Last week I was lucky enough to get invited on a potato tour around Brighton, I mean how amazing is that?! I think this is definitely one of the best events I have been to as there was a lot of potato based foods involved, I learnt a lot about the ‘Jersey Royal’ potato AND drank a lot of wine, what more could you want?
This event was gifted and before I go into more detail about the evening I like to thank the lovely ladies over at Phipps as well as the three Brighton restaurants involved, Semolina, Silo & Murmur.
The evening started in the World’s End pub on London Road where I met Georgia and Beckie for a quick drink before we headed to the first restaurant on the ‘potato tour’. Once we finished our drinks, we headed to ‘Semolina‘ which is an independent Italian restaurant on Baker Street just off of London Road in Brighton. When we first arrive I was hit with the realisation of how small the restaurant was, but I actually really liked the intimacy of the restaurant and it also meant that the service was incredible. I also didn’t realise until we arrived at the restaurant that it won number 9 in the ‘Brighton best restaurants‘ awards!
The food as Semolina was truly incredible, the dish we were served was ‘poached red mullet, asparagus, saffron and Jersey Royals’. The portion size was great , if not a little too filling, the presentation was spot on and it tasted gorgeous. We were also served the most incredible homemade bread with bits of garlic in it and a wholegrain mustard butter, oh my god just thinking back to it is making me hungry!
After about an hour, around 7:30pm, we jumped into an Uber and headed to the next restaurant on the tour ‘Silo‘. This is actually the second event that I have attended at Silo in the past couple of weeks as I was there at the end of last month for a ‘Wines of Germany’ tasting/paring event, which was so much fun. So, when I found out that I would be heading back there I was thrilled as the food is phenomenal.
When we arrived at the restaurant we were presented with a lovely glass of white wine as well as a little background about the restaurant and what they stand for. One of the great things about Silo is that they are all for zero waste which means they literally waste no part of the food they get sent in and as well the ingredients they do use are all locally sourced as they they want to cut down the food miles to help try and save the environment, which is so so amazing.
The dish we were served at Silo was a unique twist of the well know Indian dish ‘Sagaloo’, this dish was called ‘Silogaloo’ and was made up of Jersey Royals, silo curry made with wild Sussex spices, sea kale and samphire. The dish was obviously amazing, full of stunning flavours and the interiors inside the restaurant are beautiful. If you haven’t visited Silo make sure you make your way there soon as I believe they’re leaving Brighton soon and heading up to London!
The last restaurant on the tour was Murmur, based down on Brighton seafront, which is truly the most stunning location. Again, when we arrived at the restaurant, after taking a few pics on the seafront, we were greeted by friendly staff and a large glass of white wine. After we were seated at our table, the head chef came out of the kitchen and talked us through the dish he was serving us. The enthusiasm the chef had about cooking, food, flavors and Jersey Royals in particular was amazing to listen to. I could have honestly listen to this guy talk about food all day, it was great.
The meal we were served was another fish dish and I think it was definitely my favourite one of the tour. The dish was made up of sea purslane, brill, Sicilian lemon, samphire, rocket salsa verde and pickled asparagus, it tasted like a really phenomenal potato salad, and the pickled asparagus was like nothing I’d ever had before. I enjoyed the meal at Murmur so much that I am definitely going to be taking a trip back very soon for a full 3 course meal.
After the main dish we were lucky enough to be treated to an amazing cheeseboard and sweet dessert wine, which was the perfect end to the evening. I had such an enjoyable time on the ‘potato tour’ and learnt a lot about vegetables in season, particularly Jersey Royal potatoes and I cannot wait to revisit the restaurants again soon.
Megan Griffin 
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