Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Brighton
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Brighton restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 62 restaurants in Brighton and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Brighton restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Brighton Restaurants
1. The Set
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
50 Preston Road - BN1
In June 2021, Dan Kenny found a new home for his project in Café Rust, not far from Preston park and underneath the viaduct. It’s a small place, with a two-person team in the kitchen aiming for big, umami flavours from a fixed 14-20 course tasting menu over two-and-a-half hours, and though it inspires somewhat limited feedback, fans say results are “just flawless”.
2. The Tasting Room, Rathfinny Wine Estate
British, Modern restaurant in Alfriston
Rathfinny Wine Estate - BN26
Panoramic views of the vineyards and South Downs accompany a trip to this seasonal dining room (which is closed in October during the wine harvest). Some reports are of outstanding cuisine from chef Chris Bailey, although there is the odd concern about some “huge mark-ups” on certain items. You can always opt for the “really relaxed” Flint Barn dining room also on the estate (“keenly priced, lovely posh grub with a large choice of wines to wash it all down”). There is also The Hut at Rathfinny – a wine bar with week-round opening.
3. English’s
Fish & seafood restaurant in Brighton
29-31 East St - BN1
“Traditional seafood in pleasant surroundings” has proved an enduring formula for this seafood veteran in the Lanes – one of the UK’s few historic provincial restaurants, dating as it does from the 1890s and run by the Leigh-Jones family since 1945. More critical reports say the “food quality can be a little hit or miss”; or alternatively that it’s “very good, but more pricey than it needs to be”. But “sat outside enjoying the sun, with great service and full-on Brighton atmosphere, you can have a great meal”.
4. The Chilli Pickle
Indian restaurant in Brighton
17 Jubilee St - BN1
“Still one of Brighton’s top Indians” – this Arts Quarter operation (est. 2008) offers “very good authentic cuisine, with dishes you usually never see here in the UK” – barbecue surf and turf, say, or interesting regional curries – and benefits from a “great atmosphere” too.
5. Terre à Terre
Vegetarian restaurant in Brighton
71 East St - BN1
“So many dimensions of flavour on each plate, each excellently balanced” and service with “just the right balance of the professional and the friendly” mean this veteran of The Lanes remains, for most reporters, “a revelation of how pleasing a vegetarian restaurant can be (and I am an omnivore!)” thanks to its “complex” dishes and “truly original flavour combinations”. Indeed, this “lively” venue is the most commented-on destination in town in our annual diners’ poll and the UK’s most prominent meat-free venue. Ratings, though, were dragged down a little this year by a few more cautious reporters who feel “it used to be a trail blazer but hasn’t moved on” and is “not as pleasing as it was”. On most accounts, though, it remains “worth the trip to the south coast”: “you don’t feel like you’re missing out on meat or fish”.
6. Limes Thai Kitchen
Thai restaurant in Lindfield
67 High Street - RH16
“Really impressive and tasty food that’s a cut above usual Thai fare” and “attentive service” win praise for this local Thai, on the high street of a super-cute village. Top Tip – “top delivery” too: “speedy delivery and delicious food; and a good range for vegans too”.
7. Indian Summer
Indian restaurant in Brighton
70 East Street - BN1
2022 Review: “Creative and delicious” – this pleasing Lanes spot, say fans, “takes Indian food to new heights”. One or two reporters this year, though, craved more spice here.
8. Flint House
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
13 Hannington’s Lane - BN1
“Every dish is packed with flavour” at this “crowd-pleasing”, modern British small plates venue from Pamela & Ben McKellar’s Gingerman group, with a “bright and friendly dining room above the bucolic Lanes of Brighton”: there’s a “really something for everyone”, backed up with “super-friendly service”.
9. Wahaca
Mexican restaurant in Brighton
160-161 North Street - BN1
These “lively, colourful” Mexican street-food joints are, say fans, “great for a quick bite” – “the food remains pretty good (if not where it was several years ago)” and “you can’t complain at the prices”. That’s the majority view anyway, although there is a small minority who feel it’s “very average” now (and its ratings risk heading that way). Founded by MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers in 2007, the group hit the buffers during the pandemic and halved in size to 10 sites in London, with Dick Enthoven of Nando’s taking a controlling stake.
