Thumbs up for La Fourchette
This review was first published in October 2000
What to call a restaurant? Fork is a bit blunt. LA FOURCHETTE sounds better and this Brighton newcomer, in a stretch of road almost entirely occupied by restaurants, has a French chef/proprietor to justify it. Being beside the seaside, we chose our meal from the blackboard menu of fish dishes. My daughter assures me that a catch is landed daily on Brighton beach and sold from a stall nearby. I find this hard to believe but she is the one who lives in Brighton.
Fish soup had that rusty, orangey colour that usually heralds a flavour from the deep, and, in this instance, proved to be the case. It was a resonant soup with an edge of anise probably supplied by Pernod rather than fennel. Sauce rouille floated on little barques of toasted French bread comme il faut. The appropriate thing to say about moules marinières is that the mussels were opened to order, which they were. An assembly of seared scallops with sliced baby artichokes and mushrooms decorated with a tangle of deep-fried leek threads was a bit economical with the scallop content but otherwise fine.
Main-course fish, which for us comprised Dover sole - one served off the bone, one on - red mullet and skate with black butter, were each garnished by the same trio of vegetables including that pea imposter mangetout. A lavish hand with butter was another unifying theme, but, as was made clear to me later by my daughter, a complaint of "too buttery" is the voice of a very blasé diner. The printed menu for the meat-eater offers dishes such as esca-lope of foie gras chaud; rack of lamb with roasted vegetables, basil jus and mashed potato; parmentier of confit of duck with caramelised turnips, jus and fresh spinach; escalope of veal, sauté of wild mushrooms, cream and veal jus. No trace of gravy at La Fourchette.
The waiter dealt with a question about dessert - "What is the Charlotte Melba?" - with a rather enterprising: "Why don't you have it and then you can tell me." For the record, and should he be reading this, it is a patterned sponge confection with a mocha filling, rather prissy in style. Pear tart with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream was easily comprehended and rather good.
Wines do not dent the good value of the set-price deal. A Petit Chablis at £15 was a decent accompaniment to the fish. Service is slightly chaotic and not heavy on charm but the cooking lifts the casually, colourfully decorated La Fourchette above neighbouring competition.
La Fourchette
101 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2AA
