Food editor Gilly Smith really does have the best job in town…
The story of provenance from the South Downs and the English Channel is usually more than enough for me, but pair it with a chef who has the eye of an artist and a deep love of food, preferably inspired by cooking as a toddler at his grandmother’s side, and I’m a very happy diner indeed.
Tom Stephens at dilsk, Brighton’s new pearl in the fine dining scene at Drake’s on Kemptown’s seafront, is exactly that chef. Fresh from 64 Degrees where he worked as head chef for four years with Great British Menu winner, Michael Bremner, he and Maddy Riches from Bremner’s other restaurant, Murmur, have combined their cheffy super talent and front of house warmth to bring us a new fine dining experience that’s all about ethical sourcing. And yes, Tom even learned to cook at his grandmother’s side…
Its two menus, the shorter five courses at £55 per head and the full nine courses at £95, with options for wine pairing with both, showcase Tom and Maddy’s vision: oyster with trout roe, laminated brioche with wild garlic, south coast cod with violet artichoke, monk’s beard and smoked mussel – just some of the super-seasonal delights which may or may not be on offer when you’re reading this. Perched just above Brighton Beach House, Soho House’s shiny but ethically rather shabby seaside cousin, it’ll scoop up the diners looking for the real Sussex larder.
This is all about local, ethical, sustainable food, but it brings together Tom’s command of Bremner’s modernist chef toys, his classical training under Tom Kerridge, Marcus Eaves at Pied a Terre and Simon Rogan at Fera at Claridges to paint the most beautiful pictures on his plates.
Brighton (and particularly, Hove) needs more fabulous kitchens that care about taste, but also those that remind us that its signature passion used to be about welfare and planet too. Those who like to be seen in the many glittery restaurants here may want to ask the waiters where the fish, meat and dairy comes from before parading their factory farmed produce on Insta. dilsk wears its heart on its sleeve; the sustainable cotton uniforms for kitchen and servers are deliberate reminders that where you get your stuff from matters. That’s what great food is really about.
Dilsk @ Drake’s Hotel
44 Marine Parade, Kemptown BN2 1PE
01273 696934
info@dilsk.co.uk
Harting is a sublime hour’s drive through the kind of countryside you have to pinch yourself to remember is England in spring. It’s a glorious appetiser for dinner at THE GRAZING ROOMS AT SKY PARK FARM, one of the increasing number of countryside food finds as farmers look for new ways to make a buck. You’ll pardon the pun; this is ancient land where the red deer of Harting have strutted in private parkland for hundreds of years, symbols of power and status.
Since food has become a destination in the last decade or so, more and more people with a bit of spare cash are spotting the opportunity to open these spaces up and using their imaginations to create rather wonderful experiences of life on a working farm. Sky Park now has a Farm Shop with ‘experiential shopping’ including a milk vending machine, day ager, smoker and an internal bee hive.
But it’s Gordon Ramsay and Clare Smyth protégée, Sean Williams who is the new star of the show here, serving up the best local produce with superstar-in-waiting panache. He still helps Ramsay out as his private chef but he’s a man of the woods, and we can get very excited indeed about his plans for outdoor cooking as the weather warms. And yes, there’s a lot of venison on the menu.
There’s also plans for cooking demos with all sorts of exciting folk committed, as the new owners and Sean are, to preserving the farm’s rare parkland landscape and their values of hyperlocal resilient food culture. Foraging courses and ranger-led trails are just some of the exciting plans for the summer. Bring your kids!
Sky Park is open for breakfast and lunch from Wednesday – Sunday each week,
Sky Park Farm
West Harting, Petersfield, GU31 5PT
The Whistler 