insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 13 - March 2016 | Page 27

FOOD+DRINK

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT:
NOSE-TO-TAIL EATING AT FLANK
In the UK alone, we kill over 950 million farm animals for meat annually, and we waste
around 330,000 tonnes a year throwing most of it away. In days gone by, people really
made the most of their meat, eating everything from intestines, to brains and kidneys, but
food fashions changed and dishes like brawn and faggots fell out of favour. Tom Griffiths,
head chef and owner at Brighton-based, Flank, is set to change this, and he’s bringing some
brilliant food to the table while he goes about it. B Y P O L L Y H U M P H R I S

A residency at Preston Street’s Royal Sovereign
pub, Flank grabs your attention as soon as
you walk through the door. More permanent
than a pop-up, but set to move from its
current location soon, the restaurant’s identity
is only bound by the simple menus that dot
the fireside tables. But, the menu is a clue in
itself. With flowery phrasing and gimmicks
eschewed, the description of the food served is
as crystal-clear as the beautiful illustration of a
bull that adorns it. Griffiths’ food is much more
about precision, attention to detail, and care
for ingredients than it is about where you’re
eating it.
“I’ve had Flank since September 2015, and
we’re a nose-to-tail restaurant, so we use all of
the off-cuts that farming doesn’t sell,” he tells
me. “If people are going to eat out, I want them
to be able to get something a bit different.
We make a sausage out of pretty much every
snippet of the pig that we can and it makes
the most beautiful tasting sausage, but when I
tell people that it’s made of pig cheeks, collar
and trotter they recoil. I ask them to trust me
and try it; just because it’s not what they’re
used to eating doesn’t mean it isn’t a fantastic
ingredient that can’t be eaten. I’m a chef and I
wouldn’t give people anything that tastes bad.”

Personally, I didn’t need to be encouraged.
Griffiths’ food looks incredible and is presented
impeccably too, but the flavours? Wowee.
The flavours he gets out of the ingredients he
uses is incredible. I ate that sausage without
hesitation; simply served with refreshing pear
and sage oil to lift it, it had an intensity of
flavour that I’ve not tasted in a sausage before.
I brought my kids along in the evening to try
the sausage too and they wolfed it down,
which speaks volumes. They didn’t question
what was in it, so why should we?
“I think it’s all about perception; we’re all so
used to seeing meat that is neatly cut and
shaped,” says Griffiths. “And the other thing
is that people don’t know how to cook other
parts of the animal to get the best out of it. All
I’m trying to say at Flank is that you can eat
practically all of an animal, and I’m trying to
create interesting and really tasty dishes while
doing so.”
And that he does. With aplomb. The standout dish for me was the glazed beef short rib,
cooked gently for 48 hours and served with
bone marrow ketchup and roast baby gem
lettuce. Meltingly soft, but with a huge hit of
flavour, it cut like butter and felt decadent to

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eat. A special mention has to go the vegetables
we ate too. The nose-to-tail concept applied
by Griffiths extends throughout the whole
menu; he makes mushroom pepper to season
(a revelation); I would happily eat a plateful of
his fermented pickles as a standalone dish;
and those not in the mood for meat will adore
the velvety, but textured combination of roast
artichoke, mushroom, and celeriac puree,
brought to life by watercress and walnut oil.
There isn’t anywhere else in Brighton as driven
by the nose-to-tail concept as Flank, and with
mention of a new, entirely self-sufficient eatery,
as well as a plant-based venture in the offing,
my advice would be to catch Flank while you
can. The sensible folk that lovingly prepared
and ate all parts of an animal before factory
farming reared its ugly head clearly knew what
they were talking about – and so does Tom
Griffiths.
Flank at The Royal Sovereign
66 Preston St
Brighton, BN1 2HE
01273 323289
@flank_brighton
/flankbrighton