I’ve been wibbling on about this place ever since I went to the launch night on 4th April 2014, so I went back there for lunch today and fell in love with the food all over again.
A little background then: Euan, who describes himself on the website as Commercial & Marketing Director, met the Head Chef when he advertised for a lodger and Kanthi responded and moved in. Kanthi has quite a pedigree and was working at The Chilli Pickle at the time (a wonderful restaurant in the North Laine by the library – if you haven’t been here, you NEED to go) and Euan was totally blown away by his cooking. He’d loved Indian food for as far back as he can remember, so it seemed like fate had thrown the two of them together and the idea for the Curry Leaf Café was born.
They’ve taken their time in honing their ideas and have come up with a relaxed drop-in concept, focussed on authentic Southern Indian street food. They want people to feel just as comfortable popping in for a coffee or a spiced chai as they would for a three course dinner.
We went for lunch on a VERY rainy Easter Sunday so it was unsurprisingly pretty quiet. Service was still done with a smile though and there was something quite comforting about perusing the menu while the sound of the rain on the glass roof provided the backing track.
We ordered a bowl of masala roasted peanuts while we decided on the rest.
Lightly spiced and tossed with onions, coriander, chilli, tomato and fresh lime – these went down a treat!
Pani puri chat – crispy fried puri breads stuffed with chickpea and potato salad and drizzled with mint chutney and a date and tamarind sauce. We actually tried this at the launch, but sadly, I can’t find it on any of the current menus on the website. I do hope this doesn’t mean they’ve dropped it permanently as it’s just too lovely not to bring back!
We shared a couple of dishes from the street food menu:
Aloo mutter tikki – potato and green pea patties, fried and served with date and tamarind chutney, coriander chutney and a sweet paprika yoghurt drizzle.
Really tasty and perfectly complimented by the accompanying sauces and chutneys.
Next up, karivepaku kodi – chicken breast marinated in a ‘special spice and curry leaf blend’ (it would be nice to have a few more details on the spices here), crispy fried and then tempered with green chillies and ginger.
For me, this could have done with a bit more of that promised chilli and ginger kick, but it was really good nonetheless. It came with a yoghurt dip which I think was the same as the paprika drizzle that was on the patties. I’m not usually that fond of chicken breast – I don’t like the texture, but this was really moist and tender.
Me and Mr BMB both plumped for a thali. I opted for the vegetarian one, because it comes with an aubergine pulli kozambu which is a gravy (curry to us Westerners) made with tamarind, tomatoes and various spices and herbs. I found a basic recipe for kuzhambu on Wikipedia which goes some way to explaining the basics, though there are so many regional variations, it’s hard to pin down one that is exactly like this one. The aubergines came whole, about the size of a medium plum tomato, and split so that they soaked up some of the sauce. They were beautifully cooked; soft but not soggy. Mr BMB had the meat thali which came with Hyderabadi lamb and all thalis come with (left to right) cabbage poriyal (shallow fried spiced red cabbage), palak daal (lentils and spinach), tomato rasam (a South Indian soup, lovely spooned over the rice) and a mixed veg pickle (a very sour pickle which added a wonderful contrast to overall quite mild collection of dishes). You also get naan, rice and papads. It’s a hugely filling meal and in hindsight, I may have been better off skipping the starter – I was full for the rest of the day!
The pic below is the meat thali
You get a lassi with the thalis too. In this case, it was a mango and pistachio one. Yum. I would have preferred it without the ice though. It somehow detracted from the taste.
Our friend had a masala dosa which he assured us was excellent – I didn’t manage to get a pic as he vacuumed it up pretty sharpish.
We skipped dessert as we were really full, but they had two flavours of ice cream from those lovely locals Boho Gelato or a coconut and lime sorbet. Even though I wasn’t having dessert, I was a bit disappointed at the choices. I can’t help thinking that they have a great opportunity here to corner a niche market and get the tea and coffee lovers in for something a bit different – an Indian afternoon tea. There has to be someone who could create some cakey treats in keeping with the traditional regional flavours? I’d definitely be up for this and I know a whole lot of ladies who would be all over it!
Their reputation for great food is already creating a good buzz and I suspect it will be difficult to get a table in the summer months to come. They’ve got plans to sell takeaway boxes for beach picnics which I love the sound of.
They have a good varied list of wines and craft beers as well as Thatcher’s cider on draught and plenty of soft drinks, teas and coffees including chai and lassis.
Service: Unhurried, friendly, informative – though we were the only people there, so we’ll see what happens on a busy night!
Decor: Fresh, bright and airy – there’s still some work to be done on the decor, we’re told to expect pushbikes and street signs. Sounds amazing! I’ll pop back and take photos when it’s all done.
Toilets: I’m sorry guys, but I hate the toilets here. Yes, they’re clean and functional (although the tap in the ladies is still loose!) but having the door open so you can see straight into the first cubicle when you walk down the stairs isn’t an attractive feature and the layout means it’s like a Crystal Maze challenge just navigating your way in there. There has to be a better way to use the limited space?
Prices: Something for every pocket here. Nibbles (those masala peanuts) start at £3.00, the thalis are from £9.00 – £11.00 and drinks are fairly average restaurant prices (though I think that £3.50 for a small glass of wine is pretty good compared to some places). Our meal for three came to just over £60 including drinks. The dinner menu has mains that range from £10.50 to £13. Full menus with prices on the site.
Grrs: Only the loos and a tinge of disappointment that the decor wasn’t finished. I was told that they were now offering complimentary chai with every meal but this wasn’t mentioned when we visited and there weren’t any signs of offers anywhere which you’d expect at a new place.Picky, picky I know, but that’s me all over isn’t it?
Overall, it’s a fantastic place and they should do well. I want to see this place succeed as they’ve got something unique, so I feel that they should be doing everything possible to get bums on seats, because once they do, they’ll have no problem getting people to come back for more. I know they’ve got a lot of intriguing plans in the pipeline and are about to embark on some pop-ups at the The Craft Beer Company but again, no promotion for this within the café and it’s a fantastic idea. The first one is on the 1st May. Something different for the diary.
I’ll be back for dinner soon. 8/10
Curry Leaf Café, 60 Ship Street, Brighton BN1 1AE Tel: 01273 207070 Email: info@curryleafcafe.com (Oddly, the opening times aren’t on the website so I’ll update this in the next few days). You can book using the form on the website.
Bite Me, Brighton 
Recent Comments