insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 16 - June 2016 | Page 35

FOOD+DRINK

Brighton’s brilliant Curry Leaf Cafe
continues to make waves in the city
Since taking over a drab, wood and brick premises on Brighton’s Ship Street in spring 2014 – a
location previously considered something of a dining blackspot thanks to a string of prior failed
businesses – the two friends behind Brighton’s popular Curry Leaf Cafe have made a serious
impact on the city’s dining scene.

Colourful, rustic and imbued with a character that’s part Indian street stall,
part restaurant and part craft beer bar, the original Lanes cafe puts a very
modern, yet authentic spin on the experience of eating Indian food. No
brown leather chairs, white table cloths or overly formal waiters in sight…
just smiling people, good tunes and a small, perfectly formed menu of
regional south Indian dishes paired with the city’s most extensive range of
craft beers.

In spring of last year, Curry Leaf Cafe took over the kitchen in the newly
revamped Temple Bar on Western Road. Decked out with stylish,
recycled beer bottle and keg lamps, exposed brickwork and graffiti, the
reinvented Temple Bar is a world away from its previous incarnation as
purveyors of Sky Sports and flavourless, mass-produced beers. As is the
menu. Drawing on his experience of the craft beer pub scene back home
in Bangalore, Kanthi has created a menu of finger-licking tandoor grilled
meats, spiced bar snacks, street food dishes and slow-cooked curries to
accompany the pub’s diverse range of beers. The tandoor naan wraps –
available with spiced chips and a drink for less than £10 – are particularly
great for a quick, filling lunch.

The cafe has earned an impressive collection of accolades since
opening two years ago, including ‘Best Newcomer, South Coast’ at the
2015 Asian Curry Awards, and recommendations in The Guardian, The
Telegraph and the Waitrose Good Food Guide, which described the
cafe as a “local gem”. Despite the Twitter hype and regular stories in the
press however, Curry Leaf Cafe remains the kind of place you stumble
across while taking a shortcut to the beach, or get dragged to by a friend
babbling about having found the “best curry ever”.

As regular commuters will already know, Curry Leaf Cafe recently opened
up a street food kiosk inside Brighton station. If you’ve not tried their
vindaloo bacon roll after a heavy Friday night, or bagged one of their
handmade sandwiches or delicious paratha wraps when whizzing through
the station at lunchtime, you really need to. It’s also great to be able to
grab an authentic curry (served with fragrant rice and a side of daal) when
you’re heading home after a trip to the city. Apparently, they’re about to
launch an online app that allows you to choose and pay for your food, then
pick a collection time that coincides with the arrival of your train: clever
stuff. The word may feature prominently in their name, but it’s clear that
this operation is shooting much higher than your average ‘curry house’.

During the day, the place is populated by local workers taking lunch
breaks, Indians talking in hushed tones about how the food is even better
than their own mother’s, and sun-bleached travel addicts reliving their
trip to Goa or Kerala over a masala dosa (a thin, gluten-free Indian crepe
stuffed with spiced potato and peas). Other lunchtime favourites include
Masala-spiced fish and chips (covered in a crisp, spicy, gluten-free batter
made from chickpea flour) and the vegan, gluten-free street food platter
that’s served with homemade chutneys.

Curry Leaf Cafe
60 Ship St
Brighton
BN1 1AE

Come dinner time, the menu changes completely. The atmosphere is
buzzing, but in a way that makes the evening fly by rather than giving you
tinnitus; you won’t find boozed-up stags engaging in drunken attempts
to eat the hottest dish on the menu. Chef, Kanthi Kiran Thamma, was
born, raised and trained in Hyderabad, and it shows in the cooking.
There are just six starters, six main courses and a few desserts to choose
from, each one with its own unique flavour and each one drawing on the
culinary traditions of a specific village or town in southern India.

01273 207070
www.curryleafcafe.com
@curryleafcaff
/curryleafclub

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