Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in East Sussex
Hardens guides have spent 30 years compiling reviews of the best East Sussex restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 261 restaurants in East Sussex and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing East Sussex restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured East Sussex Restaurants
1. Terre à Terre
Vegetarian restaurant in Brighton
71 East St - BN1
“Who needs meat?” – This Lanes icon is “still the finest veggie around”: indisputably “the best in Brighton” and many reporters feel “unquestionably the best veggie in Britain” too. Its “adventurous and fun menu” (“some absolute stormers!”) is reliably “exciting” and “has every angle covered if your tendencies splash over into the domains of veganism or gluten free diets, plus a good worldwide selection of organic wines (red and white) along with some pretty unusual sparkling ones”. “Definitely well worth a visit even if you are a dedicated carnivore”.
2. La Choza
Mexican/TexMex restaurant in Brighton
36 Gloucester Rd - BN1
2018 Review: “Fun, chaotic, loud, colourful and wipe-clean” North Laine street-food bar which provides “everything you need for messy Mexican food with lots of friends”, including “lethal margaritas” and “superb” burritos and nachos.
3. The Chilli Pickle
Indian restaurant in Brighton
17 Jubilee St - BN1
“Everyone's favourite Indian in Brighton” – practically all reports acclaim the “modern, lively and always enjoyable” (if “rather noisy”) style of this Arts Quarter fixture; and its “lovey choice” of dishes that “elevate the CP above your standard curry house fare”.
4. The Salt Room
Fish & seafood restaurant in Brighton
106 Kings Road - BN1
“It's all about the fish” (“amazing” albeit “very expensive”) at this “great seafood brasserie in a lovely location on Brighton seafront” – although they also turn out “brilliant quality steaks” (with “sharing plates for two – fish or meat – a particular feature”). The venue elicits reams of feedback – amongst the highest quantity of any venue in town – all highly positive.
5. The Coal Shed
Steaks & grills restaurant in Brighton
8 Boyces St - BN1
“Top quality grilled meats and a lively atmosphere” help score good all-round ratings for Dave Mothershill’s stylish grill (which has a London offshoot near Tower Bridge).
6. Riddle & Finns On The Beach
Fish & seafood restaurant in Brighton
139 Kings Road Arches - BN1
An “excellent location (under the arches on Brighton beach) to soak up the sun on the terrace or watch it set from a window seat on the first floor” – this offshoot of the well-known Lanes oyster bar makes for the “perfect end to a day at the seaside”, not least thanks to its “amazingly fresh” fish and seafood.
7. Drakes of Brighton
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
43 - 44 Marine Parade - BN2
It’s 15 years since this basement in a Kemptown boutique hotel helped raise the excitement level about Brighton’s eateries, and it remains one of the city’s better dining destinations to this day. One repeat visitor was “disappointed on a return-visit after many years”, but most reporters still rate the cuisine here very highly and the only other gripe we received last year was “pity it doesn’t have a sea view…”
8. English’s
Fish & seafood restaurant in Brighton
29-31 East St - BN1
One of England’s oldest restaurants: the Leigh-Jones family’s seafood period-piece, in the Lanes – run by the clan since 1945, but established in the 1890s – has a “huge number of things to recommend”, not least its “lovely fresh local oysters and mussels” and an outside terrace for sunny days.
9. Riddle & Finns
British, Modern restaurant in Brighton
12b Meeting House Ln - BN1
“Overall just a fantastic experience” – a Lanes oyster bar, with a spinoff on the promenade (“both are very popular”), which wins numerous raves for “the most amazing seafood”, combined with “brilliant” service and a pleasingly “informal” set-up (communal tables) whereby “you might easily find yourself sharing a tall table with strangers”.
10. The Sundial
French restaurant in Herstmonceux
Gardner St - BN27
2018 Review: “A wonderful surprise in the Sussex countryside” – a chic, beamed Gallic venture, overlooking the South Downs, and delivering very “good” food and presentation; the worst complaint this year? – “too much food!”.
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