THE PLACE
When we announced that we were heading to Plateau to do a food review our designer Matt, who knows about fine food (“What do you mean you’ve never eaten partridge?!” he once exclaimed), coolly declared it “the best restaurant in Brighton”. It’s not the first time we’ve heard such praise, but we held back from getting our Secret Eater disguises on as when we reviewed their sister café Mange Tout they were a bit cross because we only said they make “one of the best fry ups in Brighton”. The setting is certainly up to scratch – a modern, chic bare-brick-and-metal industrial vibe – but can the food live up to the hype?
THE MEAL
There’s a small menu that you can see online but the most important stuff changes every day and is written up on the blackboards. We choose a little from each, starting with the butternut squash risotto (£6) which is exquisitely creamy thanks to the ricotta. We’ve never made anything a fraction as nice with butternut squash. That’s joined by the spicy tuna loin (£7), which comes on a bed of pickled vegetables that could have so easily overpowered the soft, barely cooked tuna. The wasabi mayo completes the sushi feel beautifully. Onto the main course and the grilled bavette steak is astounding – full of flavour, peppery and smoky, but nowhere near as chewy as you’d expect from meat on the flank. It was clearly cooked with a deft touch, as were the soft chips. A bargain at £12. We add a sizable mixed leaf and Pecorino salad (£3.50) to the smoked partridge breast and confit leg (£7) to turn it into a filling main. Gamey with crispy skin, again there isn’t a flavour out of place.
THE VERDICT
We hope this doesn’t make them cross again but we think Plateau is one of the best restaurants in Brighton. The food was exceptional, and pretty reasonably priced. We’ll be back to try their sharing plateaus, starting with the hot meat one.
WERE WE SUSSED?
We imagine there’s loads of food blogs uploading photos of Plateau’s stunningly presented food. No one mentioned anything.
