Brighton Restaurants

Murasaki

Tel : 326 231 | 115 Dyke Road | last visit : January 2007

murasakiEasy to miss but worth finding is Brighton's third Japanese restaurant (I'm discounting the sushi chains).  It's a little delight inside, low lights, low chairs, pretty efficient, just a few frills..  The point is though that all the peripherals disappear from the mind  once the food arrives.  I eat Japanese food continuously in London and it's rarely better than OK.  Here we get into the really quite good territory.  Every tofu dish was excellent, tempura was hot, fresh and light.  Sashimi was carefully cut, well chosen and beautifully presented.  Noodles were not bad at all and even the ubiquitous rice rolls were surprisingly satisfying.  it's a difficult balance to strike in Brighton but Murasaki has has a single stroke of genius.  By labelling itself as a tapas place, all notions of big plates served simultaneously are vaporised and menu selection between a large group is simplified.  Just order what you fancy.  If you want more, just ask.
The wine list is a bit pants but really, you should probably be ordering the sake if you want to get into the spirit of things.  After a good night had by all, we agreed to spread the word about the best addition to the Dials international menu.  Not that they need our help, the place was packed on a Tuesday night and now I know why

Food 9/10
Service 8/10
Atmo 7/10
Vege 8/10
Alco 6/10
Total 76%