BLUE MAN — Restaurant in England

Date: 12th October 2024 Cost: £140 + tip for two, inc. wine

With she back to the grind of extracurricular learning and me back to making questionable interior design decisions, implementing them even more questionably, Mich and I had earmarked this weekend’s Saturday late afternoon into evening window as a treat/break/incentive. Let’s have our monthly date night meal out! Let’s treat it as an anniversary celebration! Shall we do Wildlife Photographer of the Year beforehand? Oh and there’s a craft market in that church just off Church Street. How about a few drinks watching Brighton’s singing barber (highly recommended) in the nearly three hour gap between the exhibition and market closing and our booking?

So we turned up to Blue Man in good spirits that not even not being able to fit under the little table right in the middle of a space that might elsewhere have been reserved for a single party of say 10 could dampen (I counted 22 of us across seven tables). From the teapots dangling from the ceiling I wondered about incorporating into my own office redesign to the pieces of artwork we debated over; from having to creatively re-splay our legs in new uncomfortable directions in order to give the busy but cheery waitresses safe passage to the sharing of the specials board with our neighbours, at Blue Man it just worked. Mich, who could probably do her own series of reviews dedicated entirely to bathrooms, returned from a trip with a more concise summary than mine that could well enough serve to describe the entire restaurant: “small but cute”.

As is becoming tradition, we quickly ordered beers and olives to help us make the bigger, more important decisions in our lives (wine and food). It turned out this was easily done. The cheesy dumplings, once spotted, were non-negotiable, so I had no qualms about opting selfishly for my pick from the nibbles: m’charmla, or anchovies to you or me. Two of the four for £30 small plates offer more or less picked themselves: chicken thighs and lamb sausage to satisfy our inner carnivore; we could have chosen four or five of the veggie options to accompany.

Favourites for me were the anchovies, pickled enough to make you pucker so that it was quite right to have the cucumber cubes to go with them, and the veggie dishes. We had hot and crispy pea croquette and lentil-stuffed courgettes from the specials board, served on a hummus cloud into which leeks had leaked their green goodness. Special indeed. I made the mistake of waiting for the wine with the meats - because who doesn’t prefer to wash their merguez down with a malbec? - which meant they’d gone slightly lukewarm by the time I tucked in, and it was maybe that which left me wanting slightly more. Or maybe I’m just greedy. I don’t think we’d have regretted ordering a supplementary b’stilla or makli - but then, ain’t that just always the truth.

Or a tagine! Every time I saw one of those rudimentary earthenware megaphones being carried off back to the kitchen I had to suppress a strong urge to snatch one out of the waitress’s hands and convey an order loudly and directly straight through to the kitchen, over the heads of the other 21 diners, ruining their hitherto very pleasant evenings of harmony and celebration. Let me put it this way: I didn’t recoil in horror at the very thought of ordering dessert, and when Mich turned me down I was only too willing to accept the compromise - sweets: baklawa and cake, and espresso martinis. It was the latter that I enjoyed the most, and not just because we were at that stage of the evening: cracking jokes and accepting free anniversary prosecco from the staff. Pleasantly pissed, basically.

The baklawa had a nutty crumb filling rather than the usual million layers of pastry, and the cake was four dressed dates with mascarpone - just not my thing. But it’s not really the food I’ll remember from Blue Man and recommend it for despite some of the dishes being really very tasty. It was the all-round Blue Man experience. Lean into...

First time visit and we got a nice seat at the terrace! Great music choice as well (I'm a big fan of jazz. :)

Pros and cons:

+Good food, small plates, could be pricey but they have a 4 for £30 deal so not too bad. (I'm not looking forward to getting too full) +The cake of the day tasted amazing, not sure what the vegan ice-cream was but it reminded me a lot of the green bean desserts I had as a child. +The purée coming alongside the lamb shoulder - fantastic flavour with a hint of lamb grease😍whoah.

-not sure if it's only for mocktails options, but only mojito available, a bit of a shame -i asked for the bill but the wait staff was likely forgetting about it since they started a chat for minutes by the kitchen, judging by how quickly instead the other tables got their bills soon after they asked for it. One of the staff was a bit blunt too(not sure if I did anything inappropriate). As I work in two hectic restaurants I understand that serving different ppl and running around can make one emotionally exhausted and they might need a break, so maybe bring the bill I can pay and leave:)

Would say this is a great place to go to if you're not rushing and looking for nice vibes with...

What an absolutely wonderful place! It's a small, atmospheric, beautifully decorated little spot to grab some really tasty food with friends.

It's a very small place, so it's best to book a table in advance. They have an inside area and outside area but it was too cold to eat outside when we went.

The service is quick and effective, and the servers were wonderful and friendly.

The food is absolutely amazing and didn't break the bank. It's largely sharing plates, and between 4 of us, we were full up for a good price. I wanted a desert, but nobody else was having one, so next time!

They do brilliant cocktails and had options for non-alcoholic ones and non alcoholic beer which is fantastic for us non drinkers. The virgin cocktail was really tasty!

The vibe was friendly and chilled and there were lots of tables having a really great time. 100% reccomend, what...