Chaula's Indian Restaurant Brighton

Last week my friend came to Brighton and on our ventures around town we discovered a new Indian Restaurant. The bright orange name plaque on the wall drew us in. 

'What is that orange House there?' 'Let's go find out!'

 Being in a place were people don't usually walk along, behind the Town Hall, it's plain brilliance to appear so bright and cheerful in the distance.

Coming closer we learned it isn't 'Charlie's', or 'Chana's', but 'Chaula's', an Indian Restaurant/ Cafe, that opened it's doors in Brighton 4 month ago, having had a successful start in Lewes, where the original Restaurant is.

And rightly so. The quality of food is outstanding.

We had the Lunchtime Special Thali. One Vegetarian and one with Meat, made for 15 different things to taste in total.

The flavours of each dish were totally unique and entirely different to every other dish. Making it a discovery of tantalising flavours as you go through your meal. All I could say was yum, yum yum, and yum yum yum. 

I believe that they must have a real Tandoori Clay Oven, because the fresh Naan Bread had that tell tale shape and taste. The Special Thali's were on Offer at £7 instead of £14 for a limited time. So get your skates on before it's too late. But even if it was the full price I would be more than happy to pay it.

On the way out I grabbed a Take Away Menu and was surprised what interesting dishes it had, besides the old favourites, that even I have never even heard of. This is real Indian food, made by real Indian people with love and talent.

I highly recommend to visit this Restaurant as I will certainly do again soon.

And here is the address:

Chaula's

2-3 Little East Street

Brighton

East Sussex

BN1 1HT

Tel: 01273 771661

Here is a link to their website: www.chaulas.co.uk

'Pho' Vietnamese Street Food in Brighton

Vietnamese cuisine is becoming increasingly popula. Direct flights to Vietnam being introduced to Airports around Europe and tourists coming back from their travels wanting to eat the food they had on holiday. There have been new cooking programs on the Telly, show casting this new and exciting cuisine. We are tempted with delicacies that come from this far flung land wherever we look. 

After opening it's doors in 2005, the family run Restaurant 'Pho' has quickly expanded to 5 Restaurants in London and now we have one in Brighton, too. 

Pho is the national dish of Vietnam, a rich Beef Broth with Rice Noodles and Herbs, made lovingly by street vendors all over the Country and served to the nation for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had heard about this famous soup a few times now and since I haven't been to Vietnam yet, I decided that this will be the closest I can get to trying the real thing. So. Did it deliver what it promised?

The menu doesn't just have Pho Soup in all it's variations (vegetarian version included), there are also various other things on offer.
Salads, Vietnamese Springrolls, Bun Noodles, and Curries to name a few. It isn't however a huge variety. That's good. As the star of the show is of course the Pho. Truth be told, his Restaurant maybe even more popular if it dared to serve nothing but the Pho Soup.

So here it is, in all it's glory.
The promise of a rich broth infused with exotic spices, simmered since yesterday to extract even the last bit of goodness from it's source the beef.
Brimming full of that slow cooked flavour with a depth of mystery and peaks of freshness from the herbs added at the last second.

I liked the fact the waitress gives instructions on how best to eat your Pho. After all it is a very personal affair, this taste thing.
She recommends: 'Start with just the soup as it is, then add some of the herbs, chillies, nam chouk sauce or lime juice as you go.'
This will make anyone's inner child want to come out and play with your food!

Pho really did keep it's promise. It may sound like it's only a soup, but there is nothing 'only' about it. It's a big bold hearty and very satisfying bowl of  goodness. I love it and will not only make this at home but I will come back and have a few more bowls right here. (with the loyalty card filling up, I will get a free one soon) Maybe someday in the not so distant future, I can have the real REAL thing in Vietnam, by the side of a bustling street. That will be nice.

Here is a  link to the Pho Restaurant Website: http://www.phocafe.co.uk/
12 Black Lion Street
Brighton                                                                                       

Telephone:  01273 202 403