Spanish Gala Dinner @ Hotel du Vin

Hotel du Vin Brighton, in association with the Spanish Food Company brought a spectacular end to a truly memorable Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival 2010. The gala dinner was hosted within the majestic surroundings of The Dome room and featured a Spanish themed four course dinner, complete with canapés, an outstanding selection of wines poured by the people that know them best and coffee.

With around 70 guests the atmosphere was indeed celebratory, kicking off at 7.30 with fizzy wine from Spain’s finest – Cordoniu and canapes that included ham cut straight from bone. As we took our seats (it felt like a grand wedding party – as Tom from the Spanish Food Co quipped – ‘wait until your favourite great aunt turns up!’), and perused the menu, the first of the carefully chosen wines was poured by the ever attentive staff.

Course upon course arrived, each dish well thought out and a delight of flavours. The Sussex lamb got a huge thumbs up as did the vegetarian option of artichokes and very tasty hollandaise sauce. But the very best was saved until last – the cheese platter, utterly divine, as you can see from the ensuing video!

As we all stumbled out at midnight, this event will be remembered as a resounding success and a grand finale to the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival 2010.

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The Essential Selection: Bite This!

Our favourite Brighton and Hove places for a snack, nibble or slurp

 wine shop & tasting room

The Wine Shop & Tasting Room specialises in finding little-known wines of great quality, character, and regional expression and with their recently opened shop in the heart of Brighton you can now sample the wines before you buy, perfect!

9 Jubilee Street, Brighton, BN1 1GE • 01273 567 176 • www.tengreenbottles.com

suck it & sea

A stones throw from Brighton station, this sweetshop is crammed with all your favourite tuck shop goodies, retro sweets and good old fashioned tooth tingling treats: sherbert dips, gob stoppers, lemon drops, cola drops, to name but a few. Stock up with spooky seasonal sweeties for Halloween and stocking fillers for Christmas!

Suck It & Sea Traditional Sweet Shop, 100 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER  • 01273 675 231

www.suckitandsea.com

churchill square farmers market 

Every Wednesday the Churchill Square Farmers Market sells the very best local and organic produce. Pick up homemade jams and chutneys, locally grown and seasonal fruit and veg, freshly baked cakes and bread, fish that’s been caught the same morning and even a hand carved duck from ‘Dave the Duck’.

Wednesday 10am – 4pm Churchill Square Piazza, Brighton, BN1 2RG    www.churchillsquare.com 

fiery food chilli shop 

If you like it hot, then pop down to the UK’s first dedicated chilli shop at Brighton Marina, where you’ll be able to buy all manner of spicy delights: from the worlds hottest chilli – the Naga, a host of chutneys and jams, right through to the delicious Fallen Angel Black Death Beer.

Unit 30, Marina Square, Brighton Marina Village, Brighton, BN2 5WA    www.fieryfoodsuk.co.uk

la cave á fromage 

The newly opened tasting shop in Hove has over 200 carefully sourced French and British farmhouses cheeses, alongside a selection of charcuterie and freshly baked baguettes. Why not treat yourself to a glass of wine and a nibble of perfectly ripened artisanal cheese, our favourite is the Shepton, made from goats milk. 

La Cave á Fromage, 34-35 Western Road, Hove, BN3 1AF • 01273 725 500

  www.la-cave.co.uk

farm market 

Tucked away in the heart of the North Laine, every Saturday the new market on the block is proving to be very popular and rightly so, with produce ranging from cheeses, vegetables, fruit, breads, fish, all from local producers and growers. There’s also flower stalls and a café – local food tasting miles better!

Saturday 9.30am – 4.30pm  Diplocks Yard, 7 North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD 01273 696 010  www.brightonfarmmarket.co.uk

laroche room @ hotel du vin

For both novice wine tasters and the more experienced wine lover, a tasting session is an ideal way to try new wines and broaden your knowledge under the expert tutelage of Hotel du Vin’s Sommeliers. It’s based on 15 people tasting 6 wines and all packages can be tweaked to suit your preference – Sparkling, New World, France, Chardonnay.

We raise a glass!

Hotel du Vin, 6 Ship Street, Brighton, BN1 1AD  01273 718 588  www.hotelduvin.com/brighton

Pup Aid 2010 – as seen through the eyes of Photographer Julia Claxton

The beautiful setting of Stanmer House and Gardens rocked to the sound of top local bands and a chorus of woofs & barks as this year’s Pup Aid bow wowed dog friendly Brighton. The celebrity-judged fun dog show organised by UK TV’s favourite, Marc the Vet, was created to help raise awareness of the suffering caused to puppies and their parents by puppy farming.  The pooch and people partying included fun dog show classes such as ‘Most glamorous 6 legs’ and Scruffts ‘Handsomest Dog’. Those feeling peckish could snap up gourmet treats from top Brighton restaurant Due South or a scrumptious afternoon tea from dog friendly MetroDeco, who had both decamped to Stanmer to join in the fun. A veritable constellation of stars gathered to lend their support by judging the dog show classes and making donations to the raffle and auction, although the true stars of the day were undoubtedly all canine. The Gibson guitar signed by dog loving musicians [including Liam Gallagher and Paul Weller] being auctioned by celebrity auctioneer Mark Stacey didn’t quite reach its reserve price, but never fear puppies and music lovers, there will be another chance to snap up this fabulous piece of pop ephemera, whilst supporting Pup Aid, at Brightona on October 10^th.

 Photos of the event can be bought from www.photoboxgallery.com

  A donation to Pup Aid is being made for each photo sold

Julia Claxton

info@juliaclaxton.net

Who You Gonna Call? Gum Busters!

Who You Gonna Call? Gum Busters!

Gum and grease are the scourge of every British town and city, and unfortunately Brighton & Hove is no exception. The pavements of our busy city centre, with its vibrant restaurant, bar and club scene, have collected a huge amount of worn-in detritus over the years and this presents the city council with a huge and costly headache as to how to remove it.

Thankfully the clever bods at Brighton & Hove City Council have invested in a powerful new street cleaning machine to put the sparkle back into our streets. Previously the council would have had to hire in a company to remove chewing gum but now they have their very own equipment to continuously trawl the city targeting the worst offending areas including outside the Brighton Centre, the seafront promenade and West Street.

We couldn’t resist taking a look at the ‘Gum Buster’ in action so headed early this morning to West Street where Pat Flavin and his team were already hard at work cleaning a stretch of pavement outside a couple of fast food takeaways. Within seconds the de-greasing machine had stripped the black, slippery grime from the paving slabs, whilst the separate steam gum machine (ably handled by Brighton Visitor’s Nathalie) rapidly broke down and dispersed the well-trodden chewing gum. Much of the water used is recycled too so it’s an incredibly efficient and environmentally friendly process.

Of course, keeping the streets clean is an immense task akin to painting the Forth Bridge in that it will never be complete. Obviously we the public have a responsibility not to litter the streets with gum, but also the businesses of the city centre should be encouraged to take pride in their environment. As our local economy is heavily reliant on visitors (both leisure or business), it makes perfect sense for us all to invest a little time and energy keeping our streets clean by regularly washing down the pavements outside our own businesses: small contributions such as this really can make a huge difference.

In the meantime, we give up big gum-busting thumbs up to Brighton & Hove City Council for their efforts to create a better, cleaner, Brighton & Hove.

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