Brighton has seen two new celebrity restaurant openings recently, Jamie Oliver has opened an Italian and TV presenter Dermot O’Leary has a hand in a new venture based around fish. I have nothing against either of them, in a roundabout way I have worked for one and with the other – nice guys both. So far so good, but why are they here in Brighton?

I think we all know that Brighton is seen as a desirable ‘destination’. Looking at the locations for other ‘Jamie’s Italians’ in the UK I don’t see any in Wigan, Bradford or Northampton. And I am assuming Dermot and his pals didn’t choose The Lanes because the rents in Soho are particularly high at the moment. So what can we offer the Dermots and Jamies of this world? Urbane residents, cash-rich tourists, a creative foodie culture? Both are in the heart of The Lanes which I imagine local established eateries aren’t too happy about, although maybe the new flashier celebrity openings will siphon off some of the tourists and leave our favourites free for the natives? But I can’t help thinking that after what happened to Momma Cherri last week that’s perhaps not such a good thing because everyone working in Brighton surely benefits from tourism?

In the name of research I decided to test them both out! Arriving early (midday) at Jamie’s Italian on a mundane Tuesday we still had to queue! And once we were seated the huge place quickly filled up – I was amazed the traffic was quite so high considering it had been open for a while. Still the Jamie Oliver brand is a strong one.

Rather like the man himself talking everything on the menu is ‘amazing’,’ snappy’, ‘proper posh’ etc. I ordered ‘The World’s Best Olives’ just because you know, I had to! Would I be ruined for any other olive in the world? Sadly not – I found them to be flaccid and fishy tasting, seems ‘The World’s Best’ is an subjective term and one I didn’t agree with. My pasta dish was trying so hard to be authentic and al dente it was more rubbery soba noodles than carbonara, but I am picking here slightly because nearly everything was well cooked and beautifully presented. The staff were incredibly slick and efficient, and as a busy operation it worked smoothly. But it did kind of feel that everyone had been to Jamie School in order to make sure that the brand was upheld. I am sure that creating a template is the best way to make a restaurant chain work but isn’t that the aim also for a Big Mac? To be exactly the same whatever town, city or country you are in?

Still – you can’t doubt the ideals of serving good, fresh food individually prepared with an emphasis on animal welfare and seasonal ingredients – if more chains worked like this then more of us would take consideration of what we put into our mouths and where it comes from. Everyone there was happy to buy into the Jamie brand, they’d probably seen his political persona on TV, bought a few books and decided that he was a nice guy, well he is! So no real problem, but you could also pop over the road to any amount of neighbouring eateries that have been using locally sourced ingredients for years.

So onto Fishy Fishy. Now at least Jamie Oliver is known for cooking – why Dermot O’Leary? Well apparently his friends are the cooks and he likes fishing so why not? With an enviable spot outside for attracting passersby and tourists, as well as a tiny, charming townhouse setting, Fishy Fishy has a mainly piscatorial menu (good name). The staff were incredibly pleasant and quite good fun, which made them seem much more like real people than those over at Jamie’s. The presentation wasn’t amazing but the food was fresh, gorgeous, plentiful and tasty!

It certainly won’t be as packed as Jamie’s but I am sure that the lure of O’Leary will carry it through the tough times and the winters. He has promised to work the floor at least once a month and during a round of promotional interviews for TV juggernaut The X-Factor he has managed a little plug for the restaurant each time. Good Work!

The celebrity culture we live in touches most parts of society now and I am sure we’ll see more celebrity food ventures spring up as the years go on. It doesn’t mean that they’ll automatically be any good but fans will be happy to feel they have had a brush with fame, which doesn’t bode well! But in the case of these two I would say both are decent restaurants and good additions to the area. Who knows? Next I might even travel out to Hove Lagoon to sample the vegan delights of Heather Mills...