• About The Hedonist
  • Bar Talk-Where we’re drinking
    • The Polo Bar @ The Westbury
    • Pink Chihuahua
    • 69 Colebrooke Row – Review
    • The Bar at the George V Paris – Review
    • Duke’s Bar – Review
    • Bassoon Bar – Review
    • Banca – Review
    • THE EGERTON HOUSE BAR -Review
    • The Lucky Pig – Review
    • Beagle – Review
    • 214 Bermondsey – Review
  • London Restaurant Reviews
    • Caractère – Review Notting Hill
    • Patri – Review
    • Villa di Geggiano – Review
    • African Volcano @  Great Guns Social  
    • Beso – Review
    • Padella – Review
    • 28°-50° London Wine Workshop and Kitchen – Review
    • The Goring – Review
    • Freakscene – Review
    • CUB – Review
    • Tsukiji Sushi – Review
    • COYA Angel Court – Review
    • Nutbourne – Review
    • Galvin Bistrot de Luxe – Review
    • Palatino – Review
    • Lao Café – Review
    • Galvin at The Athenaeum – Review
    • 7 Park Place – Review
    • QP London – Review
    • Cinnamon Bazaar – Review
    • Chinese New Year @ Hakkasan
    • Dinner by Heston Blumenthal – Review
    • The Ritz @ Xmas – Review
    • Coriander – Review
    • El Parador – Review
    • Inamo – Review
    • Ostuni – Review
    • Chai Wu – Review
    • Shotgun BBQ – Review
    • Ormer Mayfair – Review
    • Review-The Angler
    • The Harcourt – Review
    • Pizzicotto – Review
    • The Painted Heron – Review
    • All Star Lanes – Review
    • Kurobuta Harvey Nichols – Review
    • Bangalore Express – Review
    • Zero Degrees – Review
    • Chakra – Review
    • Cottons Caribbean Restaurant and Salon de Rhum – Review
    • Lotus – Review
    • Charlotte’s W5 – Review
    • Massimo – Review
    • Brasserie Les 110 de Taillevent – Review
    • The Dalloway Terrace @ The Bloomsbury hotel – Review
    • Plum + Spilt Milk – Review
    • Bella Cosa – Review
    • Roka Aldwych – Review (with Bookatable)
    • Brasserie Gustave – Review
    • Muga – Review
    • Barrafina – Review
    • Charlotte’s Place – Review
    • The New St Grill – Review
    • The Lockhart – Review
    • Kêu – Review
    • The Richmond – Review
    • Allan Pickett @ Sanderson – Review
    • Scents of Summer Afternoon Tea @ The InterContinental London
    • Tartufi & Friends @ Harrods – Review
    • The Five Fields – Review
    • West Thirty Six – Review
    • Evoluzione @ Hotel Xenia Kensington – Review
    • Rex & Mariano – Review
    • Kitchen Table @ Bubbledogs – Review
    • John Doe – Review
    • Ceru – Review
    • Kouzu – Review
    • Enoteca Rabezzana – Review
    • Old Tom & English – Review
    • The Wallace – Review
    • Zaika – Review
    • Xmas at Boulestin – Review
    • Crocker’s Folly – Review
    • The Cavendish – Review
    • Laurent-Perrier at The New Angel – Review
    • Assado – Review
    • The Life Goddess – Review
    • Bubba Gump Shrimp Co – Review
    • Ember Yard – Review
    • The Palomar – Review
    • Blanchette – Review
    • Cannizaro House – Review
    • 1901 Restaurant at Andaz – Review
    • Notting Hill Kitchen – Review
    • The Guildford Arms – Review
    • Curry for Change @ Cafe Spice Namaste
    • Chotto Matte – Review
    • Lyle’s – Review
    • The Clove Club – Review
    • Quo Vadis – Review
    • Polpetto – Review
    • Osteria dell Angelo – Review
    • Amsterdam-Johannes Restaurant – Review
    • The Worlds End Market – Chelsea
    • Brigade Bar & Bistro- Review
    • La Polenteria – Review
    • Mele e Pere – Review
    • La Mancha – Review
    • The Well – Review
    • Harrods The Salad Kitchen – Review
    • Layla – Review
    • See Sushi – Review
    • Pescatori Mayfair – Review
    • Flesh & Buns – Review
    • Grain Store – Review
    • Acciuga – Review
    • Pizza Pilgrims – Review
    • Les Trois Garcons – Review
    • Little Social – Review
    • Review-Ametsa with Arzak Instruction
    • Review-Balthazar
    • Reviews-Brasserie Zedel
    • Review-Copita
    • Review-Hawksmoor Air St.
    • The Glasshouse – Review
    • Review-Coya
    • 214 Bermondsey – Review
  • Travel
    • Tuscany
      • Tuscany-A Florentine Feast with Anna Bini
      • Tuscany-Olive Oil Pressing in Pistoia-Olio Nuovo
      • Tuscany-Pecorino and Ricotta from the Pistoia Hills
  • Music
    • When A Gig Goes Wrong – Pop Music’s Hall of Shame

