all about us | search reviews | links | message board | articles | submit review | ipod reviews | rage | top ten requested reviews | archive | double agents | best burger in London | buy | join spy | advertise on spy | local pages | oldsite | contact us
Home » Country » UK » England

East Sussex

Riddle & Finns Champagne & Oyster Bar, 129 Church Road, Hove BN3 2AE

Riddle & Finns Champagne & Oyster Bar, 129 Church Road, Hove BN3 2AE

129 Church Road, Hove BN3 2AE

I’ve reviewed Riddle & Finns Brighton establishment before but they’ve recently opened a branch in Hove so I popped in. I’ll keep this review short since the general feel is similar to their Brighton place, but smaller.

We sat down and ordered a drink. ‘Does your Guinness come in bottles?,’ I asked the waitress. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so,’ she replied. Well, since I like bottle Guinness and not draught, this was good. It arrived already in a glass. ‘Did this come out of a bottle?,’ I asked the (different) waitress. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Then why has it got an inch and a half of head on it?’ I wanted to know. ‘We pour it so well,’ she said. I frowned. ‘Oh, and there’s a widget in the bottle.’ I smelt a rat and took a sip. It was out of a can or I’m a Dutchman. I returned it and ordered a Budvar, which – interestingly – arrived at the table in its bottle, just like all the other beer I saw that night. If it’s in a can, chaps, why not admit it, or better actually get a few bottles in. Some of us know the difference.

By Perry Stalsis at 03/04/2008 - 09:56 | 2008 | British | East Sussex | OK | Review | ££££/$$$$ | add new comment | read more | 232 reads

Wimpy, 105 Blatchington Road, Hove BN3 3YG

Wimpy, 105 Blatchington Road, Hove BN3 3YG

105 Blatchington Road, Hove BN3 3YG

Ok so I went to Wimpy – so what?!

Wimpy is little changed from the places I remember from my 70s youth. Lots of plastic, strange food and a feeling that the driftwood of life washes up here.

There was me, Mart, and T. We had had a couple of beers and fancied a face full of something before a few more beers. Wimpy was closer than the curry house and it seemed like a novel idea.

We found a seat without trouble – there being only two other people in the place: both staff.

By Perry Stalsis at 25/03/2008 - 14:07 | 2008 | British | East Sussex | OK | Review | £/$ | add new comment | read more | 82 reads

Simply Italian, 15-18 East Parade, Hastings, TN34 3AL

Simply Italian, 15-18 East Parade, Hastings, TN34 3AL

15-18 East Parade, Hastings, TN34 3AL

Bracing winds and intermittent rain lash the seafront at Hastings on an in-between-Christmas-and-New-Year family excursion. The crushing disappointment that the fairground rides are closed and the increasingly desperate and ultimately fruitless search for an open fish and chip shop led us to this Italian bistro on the East Parade.

We piled into a booth, kids warned to avoid the expensive chef's specials - there's seven of us for chrissakes - and a variety of pizza and pasta appeared much as we expected. My middle son kept asking for his four cheese pizza to come without mushrooms, but, you guessed it, it did. Some discussion about the desserts on the blackboard was negated because "no sir - they're all off".

By m at 08/01/2008 - 12:00 | 2008 | Approved | East Sussex | Families | Italian | Large Groups | Review | £££/$$$ | add new comment | read more | 121 reads

Nobles Restaurant, 17 High Street, Battle, East Sussex, TN33 0AE

Nobles Restaurant, 17 High Street, Battle, East Sussex, TN33 0AE

17 High Street, Battle, East Sussex, TN33 0AE

Before making our way to the freshly open ‘Nobles Restaurant’ in the High Street, Battle (opened 1st July 07) we took a peek at the website www.noblesrestaurant.co.uk. The promise of fresh seasonal produce left us salivating at the thought of rustic earthy flavours.

On arriving at the restaurant, the décor was simple, warm and welcoming, there was a healthy aura of happy relaxation and the customers who were all varying in age, seemed to be enjoying themselves. Service was impeccable, friendly but professional, coats were elegantly taken and we were seated. The menu was simple with variation to appeal to all tastes, there was no fancy speak, nothing you had to question, it was all there in black and white and in plain English. We ordered the house white, which was a 2006 VEGA DEL CASTILLO, Navarra, Spain and was very pleasantly light and fresh with a hint of fruit and accompanied our meal well. We were given a couple of slices of homemade bread with butter (the butter, unfortunately straight from the fridge and our table had been forgotten regarding side plates for the bread).

By m at 05/09/2007 - 15:47 | 2007 | Approved | £££££/$$$$$ | East Sussex | Review | Service | add new comment | read more | 317 reads

Trawlers, 32-34 Church Street, Seaford E. Sussex BN25 1LD

Trawlers, 32-34 Church Street, Seaford E. Sussex BN25 1LD

32-34 Church Street, Seaford E. Sussex BN25 1LD

There's only one good thing about Trawlers - everything else is abysmal. When we walked in, we could have lowered the average age significantly, but we had our 86 year old Uncle with us. However, he walks with a stick, which is right on trend for Trawlers. The tables are densely packed, and all the chairs have splayed legs, so manoeuvering around this dismal restaurant is a challenge even for the young and able bodied. When we arrived at 12.30 on a wet Friday, the place was already packed with wrinklies, we had to go up the rubber ramp to the even dingier bit at the back.

By Daisy Middleton at 30/06/2007 - 10:39 | 2007 | Approved | East Sussex | Review | Traditional | ££/$$ | add new comment | read more | 141 reads

The Lewes Arms, Mount Place, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YH

The Lewes Arms, Mount Place, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YH

Mount Place, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YH

There’s been a load of stuff in the newspapers, on Spy, and elsewhere about the Lewes Arms in Lewes and the successful 100-day picket by regulars. Greene King took off the Harveys bitter and replaced it with their own bitter. So the regulars stood out in the rain and explained the situation to potential customers, thereby turning The Lewes Arms into a ghost-pub. The company’s income plummeted (90% or thereabouts has been quoted), a senior guy at Greene King was finally ‘resigned’, and the Harveys went back on -- after months of bland assertions by GK that replacing the locally-brewed award-winning beer with Bury St Edmunds- or BSE-brewed Greene King bitter, was a superb idea.
Well I went in recently to see if all was back to normal. I liked the following:

By Perry Stalsis at 21/06/2007 - 09:31 | 2007 | East Sussex | OK | Pub | Review | £££/$$$ | add new comment | read more | 95 reads
XML feed