Embers in Meeting House Lane is one of my favourite Brighton restaurants, writes Nick Mosley. The food is always excellent, the service is slick and personable, the ambiance is laidback and the cocktails are knock-out.
What differentiates it from the competition is that the every dish is cooked over various open wood fires, which not only delivers visual theatre but also a seductive smell and – of course – delicious smokey flavours.
As anyone who barbecues at home knows, getting open fire cooking spot on is easier said than done; there’s a lot that can go wrong and in my experience usually does which is why I tend to turn down those summer party invites.
From a professional side of things, trainee chefs don’t learn the skill at catering college – in fact I dare say most are more used to induction hobs than gas nowadays – so its been down to head chef and Embers co-owner Dave Marrow to train the team with this more intuitive way of cooking. Safe to say its a culinary skill set that the kitchen team have embraced wholeheartedly.
Last weekend, I had an invite to have a sneaky taster of their festive menu that launched on Wednesday 4 December. My colleague and I enjoyed a selection of plates that had made the final Christmas cut so thankfully we arrived hungry. To get the juices flowing, Julia had a warming mulled wine but as one of the draws to Embers is head bartender Lyndon’s creative and perfectly formed cocktails, a boozy twist on an old-fashioned crafted with Sussex’s Goldstone Rum rather than whiskey. I can see why this is the restaurant’s signature – its deep flavour profile sits with the smoke and fire theme. Its a masculine drink, so – ahem – perfect for yours truly.
But on to the food! As I write this, in retrospect, our eyes were bigger than our bellies. The first dish to land was pumpkin panzanella – smoked pumpkin flesh with cranberries and crispy croutons, topped with flame charred winter kale. There were a lot of flavours I like here but what struck me was the clever blending of textures. ‘Texture’ is a key food trend for 2025 so good to see team Embers ahead of that curve.
To follow, two fish dishes. A refreshing sea bream crudo – hearty slithers of fish in an umami dashi based lifted with the bite of orange pieces and pickled red chilli. This was a super dish that equally could work across the year. The undoubted hero of the fish dishes however was the whole butterflied mackerel, chargrilled to give a beautifully crisp skin whilst retaining a soft and moist flesh. Some regard mackerel as too flavoursome and oily but to temper there was a hearty dollop of coconut labneh, whilst a more discreet but very welcome Thai green butter with slithers of fresh green chillies added a entirely new dimension.
As good as the fish dishes were, the pièce de résistance was the barbecue whole pheasant with cranberry jam and the best pigs in blankets that I’ve ever had. The presentation was spectacular – genuinely a dish that cheeped ‘eat me’, whilst the interaction of self-carving at our table added a fun dimension to the evening. Our neck of the woods has some of the best game to be had in the UK so seeing restaurants embrace it brings joy to my soul, although I’m guessing Percy Pheasant wasn’t best pleased.
To accompany, we had two further dishes of bonfire potatoes – smokey mash topped with wafer-thin fried skins – and crispy sprouts. I have to say that neither Julia or I were a fan of the sprouts but then we also agreed we don’t particularly like sprouts anyway. The caramelising and roasting seemed to make that dark bitterness that some adore even more ‘sprouty’. Different brassicas for different folks.
There wasn’t a millimetre of room left in our bulging tummies by this point so Lyndon kindly bagged up some of the pheasant that was left over to take home – but I note there are also a selection of desserts. Lyndon managed to pour a glass of the very seasonal Santa’s Little Helper – his luxurious twist on a White Russian – down our throats before we merrily waddled off into the cold night.
At the time of writing, the pricing and structure of the menu was a still a bit up in the air but from experience of dining before expect to pay around £35 per head for food with wine by the glass and cocktails priced separately – check their website for details: www.embersbrighton.co.uk
All the dishes are in the typical Embers style with some having more of a nod to festive and winter flavours, but don’t be expecting turkey. Dishes arrive as they are cooked so the style definitely leads towards sharing – I’d say 1-2 of the smaller plates per person plus one of the larger plates. It goes without saying that the sourcing policy is seasonal and local wherever possible. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options are all flagged on the menu, with further dishes adaptable on request for those challenged by gluten.
A year down the line, Embers are still setting the Brighton restaurant scene alight – its flaming good food, drink and service.
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