The Hedonist

Indian Summer – Review

September 15, 2013 by Adrian Leave a Comment

Indian Summer                                         Brighton

Follow @Hedonisttweets

69 East St, Brighton, BN1 1HQ
www.indian-summer.org.uk/01273 711001
Indian Summer

Indian Summer

Since we extended the range of The Hedonist to cover the south of the UK as well as London, it has been a great opportunity to revisit old haunts as well as pastures new. Brighton is a city I have both lived and worked in and so know it well, but Indian Summer is somewhere that hasn’t been on my radar before, so it was great to be invited to review it.
Indian Summer interior

Indian Summer interior

The restaurant has been a mainstay of the Brighton dining scene for 12 years now. Situated in East St, a favourite location for shopping and dining, that borders the Lanes and snakes down to the sea, the interior is an attractive blend of wood, dark browns, chandeliers and evocative huge black and white photographic portraits.
Indian Summer

Indian Summer

As we checked out the menu La Hedonista was drinking a Kingfisher Beer but I threw caution to the wind and opted for a glass of Sula Indian wine (£5.95 for 250 ml). It was a pretty fierce Sauvignon that did at least stand up to the spice flavours that were to come.
Bhel Puri

Bhel Puri

As a pre-starter snack we opted for the Bhel Puri (£4.95). It is a classic mix of puffed rice, gram flour sticks, potatoes, onions, chickpeas and tomatoes, served with an overlaying of coriander and chilli, date and tamarind chutney and yoghurt. Combined together it’s a refreshing blend of crunch and sweetness, sourness and spice. It has a terrific mouth feel and is a deservedly popular dish.

Indian Summer offers a selection of lunchtime Thalis (£9.95-£12.95) but we opted for the 2 course lunchtime set menu (£14.95).
 Paneer Shashlik

Paneer Shashlik

Our first starter was Paneer Shashlik which featured grilled cubes of paneer, pineapple and beetroot. This was a simple but really effective dish-the beetroot was perfectly grilled and the paneer still moist.
Onion Aubergine Pakoda

Onion Aubergine Pakoda

Onion Aubergine Pakoda was really like a bhaji. It had subtle cumin inflected spicing and came with a crisp batter and yoghourt dipping sauces.
Alleppey Prawn Moilee

Alleppey Prawn Moilee

Alleppey Prawn Moilee, our first main dish, came with a good helping of juicy prawns in a mild-flavoured onion and coconut sauce. The additional beans, courgettes and broccoli were a bit overcooked for my taste but the basmati rice was perfect.
Pao-Bhaji

Pao-Bhaji

The Pao-Bhaji vegetable subz was a rich, buttery and well-spiced vegetable curry topped with coriander and butter.
Mango brûlée with coconut shortbread

Mango brûlée with coconut shortbread

For dessert we shared a Mango brûlée with coconut shortbread. This was a really good creme brûlée with a crispy caramelised top and a ‘yolk’ of mango purée inside.
Dinner at Indian Summer is £22.95 for 2 courses and £27.95 for 3. There is a wider choice of dishes than at lunchtime and on Sunday lunch they do a Tandoori roast; but whatever time of day you choose you are going to find some of the best Indian cooking in Brighton at Indian Summer.

