[On behalf of Restaurants Brighton]

It is said that we are going through a “Ginaissance”, with supposedly 135 gin distilleries operating in the UK and more bottles being sold than ever before! Many of the unique craft gins can be found only at premium stockists or festivals and this is exactly where you will find Madame Jennifer, the Urban Small Batch Distillery toasting to the revival.

[Summary on behalf of Restaurants Brighton]

For a lot of the smaller, intimate restaurants, a critical concern in the time of lockdown has been how to pivot business. Hove’s neighbourhood bistro, Wild Flor (which originally seats 36 covers per sitting) have pivoted in bringing delectable British and French cuisine to your own home with a ‘finish at home’ experience. We embraced the interactive element of ‘Wild Flor To Your Door’ which not only allowed us to indulge in beautifully seasonal ingredients, but we also got creative in preparing an aesthetic table to match our food.

[Summary on behalf of Restaurants Brighton]

Let’s face it, we have all missed going out for the epic English roast dinner during this pandemic. The energetic among us may have rustled up a feast from home, but there is something about dining out with no washing up and subtracting the hours of slaving in the kitchen. Here’s where Hove Place have hit the jackpot with their ‘finish at home’ roast dinners, also offering starters and dessert to bring the restaurant experience to life.

Material consequences are arising as a result of intense trials by social media. In fact this behaviour has been labelled or several years as ‘cancel culture’, otherwise known as online shaming. This is a movement of speaking truth to power, a movement pivotal to social and economic progress. Or is it? There are arguments suggesting we ought to be equally cautious of cancel culture, and we should feel empowered to detach ourselves from any social pressure in order to make our own, autonomous consumption choices.

Like everyone else I was astonished by Adele’s remarkable weight loss in her recent Instagram post, however I found the focus on her body really reductive, in fact it really triggered me. I like Adele, though I have never had any strong feelings towards or against her either as a musician or as an individual. On reflection I think my frustration stems from a form of empathy for her. I can’t say I’ve won 15 Grammies, neither have I been in the position to lose 7 stone. I’m not even going to stand with the for or against camp of her weight loss, quite the contrary. I feel that there is an unaddressed angle to the argument which I will express in mind of my own experiences.

[Summary on behalf of Restaurants Brighton]

You may already know of Kujira for being one of the bright young things transforming Preston Street into Brighton’s lively foodie centre, and, despite lockdown, it is continuing to thrive with its delivery service. I can wholeheartedly say that Kujira has the best Japanese takeaway Brighton has to offer. I often find that Japanese doesn’t travel well but our food arrived timely, handsomely packaged (still presented in a restaurant-ly form), at a good temperature and with the same superb flavours as in the restaurant.

[Summary on behalf of Restaurants Brighton]

The Great British Charcuterie Co. provide carefully curated boxes of specially selected, seasonal and sustainable produce each month, eliminating the question of indecision when it comes to sophisticated flavour combinations! Four cheese, four charcuterie cuts, indulgent, artisan crackers and chutney are provided alongside a full list of tasting notes and pairing suggestions, including delivery to your door by a friendly member of their team.

Our consumption habits are changing; a lot of us are privileged to be able to make conscious economic decisions based around our ethics and concern for the environment. Our demand for sustainable products has led to an increasing number of brands strategically delivering stories as a way of appearing transparent and responsible, while their words are later found out to be a belch of jargon for marketing purposes. 

Home is no longer a mere base for down time. For some of us it is now our office, our gym, and our coffee shop (a rather sad and uninspiring one). Whether you can work from home or not is almost irrelevant- all of us are finding some form of dwelling where we are, in theory, keeping organised and forming a routine.

This post was a cathartic exercise for me to voice and make sense of my thoughts when they became all the more confusing and consuming. There was no real conclusion to it other than voicing how I had enough, and since then the conclusion I have come to is that the most important thing in this process is to speak out.

[On behalf of Restaurants Brighton]

Launched in November 2019, Cyan promises more casual dining than its exclusively fine-dining predecessor at The Grand Brighton. With the same Head Chef ,Alan White, the refurbished venue has a more relaxed, contemporary vibe which is not to the detriment of the premium hospitality GB1 previously boasted.

Providing you with your holy buddha bowl right the way through to your whisky sour, 640 East brings a glimmer of Shoreditch to the North Laine. While it’s not difficult to find your specialty coffee served by a member of the beanie crowd here in Brighton, the boys at 640 East bring modesty with this forward-thinking eatery. This is more than just an impressive rosetta on your latte and Insta-worthy avocado on toast.

Deep within us is an escape from the world through movement, and those who doubt this have merely not yet discovered their passion. From this I have taken a life long goal of mine to prove this and empower others to discover this escapism. I voiced this in the group interview stage of my application to Lululemon, where on the outside I probably seemed confident and collected, when on the inside I felt a bit of a dick for expressing what I truly believe in.

I have decided to take refuge from the cold Winter weather in London’s Seven Dials Market. While this climate is in stark contrast to the warm temperatures I was walking around in just a week ago, it strangely doesn’t feel too dissimilar from Melbourne. In fact my coffee was just served by two Aussie’s!

I hate the expression of going travelling to “find yourself” and passionately denied that it was my reason for coming to Australia- but as I am now into the final quarter of my time here I can wholeheartedly say that this has been the most valuable experience of my life and I have learnt more in one year than I have learnt from 18 years of education.

I have been meaning to write this post for months (my bad), and the number of unused food photos in my phone gallery is frankly quite ridiculous. Here is a review of my favourite eateries I’ve visited so far, and after this post I plan on reviewing more of them individually!

“You’re not a true Melburnian until you’ve found yourself ordering a fancy coffee”.

So far all of my posts have commenced from an almond flat white and the bustling background of a local coffee spot (pretentious, right?). And this post is no different!

Similar to the reflection on my experience of making friends here, I think I arrived in Australia with an ignorant approach towards working abroad. I thought I would arrive, have a few weeks to settle, explore, and get the usual life admin together (Medicare, Tax file number, etc), then land a job within a week or so of applying. It has proven otherwise!

Travelling in its conventional sense of the word has never appealed to me, but I’ve found it really refreshing to have five solid weeks of exploring a new city with no pressure to do anything other than what I wanted, while equally having a permanent form of residence. I definitely would have felt uncomfortable staying in a hostel, sharing a room with half a dozen other people and having no option but to eat out for every meal of every day.

Happy Sunday everyone! In my first few weeks here I have already learnt a few important lessons about travelling alone, and I pondered upon these while setting up this blog in a cafe with a lovely view down one of The Laneway’s (Block Place, just off of Little Collins Street).