Lost in the Lanes is in the celebrious part of the Brighton Lanes in Nile Street. It opened in 2017, with the ambition of creating “a chef-led restaurant where everyone feels welcome”.
Small menus using seasonal produce from local producers are the order of the day. Their charcuterie is made in Sussex, their meat is from Steyning butchers, and their fish from Brighton and Newhaven. They have a more or less quarterly changing menu to reflect the seasons which they tweak according to availability.
The back story
Lost in the Lanes was founded by Natalie Demetriou, formerly a speech therapist with Greek heritage who had been living in New Zealand.
Natalie was joined by former human rights lawyer turned chef, Sophie Taverner who has previously worked in Spain, with ex-Noma chef Boris Bueno at Ibiza Food Studio and La Finca, as well as at top UK restaurants. So it’s no surprise that there’s an international flavour at Lost. Originally, they were just open during the day from 9 am to 5 pm for coffee, cocktails and lunch, but more recently, they have created an evening menu and are opening their doors from 6 pm to 11 pm Thursday to Saturday. They have also recently won the Bravo Best Lunch award.
What’s it like?
Lost in the Lanes feels stylish and casually elegant inside and out. There are large, curvaceous windows opening onto the lane, an open plan kitchen and a warm and welcoming feel. The décor is cool (if it’s not too uncool to say that) and it’s the sort of place you could sink into for a long evening with friends.
Natalie greeted us warmly and explained part of the inspiration behind the name is, perhaps obviously, that so many people get lost in the Lanes but also that sense of getting lost in simple ingredients. The dinner menu has vegetarian, vegan, and gluten and dairy free options with specials on the board. We started with a cocktail and mocktail as Natalie explained that often their cocktails are inspired by the ingredients of the day. Sussex wines on the menu were Ridgeview and Stopham as well as the Loxwood Meadworks honey wine and Brighton Gin. There were plenty of international wines to choose from if Sussex isn’t up your street.
The menu offers some really interesting combinations and flavours and we could have ordered a lot of the dishes. In the end, we opted for three small plates and two larger plates between the two of us. SE favourites were the salt cod bolinho with burnt lime and the Lost crispy potatoes with aioli, but their homemade house pickles and their Lost focaccia with balsamic vinegar and a salty crust were divine, with definite hints of the sea. Other dishes to look out for are nduja clams, bavette steak, lamb lemonato and ox cheek ragu to name but a few.
With no room for pudding, we forced two down anyway, namely their chocolate panna cotta and their Lost ice cream. The panna cotta came with a drizzle of olive oil and whilst I wasn’t convinced at first, it was one of the most moorish and delightful flavour combinations I’ve ever tried, while their ice cream changes daily and was one of the best ice creams I have ever had.
Will we back?
Yes. The welcome was warm, the ingredients were local and the menu offered new and interesting dishes that we hadn’t tried before, with simple flavours dancing beautifully together.
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