Indian Summer on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

Yum Yum Ninja – Review

September 5, 2013 by Adrian Leave a Comment

Yum Yum Ninja                      Brighton

Follow @Hedonisttweets

15-18 Meeting House Ln  Brighton BN1 1HB
www.yumyumninja.com/01273 326330

‎

Yum Yum Ninja

Yum Yum Ninja

I spent my student years in Brighton. It was the late 70s/early 80s and I was social secretary at Sussex University. My life revolved around playing and promoting music, drinking cocktails  with salacious names, and eating out as often as my student budget would allow. Brighton’s Lanes were a regular haunt for the latter two elements of my out-of-college education and somehow the sound of seagulls became intertwined with my bacchanalian baccalaureate.
Yum Yum Ninja

Yum Yum Ninja

I was a bit nervous on being invited to sample the menu at Yum Yum Ninja and it wasn’t from a Tippi Hedrenesque fear of the local flying rodents. It was the restaurant’s name which was the cause for concern- it seemed a bit gimmicky. However on finding out that the people behind the venue had good  form in Brighton, with the prize-winning Due South and seafood specialists Riddle and Finns already in their stable, my interest was certainly piqued. Finding the place was not easy as it is tucked away in a hidden courtyard, but once located it was clearly an attractive space with seating inside and out.
The menu majors in classics of Asian cuisine with tapas style and larger dishes. There is an emphasis on fresh locally sourced seafood and specific Bincho (barbecued skewers over charcoal) and Dim Sum menus.
Dassai Otter Festival sake

Dassai Otter Festival sake

To celebrate our arrival Fiona from London Unattached and I started on a carafe of chilled Dassai Otter Festival sake (£6.50). It was delicious, well-balanced with a slight citrus note and was the perfect foil for our pre-lunch nibbles from the Ninja Snack Basket (£3).
Pickled cucumber and Freshly made Tapioca and squid ink crackers

Pickled cucumber and
Freshly made Tapioca and squid ink crackers

Pickled cucumber was cool and refreshing with only a mildly pickled taste.
Freshly made Tapioca and squid ink crackers were a revelation, crunchy and unctuous and given body by the umami richness of squid ink.
Kimchi

Kimchi

The Korean staple Kimchi was a chilli fest of spicy crunchy pickled cabbage.

Monkfish cheek skewers (3 FOR £3.75) from the Bincho menu were charcoal hot with the skin suitably charred.
Har Kouw

Har Kouw

It would have been bad manners not to try some Dim Sum and the Har Kouw (3 FOR £3.95), which came with a mirin (sweet sake), soy sauce and  rice vinegar dipping sauce were stuffed with plump prawns and had a suitably glutinous casing. It might be more authentic for the prawns to be minced but these had a good taste.
Tori Kara-age Chicken

Tori Kara-age Chicken

Tori Kara-age Chicken (£7.95) was deep fried and battered and came with a lovely hot scotch bonnet mayonnaise.
Kyoto style aubergine

Kyoto style aubergine

Kyoto style aubergine (£6) came in two ways, deep fried and roasted and really lived up to the cliche of being melt in the mouth.
Tempura of soft shell crab

Tempura of soft shell crab

Tempura of soft shell crab (£11) with a yuzu dressing had a terrific batter that allowed the crab flavour through and was complemented by the sour citrus dressing of the yuzu.
Oysters

Oysters

Oysters (£2 each) with a Wafu (Japanese style dressing with oil and soy sauce) and Ponzu  (Japanese  dressing with citrus and soy sauce) dressing were fresh rock oysters with good flavour and given an oriental twist by the dressing.
Salt and pepper squid

Salt and pepper squid

(£8.95) had a breadcrumb panko batter and came with a great Octo vinaigrette, spiced up with garlic, ginger, chile and soy sauce, courtesy of David Chang’s New York hipster noodle hangout Momofuku.

Taster plate of desserts

Taster plate of desserts

To finish we had a taster plate of their desserts (£9.95 to share). Highlights were the Plum pie which was like a sexed-up pop tart and the lethal Toffee Wontons which probably should be banned for anyone over the age of 40.
When I was invited to review Yum Yum Ninja I wasn’t too excited about going-I had thought it would another identikit pan-Asian joint cashing in on the seaside trade. However the rather serious young men in the kitchen have clearly done their homework-the quality of produce, cooking and the variety in the menu create a pretty compelling offer at the price point that wouldn’t be out of place in Soho let alone Soho-upon-Sea.

The Hedonist was a guest of  Yum Yum Ninja’s

Yum Yum Ninja on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

Tags

Acciuga Belgravia Brighton Bruno Loubet Camden Chelsea Chiswick Cocktails Covent Garden Curry D@D Fitzrovia Gallery Mess gin Hackney Harrison's Harrods Hoxton Indian Islington Italian Japanese Kensington King's Rd London London-Unattached Marylebone Mayfair Namaaste Kitchen Negroni Notting Hill pan-asian Peru Peruvian Pizza Restaurant sake Sam's Shoreditch Sloane Square Soho tapas The Hedonist The Saatchi Gallery Tony Conigliaro

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in