It's fresh! It's local! It's...bloaty.
Last evening I was invited by friends to Graze, in Hove. They'd been there in the summer for the tasting menu (with wines) shortly after I'd been blessed by my visit to Bacchus in London. I knew that it wasn't going to be quite up to that standard, but it looked very delicious and By Jove! I like a good feed.
It was fortunate that we were able to make our final decision about whether to have the full nine courses after the seventh, because I fear I'd have got greedy, ordered the whole lot and regretted it.
Our first course was a delicate and very pleasant parsnip velouté with home home made bread, which was tasty but a tiny bit doughy. Then came what amounted to a very pretty poached egg, bacon and black pudding salad. It was lovely, and would have suited me fine as a starter for lunch. Fourth course was smoked salmon (local??) on a home-made crumpet with horseradish creme fraiche. Hokey-dokey. Next came cheese on toast. Or, rather, walnut and English blue cheese (I forget which one, but I supose it must have been local) on toasted walnut bread. Then, the main course. Sirloin and chips. A lump of sirloin the size of a large thumbnail laid over 4 chips with a dollop of very ordinary Bearnaise. Finally, desert, which was a piece of chocolate cake (we all agreed that it was more chocolate sandwich) with chocolate mousse on the side. And a smear of something brown on the plate. I checked for a thumb print in it, but concluded that it was deliberate. I was relieved not to have to face cheese and petit fours as the optional extra.
So, really, it was all quite pleasant, if deperately staid. All the ingredients were delicious, but good food, simply cooked only cuts so much cloth. There was so much flour based (bread or cake) food that I didn't even nibble and the cheese on toast. I was scuppered.
It think I'd enjoy going there for an ordinary meal. It's not terribly expensive and Sunday lunch in particular looks very good. It's just a shame that they tempted me into thinking they were up to showy-offy tasting menus. They're not. If I found food of that quality in a pub I'd have been impressed, but not overly surprised.
Ahh. That's only six. I seem to have forgotten an entire plate of food.