’re most welcome.

But for a discerning bird like Yours Truly, it’s a time to sort the good from the bad, tapping on the windows of our favourite kitchens to check in on where they get their fish, meat and dairy. Regular readers of The Gull About Town will know that if there’s a sniff of a factory about the chicken or a heavy carbon hoofprint attached to the beef, she’ll turn her beak in horror. But her bird’s eye view over the city can reveal enough good news food stories to smooth even the most ruffled of feathers.

Swooping first to Time Out favourite, Halisco your gull spots an interesting exchange over the back fence between owner Ali and his next-door neighbour chef at Kanok Thai. 

One of the bird-loving brothers who have made this little Mexican one of the grooviest eateries in Preston Street, Ali always saves a delicious bite at the end of the evening at both this and his global fusion restaurant, Anakuma opposite. It seems that his Thai neighbours regularly go fishing off Brighton and happily share their freshly caught mackerel, bass and bream with him. The sea bream and grapefruit ceviche is as a fresh as a gull could wish for.

#Bemoregull is a mantra worth squawking when eyeing the menus at Brighton’s more exciting restaurants. Just as we catch local, seasonal fish from plentiful stocks, so do the best chefs in town. The word on the wing that you’re looking for when asking your waiter in better restaurants such as Petit Pois on Ship Street where their fish comes from, is BNFS – Brighton and Newhaven Fish Sales. Only the fisherchefs at Kanok Thai can compete.

You only need to look at the gang of gulls hanging around Barfields butchers on Ditchling Road on a Saturday morning to see where Brighton foodies choose to buy their meat. And it’s a feather in the cap of any good chef in town to get their meat here. A good butcher, as any gull will tell you, is the gatekeeper to quality meat, and if your chef doesn’t know who he is, that’s worth a proper peck. 

Palmito is at the head of the queue in brownie points on this one; hop over to the Climate Café column to find out more on this fine little diner which made it, along with small plates favourite, Med and Hove’s Fourth and Church to The Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants in the UK.