EVEN the coffee at 64 Degrees is a little bit special.

The Gourmand has visited this small restaurant before but since then the owner Michel Bremner has starred on television and won awards.

So Taste wanted to make sure all that fuss was justified and check whether it was still showing the way for modern cuisine in Brighton and Hove and beyond.

Well, where does one start when it comes to 64 Degrees?

The whole experience is different to your average dining experience and the menu changes all the time.

Mr Bremner either decided to set up the kitchen and seating the way he did due to the confined space or he found the perfect cosy spot for his vision.

First of all, try to book a space at the bar-style seats which look in on the open kitchen. It is pure theatre to see the lovely sharing dishes being served up.

The only problem, as happened here, is that after ordering your dishes, more will catch your eye as they are being prepared for other diners.

Then you may want to order more and push the boat out on the bill – but that is the fun of it too, if you can afford it.

The Sussex Food and Drink Awards were on when the Gourmand visited so with some intelligence suggesting Mr Bremner would be out, Taste decided to visit to see if standards were maintained in his absence.

No problem there. The helpful waitresses explain the concept after taking our coats, suggesting between four and six of those sharing plates between two people.

The dishes come one at a time and you have your own small plate to move your food on to.

The Gourmand and his partner tucked into the food straight from the original platter, enjoying the social experience and trying not to wrestle over the food.

First up was the turbot ceviche. This was served cut into small strips in a bowl with finely sliced chilli and celery, cured using a lime-based citrus sauce.

It was the most refreshing food you could wish to eat. The Gourmand’s partner would never normally touch raw fish but this was too good to miss.

The same could be said for the venison and lamb, red in the middle but so moist and tasty they were irresistible.

The venison came with dehydrated beetroot, which was a sweet, luxurious addition. That beetroot was 64 Degrees in microcosm, summing the place up. Ingredients served up in ingenious ways – moving something you think you know on to an altogether different level.

Each dish suggests the chefs get hold of something and think, “what can I do to give that a fresh twist?”, “what new and surprising ways can we find to help the vegetables complement the meat or star on their own?”.

Both meat dishes were heavily seasoned, initially making the Gourmand think too much salt was used – but then when you really taste everything on each dish in unison and go with it, that seasoning actually works.

The venison came with generous sprinklings of crushed walnut.

The kalettes, a cross between Brussels sprouts and kale, came with a rich fermented black bean sauce and an egg yolk confit cooked in oil for 45 minutes at 64 degrees –hence the name.

The black bean sauce was not a favourite as it dominated the plate a little but it did not detract from the other dishes.

One had planned to call it a day after five dishes but then we saw the hispi sweetheart cabbage being served up with a huge dollop of hollandaise... and then the black truffle being generously grated over the top. One could not resist. This was the star of the night. The hollandaise and truffle was a sensation.

The squash puree with dukkah spiced with coriander was lovely too.

The complimentary cucumber and lemon sorbet and the rhubarb panna cotta with homemade shortbread finished off a fantastic experience.

  • The Gourmand always pays for his meals.

MENU TASTER

Cesanese Italian wine (glass) – £4.50

Turbot, chilli, celery – £14

Crown Prince, dukkah, coriander – £6

Kalettes, black bean, yolk –£7

Loin lamb, spring onion, ginger and soya relish, gochujang (Korean formented chilli sauce) – £14

Venison haunch, dehydrated beetroot, walnut crumb – £14

Hispi sweetheart cabbage with hollandaise and black truffle – £12

Rhubarb panna cotta with homemade shortbread – £8

HOW IT RATED

64 Degrees Meeting, House Lane, Brighton

Food – ★★★★★

Service – ★★★★

Atmosphere – ★★★★