10. Donatello
Italian restaurant in Brighton
1-3 Brighton Pl - BN1
2023 Review: “A bustling Italian pizzeria with huge helpings of food like Mama makes” in the heart of the Lanes. “Comforting and joyous” – it provides “value-for-money pastas and pizzas and is ideal for outings with young family members”.
11. Plateau
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
1 Bartholomews - BN1
2021 Review: “A shabby-chic bistro with pleasant staff and interesting small plates” – fish-centric – plus “natural wines to complement the seasonal organic food”.
12. Riddle & Finns
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
12b Meeting House Ln - BN1
This “cracking hidden gem, tucked away in the Lanes” is “a bit of a Brighton institution now, and rightly so” – an “intimate and romantic” place where “the seafood is fresh, the dishes filling yet light and the service unobtrusive but friendly”. “It provides a great selection of crustacea and everything from mackerel to Dover sole”. There is now also a beachside offshoot in the Rotunda on Brighton’s Promenade.
13. 64 Degrees
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
53 Meeting House Lane - BN1
GBM winner Michael Bremner’s open-kitchen Lanes joint has been one of Brighton’s most interesting culinary venues for years, and remains “sensational” thanks to tasting menus that are “full of surprises” (as much the veggie option as the carnivorous one). Add in “attentive service and a buzzing atmosphere” (“sitting at the pass is a fantastic experience”) and it’s “highly recommended” by its very many fans. (It’s priced for the evening taster menu, but you can also make a meal of individual small plates here for a much more modest cost).
14. Food for Friends
Vegetarian restaurant in Brighton
17-18 Prince Albert St - BN1
“Highly recommended by locals”, this Lanes veteran of more than 40 years serves up “gorgeous, colourful veggie food” in a “glam and romantic” environment. Juggling “exotic flavours” from various Mediterranean and Asian cuisines, the kitchen sends out dishes that are “great, even for carnivores”. Its younger sibling, Botanique, offers similar options in nearby Hove.
15. Kindling
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
69 East Street - BN1
2022 Review: Opened just before Christmas 2019, a brightly decorated establishment where everything is cooked over open fire in the central open kitchen. It’s from the Food for Friends team with chefs Holly Taylor and Toby Geneen. Limited initial feedback, but ratings are strong and reports are of a “carnivore’s delight”.
16. Patty and Bun
Burgers, etc restaurant in Brighton
56 Ship Street - BN1
“So tasty and messy – I love it”, say fans of this 12-year-old London operation who insist it’s the “best burger restaurant in town – others copy but this is consistently the best” “for when you want a full-on dripping burger and to hell with the diet!”. Expansion of the chain has proved difficult in the last year, with the Notting Hill branch shutting up shop just months after its summer 2022 opening.
17. Petit Pois
French restaurant in Brighton
70 Ship Street - BN1
With a “uniquely buzzing atmosphere” befitting its Lanes location, this little bistro has a winning line in “classic French cooking that’s beautifully executed” and “good quality for the price” as well; the “simple steak frites and fish soup are a must”, and fans are “always interested to see what cheeses are chalked up on the board”.
18. Burger Brothers
Burgers, etc restaurant in Brighton
97 North Rd - BN1
2023 Review: “Not a restaurant… rather a tiny room with some bar stools along the wall”. Fans say “it’s a ‘must-try’ experience for all lovers of honest, tasty cuisine! The burgers are juicy, and full of flavour from the quality of the meat to the seasonings”.
19. Burnt Orange
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
59 Middle Street - BN1
Brighton success story the Black Rock group’s “packed” two-year-old is a “fun, open, casual restaurant” that doubles as a DJ-fuelled late-night hangout. The Middle Eastern small plates, “centred around wood-fired cooking”, can be “too much on the same theme”, but the majority verdict is that it’s still amongst “the best culinary experiences” in town. Italian fan? The empire (inc. The Salt Room, and The Coal Shed, now with a London spin-off) also spawned Italian haunt Tutto, in a former Brighton banking hall, in autumn 2022.
20. The Coal Shed
Steaks & grills restaurant in Brighton
8 Boyces St - BN1
“A proper meat restaurant!” – Razak Helalat’s popular destination (which has a London sibling near Tower Bridge) is known for its “perfectly done steaks” (although “if you don’t like your steak and red meat, you may feel a bit stuck”); and also wins praise for its “great and attentive service” too. Even those who feel it’s “very good”, though, can also feel it’s “expensive for what it is”.
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