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Craft beer
&shellfish
Craft beer and shellfish – certainly not your average pub
combination but as with a lot of things in Brighton and Hove,
it most definitely works…
My companion and I were looking forward
to our evening, both being huge fans of
shellfish - and it must be said that there is
a more than healthy selection of craft beers
from around the world and a plethora of
fishy choices at The Urchin.
Tucked away on Belfast Street, word has
clearly spread quickly about this lovely
place and for a Wednesday night, it was
positively bustling. Every visitor looked like
they were having a great evening – but
then it’s not hard to see why. The décor
is tasteful, the staff perfectly attentive but
not intrusive and there’s a very positive
atmosphere.
My companion, a staunch Guinness fan,
explored the extensive beer menu which
included numbers like Brew Dog Dead
Pony Club, Curious IPA and Meantime
Raspberry as well as more familiar tipples
like Newcastle Brown Ale.
After a lengthy peruse of the menu, he
opted for Guinness Dublin Porter while I
stuck to my staple glass of Merlot.
Then it was on to making the agonising
choice of what to eat…with a tantalising
array of starters and mains, including razor
clams with coconut and lemongrass broth,
half a pint of prawns with saffron mayo and
bread, whole lobster with garlic butter and
hollandaise and tom yum mussels.
I was eventually drawn to the salt and
pepper squid, which can be a gamble
depending on where you’re eating but
somewhere specialising in shellfish gives
you more than enough confidence and
there was certainly no disappointment –
lovely, tender, plentiful – just as I had hoped
and I was even a tiny bit reluctant to share
some with my partner, I would definitely
return for the squid alone. The other
choice ‘we’ made was the crab cakes with
42
remoulade sauce which were so delicious
that the only complaint was that they
disappeared so quickly.
Being a huge fan of scallops, I only had to
choose between two options really, though
there were several more temptations that
will get me next time. In the end I asked
the kind man looking after us to choose
between scallops with samphire, sage and
gremolata or those with caper and lemon
butter. The former were recommended and
were absolutely delicious and as though
they had not been long plucked from the
sea, which I am certain they hadn’t.
It’s fair to say that my companion has
somewhat of a gargantuan appetite and
he opted for the prawns with coconut and
lemongrass. The look on his face when
they arrived said it all – pure happiness.
Fortunately I was allowed to try one and
was transported back to Thailand fairly
swiftly – succulent, juicy and beautifully
spiced. So generous was the portion we
reluctantly had to leave a prawn or two
– and were sorely tempted to ask for a
doggy bag. However, we will just settle at
returning – in the very near future.
The Urchin is run by Nick Jerrim, who was
general manager of the award winning
Royal Oak Pub in Poynings. Nick, together
with Nigel Lambe & Brad Jacobsen, the
co-owners of Small Batch Coffee and Velo
Café purchased the pub in November and
closed it for a complete refurbishment.
It’s certainly a shell of its former self (pun
unintended) for very good reasons.
We really enjoyed this experience - it’s
innovative and unique and couldn’t be
recommended highly enough. Please visit.
B
y Liza Laws