Reviewed
Eastern Eye
Brighton

IT is an oft-repeated factoid that Britain’s national dish is tikka masala.

This may or may not be the case but there’s no doubt that since the arrival of balti houses in Birmingham and Brick Lane in the 1970s our love affair with spice has bloomed.

Tastes are now becoming more sophisticated with bog-standard, miscellaneous curry just not cutting the mustard seeds.

Diners want exciting street food, like bhel puri and ketchoris, as the popularity of Curry Leaf Cafe, Planet India and Chilli Pickle have shown.

One restaurant that has been producing interesting South Indian food for years in spite of food trends is Eastern Eye.

Behind the stove is Murrali Dharan from Madras, who has spent years cooking in luxury hotels and last year joined the popular restaurant.

It is perhaps easy to bypass on London Road but has been a bastion of excellence in an area with its fortunes enjoying a revival.

Renowned for its dosas – rice and lentil crepes – we try an array of punchy starters, the best being the vegetable options.

Cauliflower Manchurian sees the humble vegetable deep fried and slathered in hot garlic chilli sauce, rendering it unrecognisably soft, gooey and moreish.

The samosa chat, chick peas with yoghurt and chutney, turned the staple pulse into a street food starplayer.

For mains the lamb rogan josh, softly cooked with saffron, is a masterclass in bringing the best out of the characterful meat – low, slow and fragrant.

The piquant Mangalore prawn curry has the killer seafood accompaniment of tomato, ghee and saffron that works from the Indian subcontinent right across to the Mediterranean.

The team at Eastern Eye are serious professionals who know their craft inside out, the restaurant welcoming and without pretence.

Fine attention to detail is evident across the board, from the pickles and popadoms, to the crisp tandoori cooked naan breads, and clove-spiked bhindi masala vegetable curry. Food-wise this is streets ahead of most mediocre fare which seems to be stuck in the 1970s.

Furthermore, Eastern Eye is capable of rivalling some of the newer, trendier Indian restaurants in Brighton.