Rarely do I write about my dining experiences while I travel because I am not a food blogger. Nor I am I planning on becoming one. However, I do enjoy food and seldom hesitate to treat myself to a nice meal out. When visiting a place, I do try to find one place that comes recommended either from other bloggers or on restaurant review sites. A blogger’s review is how I found, The Set Restaurant in Brighton, UK.
The Location
The Set Restaurant is hard to spot from the street and that is because it is located inside The Artist Residence hotel, which looks like a house. If you are looking for directions in Brighton, just head to the British Airways i360 observation tower and head into the square from there.
Once you arrive at the hotel, The Set Restaurant is on the ground floor of the hotel. The check-in for the hotel and restaurant are the same desk!
The Menu
As the name indicates, the menu is a set menu. There are three set menus to choose from, one of which is a vegetarian option. The menu doesn’t have a large description but I am sure if you asked they would give you more details before you order. The menu does change with the season, though so you might not get the same thing twice! I actually quite like this.
I ordered set three. Before you courses come, they bring you some amuse-bouche or as they call them snacks. At the moment of eating these, I had not decided to write a blog post on the place and did not start taking photos till later! Fortunately, they have an amazing Instagram account with some photos of the food I ate and the cozy interior. The first snack was this cod roe served on a linseed cracker, which was an unexpectedly good!
Served along with the cod roe was a pastry flute filled with cheese and what they called guacamole. It was good, but it wasn’t guacamole for a Texan! The next snack was a chicken nugget serve on cabbage ketchup. Doesn’t sound that appealing, but I really wanted an entire plate of them instead of the rest of the meal! No picture but there is one on their home page.
Next up was the actual courses of the set menu. The first course was a ravioli with goats cheese, tomato consomme, a sun-dried tomato and basil cracker. Another item, I wanted more of!
I had chosen to sit at the bar in front of the kitchen since I was alone. I figured it would give me an opportunity to chat with the chef. The great thing was I was able to watch my food being prepared and cooked right in front of me! I watched as they seared a piece of trout for my next course.
Again, it was described as something a bit out of the ordinary. The trout was paired with a slice of watermelon. Next to it was a slaw with crab. The watermelon was a nice compliment to the trout and the tangy crab slaw.
Next up was the pork belly served with octopus, a pork croquet and fermented peach ketchup. While I was not a fan of the octopus, the pork belly almost melted in my mouth and who knew peach ketchup would be so amazing.
The next course was desert, but of course, they were not going to let me just slide into dessert with all that pork and peach flavor in my mouth! So before that, I was served the palate cleanser of a chocolate lime ice cream stick and, get this, a miso marshmallow! It was so good, they could have forgotten the dessert and I wouldn’t have complained.
But of course, dessert did come and it was just as wonderful as the rest. It was a described as a blueberry and chocolate pie. There was pastry shell and inside was a blueberry chocolate mousse with a side of blueberry ice cream. The best part was the crispy cocoa nib brittle that was placed throughout. And yes, that is some salad on top, actually sorrel.
In addition to all this, I had a great glass of wine. You did have the option of wine pairings for an additional cost, but I am not a big drinker and think I might have been too drunk to enjoy the food and that would have been a shame!
This wasn’t just a meal, it was an experience! Sitting at the kitchen bar allowed me to ask follow up questions, see what else was being prepared and to really savor the food. It was so good, that I would consider going back to Brighton just to eat here again! This is ranks as one of the best meals of my life.
Wondering what else you can do in Brighton besides eating at The Set Restaurant? Read all about what to do in Brighton here.
