Restaurant Review
Indian Summer – East Street, Brighton
Finding a decent curry in Brighton can
be a hard task considering the plethora
of options available to you. Having
tried a fair few of the local restaurants
and takeaways, I had all but resigned
myself to sticking with tried and tested
favourites, lest I be disappointed by yet
another greasy samosa or soggy naan.
For this reason, I was reticent when a
friend suggested visiting Indian Summer,
a small restaurant in the Laines. Even the
name sounded unoriginal. “It’s 5-star,” my
friend insisted, “I’ve seen it on Google and
everything.” If only to prove him wrong, I
decided to take the risk. How glad I am
that I did – though perhaps not living up
to a 5-star rating, the food and service at
Indian Summer were among some of the
highest quality I’ve received in Brighton.
Nestled halfway down East Street, the
restaurant is towards the end of a stretch
of high-end shops, before the area takes a
swift tonal shift towards off licences, bars
and chicken shops that one is unlikely to
visit while at their best. It’s an unassuming
location but on entering, the restaurant felt
warm and welcoming with an understated
décor, complimented by striking artwork
taking up entire walls. We explained to the
waiter who had greeted us at the door that
we were to become a group of five and
though no tables of that size were currently
available, arrangements were quickly made
to accommodate our whole party.
Once we were all present and accounted
for, the waiter was quick to provide us
with our drinks while we considered the
52
menu. I found the menu thorough as
to what each dish contains but unless
you are familiar with Indian ingredients
(which I am decidedly not) it could be
considered daunting.
During dinner service, the restaurant
charges on the basis of two courses for
£23.95 or three for £27.95, meaning you
are not given the option to individually
purchase a starter or main. Though
this made splitting the party’s bill later
considerably easier, I was mildly put
out by this approach as I felt forced into
having a starter I would not normally have
chosen. When our food was presented,
however, my mood quickly changed.
Before the starters arrived, the whole
table was served an espresso cup full of
a sweet potato-based soup, which was
flavoursome and almost too morish – I
had devoured mine in a few seconds and
was more than ready for our starters to
arrive. I had ordered the paneer tikka, an
Indian cheese cooked in the traditional
tikka marinade. Presented on polished
metal dishes, the food was arranged
beautifully and was full of flavour.
However, my companion who had
ordered the dum prawns hariyali did have
concerns when an extremely large plate
was bestowed on him featuring only three
prawns and a small amount of sauce. He
admitted that it was beautifully cooked he just would have preferred more!
After a small Mason jar of lemon
sorbet as a palate cleanser, our mains
swiftly arrived. The lady who served us
explained our dishes in detail (perhaps
to compensate for the slightly confusing
menu), mentioned their history and
recommended sauces and dips that
would accompany them well. I was
impressed by her knowledge of the food
and her warm and jovial nature.
Having opted for the thali, a vegetarian
mixed platter popular in Gujarati homes,
I was presented with the largest metal
plate I have ever eaten from. It featured
rice, a roti and three separate small subzi
(dry vegetable) dishes based around
potato, lentils and peas. I found all three
delicious and not too dry at all, though
the pea rasadar was reminiscent of a
spiced version of mushy peas, which may
not be to everyone’s taste. My companion
had Rajasthani laal maas, which was
a delicious and tender hot lamb curry
served with rice.
Overall, after the lull in conversation
that so often accompanies good food,
all the members of my group were quick
to announce that it was possibly the
best Indian food they had experienced
in Brighton. Though I had some small
niggles as to the menu and portion
sizing, I have to say that the ambience,
service and food more than made up for
this. It seems that in my search for Indian
food in Brighton, something ventured
truly was something gained.
By Sinead McGeady
indian-summer.org.uk