insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 10 - December 2015 | Page 71

FOOD+DRINK

Expect the Unexpected

at The Set, Brighton

B Y P O L LY H U M P H R I S

The brainchild of chefs Semone Bonner and Dan Kenny, formerly of The Ginger Pig and The
Gingerman respectively, The Set isn’t an overly contentious restaurant, that would be too
obvious. What it is, is clever. A restaurant that makes you think, but without forcing you to.

Not knowing what to expect is the point. Brighton, as laid back as it
seems, is quite a demanding mistress when it comes to food and The
Set answers the city’s ever-growing need for something different. Walking
in, it’s the interior that strikes you first. A textured blend of wood, brick,
concrete-topped tables, resin and stone, it’s a small restaurant, and the
design is inspired – it makes you feel welcome and excited without one
affected element of ‘cool’, which is very refreshing for Brighton.

with lettuce rarebit, crispy mash, carrot and gravy. Crispy mash is a
revelation in itself – it popped like a posh potato croquette in my mouth
oozing hot, smooth mash that screamed comfort at my taste buds, and
the tender rabbit was as soft as butter. The ‘Caesar salad’ cold snack
served to us before any of the real eating began deserves high praise too.
A bite size slab of anchovy and parmesan panacotta topped with a tiny,
crispy lettuce leaf, it tastes just like Caesar salad and looks nothing like it:
clever, simple, and just a smidge Willy Wonka.

Being seated to Groove Armada’s ‘But I Feel Good’, it makes you feel
just that. Intimate, but casual, you can sit at a neat, square table for two;
a bigger round one; or sit at the pass – something that isn’t for everyone,
but that I love (not least because you can be nosy). Sitting at the pass
– being nosy – the first things I notice are the scribbled notes and halfrecipes written on the white tiles behind.

The only dish that didn’t hit the nail on the head for me was the spiced
pumpkin dessert, perhaps because I’d carved the proverbial out of at
least six of them a couple of nights before, but more likely because I just
don’t like soft-textured deserts served with ice cream; plus Bonner and
Dan are both trained pastry chefs, so I was expecting something with a
bit more bite.

“We don’t have recipes, we make them all up and one dish per week
changes according to what’s in season,” Bonner tells me. “We use local
suppliers and we have a forager too, so we brainstorm ideas at the
beginning of each week and then go for it. It’s lovely to be in the position
where we’re absolutely making our own food, so if we don’t like it, we
take it off the menu.”

Subverting the analogy of the unruffled swan’s legs kicking madly
underwater, The Set runs a very professional, tight ship and serves
refined food, but all of the excitement happens out in the open and the
kitchen is incredibly calm. The idea is that the menu will be entirely new
every eight weeks and as that changes, so I expect will the music, the
ambience and your entire experience – a really arresting addition to
Brighton’s burgeoning food scene.

The menu in question in a four-course set menu and diners simply
choose menu one, two or three. Each course is a simple list of three or
four ingredients, so you never really know what to expect, and there’s a
wine flight paired with each menu. Eating at The Set is about wanting to
be surprised and handing over your trust to the chefs and to the excellent
staff who serve you.

The Set
Artist Residence
Brighton
BN1 2GG
www.thesetrestaurant.com
01273 855 572

My first course of alliums, burnt apple and Tunworth cheese was a sweet
and soft concoction with the just the right amount of bitterness to swerve
your palette in a different direction, but the winner for me was the rabbit

@TheSet_Brighton

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