‘It’s one hell of a dish, hard the plate be licked blank’: TOM PARKER BOWLES evaluations a brand new Brighton eating place

On a bustling Brighton street that turns out completely populated via Turkish barbers and pawn stores, Amari relatively stands proud. And now not only for its bright-red frontage. The room, with its partitions clad in tiles and tastefully framed prints, is small, pared-back and unassuming. The meals, even though, is the rest however.

Amari is the 3rd opening from native (and far acclaimed) restaurateurs Ali and Mo Razavi, and head chef Ian Swainson has some severe Michelin pedigree. But the cooking right here has no interest in foams and tweezer-tweaked travail, relatively an obsession with element that lifts the on a regular basis to the superb. Serrano ham – so steadily a colorless, sullen counterpart to its extra glamorous Ibérico cousin – is of outstanding high quality, cushy and gently piggy. Sliced tissue-paper skinny and anointed with a punchy olive oil, it’s best possible filled into certainly one of their chewy, freshly baked rolls. A nice bocadillo and, with a pitcher of cool Manzanilla sherry, an overly civilised lunch.

But you then’d be lacking intensely wealthy Cantabric anchovies, soaking wet in additional of that golden olive oil. And croquettas, impeccably fried and gently oozing, stuffed with both cep mushrooms or beef. Go for each. Prawns in garlic butter are elegant, miles got rid of from the standard uninteresting, flabby crustacean dirge, the flesh pert and candy, the sauce enriched with a bisque sauce. Torched mackerel – pores and skin crisp, fish gloriously recent – sits on a neat pile of smoked cod’s roe, surrounded via a coolly pellucid dressing of olive juice and sorrel. Tiny chunks of cucumber and lemon peel give texture and acidity, and the dish is brilliant and wonderfully put in combination.

It’s now not simply fish that impresses. Rib of red meat is slow-cooked till remodeled right into a wobbling lozenge of natural bovine bliss. Coated with a sticky purple wine relief, the sauce is stuffed with complete peppercorns that supply tiny explosions of spice, whilst roasted cherry tomatoes upload that all-important acidity. It’s one hell of a dish, hard the plate be licked blank. Even patatas bravas are deep-fried delights, the crisp, crunchy fried potatoes lavished with mayonnaise, chilli sauce and a lusty dusting of paprika. Laid-back, unpretentious and sensibly priced, Amari won’t precisely be hidden – but it surely’s an absolute Iberian gem.

About £35 according to head. Amari, 15 Baker Street, Brighton; @amaribrighton

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