A CHEF has launched a restaurant with a difference where all produce is sourced within ten miles of the kitchen.

Leslie Nkansah launched his 10 Radius pop-up restaurant in Kooks, in Gardner Street, Brighton, on Monday night with a special service for critics and food bloggers.

He will be serving his special seven-course tasting menu for just five days, with the last service on Friday.

Mr Nkansah, who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe, only moved to Brighton in November and was blown away by the quality of produce in and around the city.

His aim is open his own restaurant in the city in the coming years.

He said: “You really couldn’t ask for a better place for great produce.

“You get the best of all worlds. You have the South Downs on one side and then the sea on the other. So there is great beef, seafood, fresh veg, everything really.

“In London, where I have worked, you have to go a bit further to get your produce but here it is all around you.”

Mr Nkansah’s gastronomic adventure started with various canapes featuring chicken from The Oaks Poultry Farm in Ditchling.

Next was a tomato consomme (a clear richly flavoured soup) with vegetable carpaccio (thinly sliced) all from the Park Farm Shop in Falmer.

The fish course featured sea trout, from Brighton Fish Sales in Portslade, with a beluga lentil and squid ink puree and crispy leaks and a squid ink tuille.

A palate cleanser came courtesy of Bolney Wine Estate with a slushie style shot with elderflower and mint while the following meat dish, courtesy of Butterbox Farm, near Haywards Heath, stretched the ten-mile rule to the limit. The Dexter fillet of beef came with a watercress puree, steamed spinach, ox tail beignet (a sort of fancy nugget) with a red wine jus.

The first of the desserts was a selection of petit four: a basil and strawberry panna cotta, a mini Victoria sponge, a pink champagne truffle and a lavender frangipane, courtesy of Fin and Farm, in Hangleton Road, Hove.

Fin and Farm also provides the produce for the final dessert: creme fraiche sorbet with finely chopped citrus fruit.

Speaking after service, Mr Nkansah said: “It is really important for me that we eat more of what we grow locally and celebrate our local producers. It is important we support those local businesses and help each other out, it is all about community.”

And although Mr Nkansah’s tenure at Kooks is a short one, he has a clear goal for the coming years: “If everything goes well then I want to open up a restaurant here in Brighton. That is the goal. I have been down here since November and I love it here.”

To book visit 10radius.co.uk/contact or call 01273 673045.