The Pickled Kitchen at The Park Crescent pub, Brighton

WITH its combination of Sussex Square-esque private garden, Hanover student houseville and a hint of East Brighton social housing, Park Crescent Terrace really is a hodgepodge of styles.

Set at its heart, almost in its own village square, is The Park Crescent pub.

Much-loved by locals for many years as a cosy cubbyhole off-the-beaten track from, the pub had served serviceably tasty Thai food, until The Pickled Kitchen arrived a year ago to bring a more meaty offering with some neat Continental touches from its Polish-Portuguese husband and wife team.

With a menu that makes it difficult to pick a favourite from, a generous specials board, an intriguing Sunday Roast menu including pulled pork shoulder, Portuguese and Polish speciality nights, and weekly wallet-friendly burger and steak deals, it’s the sort of pub that encourages repeat chewing.

In a nod to the pub’s German landlady, the menu features European staples absent from most Brighton menus, such as sauerkraut and schnitzel.

Chef Ania has also developed a calamari schnitzel – an exemplar of how the Pickled Kitchen team are always working on and developing new ideas.

The baked camembert and chorico assado for starters were relatively simple dishes brought to life with a little invention and imagination.

The camembert, sourced from the nearby Open Market, had a rich, fresh from dairy taste, accompanied by a naughty confit garlic, bacon salt and a sweet chutney and crunchy ciabatta.

Richness personified, it would have been as a warming, homely main but played warm-up to an extravagant co-arrival.

A traditional Portuguese dish, the chorico assado is served on a decorative porcelain boat and once lit by the waiter, turns the table into an olfactory dream as 68% proof rum fills the air with booze, immediately rendering me over the drink-drive limit.

Once the fire dies down, the sizzling sausage lingers long on the tongue and is accompanied by refreshing olives.

It’s the porcine equivalent of a Viking warrior burning long-boat funeral and I am fittingly in food Valhalla.

Our burgers arrive are impressively presented on wooden boards, with seaside buckets of chips (both fatty chips and French fries are excellent) and cute tiny screw-top pots of dijonnaise.

The blue cheese beef patty doesn’t quite ooze with fromage as anticipated and the burger is a little red for my partner’s taste, but the pulled pork, after two days of cooking, is cloud soft and well accompanied by sauerkraut and apple.

With a cheek-bulging goat’s cheese and squash arrancini amuse-bouche there’s little room for chocolate and banana crumble – but with plenty more menu to sample, there’s every reason to come back again.

Neil Vowles

 

The Park Crescent, 39 Park Crescent Terrace, Brighton, 01273 604993