Skint at 640 East - A fairly-priced foraged feast with plenty of heart

Skint is a monthly event hosted by supper club supremos The Syndicate Kitchen, who aim to dish up a fine-dining experience at less than top-dollar prices.

In the thoroughly stylish surroundings of Brighton’s newest restaurant, 640 East, they hosted their latest sold-out event on January 27.

It was a more than apt setting, not just because the Upper Gardener Street venue has a mission statement to support local talent and chefs who don’t have their own premises.

But also because the Skint concept is the brainchild of Michael Notman-Watts, former Ops Manager at zero-waste restaurant Silo, the impressive, but somewhat controversial previous incumbent of the site.

The eight-course menu was certainly in the spirit of Silo in terms of how much had been foraged and found in the fields, hedges and coastline of Sussex.

Michael took over the reins from 640 East’s head chef Oliver Hassan, joined by Matt to make full use of the kitchen’s large open fire, and coming up with some fab dishes for £25 per head.

First off the grill was barbecue Alexander bud, with sauerkraut and sour cream. Alexander bud? No, me neither. But fortunately it was swiftly explained as a wild food which grows on cliff tops and seaside hedgerows.

We were on more familiar ground, if not terra firma, with the next course of a nicely spiced trout belly baji, festooned with strips of three-corner garlic, a slightly milder version of the wild garlic we’ll start to see in spring.

A slab of grilled anchovy flatbread followed soon after, and tasted infinitely better than it photographed, so, visually, you’ll have to take us on our word with that one.

Michael is on record as saying that Skint is not ‘fillet steak and caviar, it’s pig’s head and cheese rinds’ and although there were no porcine pates on show a salt-baked celeriac teamed up well with the aforementioned cheese rind sauce and Babington leeks.

Good old Sussex by the Sea was in evidence with a plate of wild sea vegetables which was transformed into a great crunchy salad with a zingy strawberry top vinegar.

The stand out dish was the jerk ox heart, with a just a gently hum of spicy heat, the superb slices of muscle were served with an equally muscular meaty reduction. There’s a time and a place for everything, and at that exact moment it was time to stop talking about Veganuary.

Similarly, Dry January became a little wetter and bit livelier for a few people with a round of 640 East’s award-winning Lemon Love Drop cocktails.

Recently crowned Best Cocktail at the UnBarred Cocktail Competition, this sweet and sour creation was described as the lovechild of a lemon sherbert and rhubarb bon bon, and is the perfect antidote to the more sensible, but perhaps slightly less fun, examples of mixology.

Pudding, consistently enough, came in the form of a coal-baked meringue and pickled cranberries on gram biscuit, and was a lot sweeter and creamier than it sounds, and for a final nibble, a delish wlid hop-soaked sponge.

640 East promises to host more collaborative events throughout the year and more ‘thoughtful food’.

The next special event will take place on Mother’s Day on March 22, and features a one-off two-course or three-course menu for £24 and £29 respectivley.

To keep informed visit 640east.co.uk/640east-brighton-home, and to find out more about The Syndicate Kitchen go to www.facebook.com/TheSyndicateKitchen/