Here's to the night

At the end of last week I headed to one of my favourite Brighton restaurants, Bellotta. The Bar Y Tapas opened at the beginning of this year and I have already visited far too many times to count. The food is some of the best I've eaten out in a long time, the service impeccable and the menu choices are really varied. This time it was a girly trip and we started the meal with a good bottle of white and some Pan Tomaca - freshly baked bread, rubbed with garlic, oil and served with fresh tomatoes.

Then it was on to the main affair of the evening. The tapas! The restaurant recommend 3/4 dishes per person which I think is definitely about right. Patatas Bravas - potatoes with sundered tomatoes and garlic mayo - filled the table, followed quickly by seafood baskets of squid, prawns and mussels, mushrooms, white fish and serious amounts of garlicy deliciousness. The girls ordered chorizo, steak and chicken and there was barely a space on the table! Everything was fresh and tasty, the perfect kinda meal to enjoy over a good catch up.

The tapas bar is the first of its kind in the UK and totally beats to offerings of La Tasca, and most of the independents that I've been to for tapas which I often find to be a little greasy. I really wouldn't mind if Bellota opened up a few more branches, preferably in London ready for next year… please?

If you're in Brighton this little place is well worth a visit. If you're heading there at the weekend make sure you book as it does get busy and be sure to sign up online or at the bar for a Belotta card. It gives you 20% off and just makes the whole meal incredibly reasonable - how does £15 a head with wine sound? And now you see why I can't stay away!

You can check out the restaurant here for more details.

10 Green Bottles

Looking for somewhere to enjoy a nice glass of wine and some nibbles; date night; girly night or simply a bar thats a bit different? On Friday night I headed to 10 Green Bottles in the Brighton South Lanes for drinks with the girls. I'd been meaning to try this place for a while. It looks inviting - armchairs in the windows, good lighting and shelves full of wine bottles!

We took a window table and were immediately greeted by a fairly attractive waiter with an array of wines to choose from. The bar serves wines by the glass, carafe and bottle and also does some really yummy looking nibbles and sharing platters which definitely adds to the atmosphere. The crowd was young professionals but it wasn't pretentious. The waiters can talk confidently about the wines and were more than willing to give me some tasters when we got chatting about a particular bottle, 'My Best Friend' - a Chenin Colombard and Sauvingon combined which it was suprisingly good! We went for a Sauvingon and spent a good couple of hours chatting with some chilled out jazz in the background! What I like about the place is that that all of the wines are made by independent producers; the selection is varied but not huge and you know what you're getting is going to be good. This is nice Brighton and such a welcome break from student life, despite only having been back for two weeks.

All images taken from the 10 Green Bottles Website (I forgot my camera!).