Ruby Tates

What a find!! Ruby Tate's rocks.

My partner and I arrived feeling very jaded after a couple of days partying in Brighton and feeling quite jaded. Thank God for Alan the owner who, although he looked as though he'd been partying for far longer than us, was the life and soul of the place. He has a long history in the restaurant business and it shows. His aim here was to combine everything he'd learnt over the years and to give Brighton a really wonderful fine dining without the stuffiness experience and he's achieved it in spades.

The decor and overall ambiance are wonderfully bright and cheerful, a bit like Alan himself. It's comfortable without being dull which is a difficult trick to pull off. There's also a very buzzy bar that is far enough from the dining tables for the noise from the bar not to intrude on the diners.

Now to the main reason I'm writing this review......the food. I can honestly say that that I can't remember ever having such fresh and well prepared fish as we had here. We started with a few oysters that were to die for and, as we had been eating them for a couple of days in other Brighton restaurants, I can say that these were by far the best in Brighton and right up there with the best ever. We followed this with sardines for me and scallops for my partner, again a complete revelation being so fresh and well cooked that we were sitting there in extasy. Then the main course. I had the whole sea bass which when the skin was cut just poured with natural suculent juices. The flesh was translucently perfect and eating it was just like one long orgasm. My partner had the whole plaice which again was cooked and presented to perfection. The creme brulee we shared as a desert was great but we were really stuffed by then and really not in a position to enjoy it properly unfortuately.

There is another brilliant innovation at Ruby Tate's and that is that you can have any wine or champagne by the glass as they have installed some very clever widget that keeps opened bottles as fresh as when they were opened.

Alan has spent a fortune in all the right places with this restaurant including three chefs who are all, I think, Gordon Ramsay trained and all I can say there is that they cook better than their old boss and we've eaten in his flagship restaurant a couple of times. The basic cooking at Ruby Tate's is BETTER.

Brighton has at last got what it deserves as a restaurant, the only other one up in that league being One Paston Place which is a lot more traditional and aimed at a different market really.

So come on Brighton and get behind this restaurant and give Alan the success he truly deserves
Comment on this reader review

Chris
Tuesday, August 29, 2006