Meeting House Lane, Brighton.
01273 323008

Open Sunday to Thursday noon to midnight
Saturday and Sunday from noon to 1.30am.

Review: Friday, November 3, 2006

For serious seafood sophistication – not to mention the pleasure of eating something famous for its aphrodisiac properties – head to Riddle And Finns, Due South’s sister restaurant in The Lanes, for champagne and a dozen or so oysters.

Rock or native oysters are served on a large platter of crushed ice (from £1.90 each), with a hot or cold sauce of your choice, ranging from pickled cucumber and smoked bacon to stout beer batter, and mango and lime zest. Chew once or twice and swallow down with a crisp, cool glass of organic bubbly.

Caviar, whole grilled lobster and fruits de mer platters to share make this restaurant – which opened eight months ago – an ideal spot for a special occasion with its high, marble-top tables built for relaxed, group seating. A lively atmosphere, an excellent wine list and a selection of champagnes by the glass (from £7) make eating serious seafood here great fun.

Smart as it is in a Manhattan Meatpacking District meets East End pie-and-mash shop kind of way, Robert Shenton and Adam Brian’s champagne and oyster bar should not be overlooked as a place for an inexpensive light lunch or a takeaway sandwich.

You can even drop by on your way home for a fillet of fish – at market price – to take home for your dinner. Staff are more than willing to dish out recipe cards and advice so you can choose from a broad selection of locally-sourced fresh fish, from Dover sole to skate and tiger prawns – all artfully displayed on the wet fish counter – and confidently cook up something tasty for yourself.

If you have enjoyed your Riddle And Finns’ meal of king prawns with bacon and passion fruit sweet and sour sauce for example, chances are you can walk out with the ingredients and make it for yourself another time. It’s easier than you might think, says head chef Pat Timpson.

“The beauty of fish is its simplicity. You don’t need to do a great deal to it, because the natural flavour is so good as is it is. “I think people are a bit fearful of cooking fish or perhaps don’t know how to cook it. That’s why we want people to feel free to ask us for tips so they can experiment and make the most of what is really an excellent, nutritious food.”

Main dishes on the menu such as crab, chilli and rocket linguini (£9.95), seafood stew (£15.50) or pan-fried organic salmon fillet with champagne sauce (£17) might seem extravagant for a weekday lunch. But why throw money away on pre-prepared supermarket sandwiches when you can walk away with a freshly-made mackarel pate or dressed crab and rocket salad sandwich (£2.10-£2.50) on thick, crumbly bread sourced from nearby bakery The Real Patisserie?

If you want to sit in, starters such as grilled sardines with potato and cornichon salad (£6.95), monkfish cheeks scampi (£7.95) and New England clam chowder (£5.50) are ample for a lunchtime meal, and more than enough if you add a side order of French fries – the long, thin and crispy kind – sauteed potatoes, panache of seasonal veg or a mixed leaf salad (all £3.50).

Prawn dishes include shell-on Atlantic prawns (sold by the pint, £9, and half pint, £5.95), seared tiger prawns with a spicy barbecue sauce (£7.50) and tempura tiger prawns with a ginger sauce (£7.50). A lunchtime special is available during the week from noon until 4pm, with a choice of three starters and three main dishes available for £9.95.

A pre-theatre menu offering the same deal – a choice of three starters and three main dishes for £9.95 – is available weekdays between 4.30pm and 7.30pm.

Review by Xenia Gregoriadis

This restaurant is participating in the Dine for £10 offer. For more information, click here

• If you are interested in restaurants in Brighton, Hove and Sussex, visit www.theargusfoodguide.co.uk