<a target="_blank" href="http://www.wildflor.com/">Wild Flor</a>

42 Church Rd

Hove BN3 2FN

United Kingdom&nbsp;

BY NEAL MARTIN | NOVEMBER 18, 2022 The
Food:Beef
tartare Nutbourne
tomatoes, fresh goat cheese, caper pangrattato and Lambrusco vinegarAged
sirloin beef, grilled gem, oyster emulsion with Pommes Anna and cheek croquetteNeal’s
Yard cheesesThe Wine:2015 Emrich
Schönleber Riesling Lenz&nbsp; &nbsp;90I fell
in love with Brighton in the early nineties. The coastal town is a
countercultural mecca or a den of iniquity, depending on your liberal values.
It is a crucible of alternative music and outré fashion, a colony of
independent shops and the fug of humus around vegan cafés, sweaty basement nightclubs
and all-night raves, not one but two piers (even if one is but a charred
skeleton home to a million starlings), well-to-do seafront-facing Regency
squares, an expansive pebble beach (partly sealed off for naturists), belligerent
seagulls divebombing to your chips and all that lung-busting fresh sea air. In
the intervening years, it has undergone gentrification, though the influx of bankers
means they must cohabit with free-thinking members of society.Brighton
had one Achilles heel: There’s never been anywhere proper to eat. I’m not
talking decadent wallet-busting posh nosh, but something that tickles the
tastebuds.After
30 years, there is. Rejoice!Rumors
that Wild Flor was worth a drive down the A23 persuaded me to book a table for
a post-COVID catch-up with cousin Caitlyn, the same for whom I once cracked
open a 1996 Chambertin from Rousseau as I needed a red for my spaghetti
bolognaise. It was a chance to kill two birds with one stone, though I did cross
my fingers that my cousin would not request the same bottle we drank with
abandon last time. Rousseau’s escalated in price faster than Brighton real
estate.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1668785109180-wild+flor+interior_copy.jpg">The Wild Flor interior Wild
Flor not only delivered – it over-delivered by some margin. It is precisely
the kind of restaurant I dreamt would sprout up in Brighton, though locals are
already remonstrating that it lies just over the boundary separating it from the
more upmarket Hove. The restaurant is housed on two floors, the kitchen in the
basement, and the décor is simple but cozy.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1668785150849-wild+flor+tartare_copy.jpg">Beef tartare “We
opened in May 2019,” co-owner Robert Maynard later explained. “The three of us,
Faye &amp; James [Thomson] and myself, all grew up around the area and have
worked in restaurants for our whole careers. After about 10 to 15 years of
working for various groups, we got together and decided to open something that
delivered the cookery we love: classic techniques with the best produce&nbsp;we
could get hold of alongside a proper wine list - my area of expertise. All
three of us come from a front-of-house background, so we’ve always had to find
chefs to share our vision. Our head chef, Ali Munro, understands what classic
cookery means in the modern day and fits in incredibly well.”<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1668785191223-wild+flor+tomato_copy.jpg">Nutbourne tomatoes, fresh goat cheese, caper&nbsp;pangrattato&nbsp;and Lambrusco vinegar The
menu here is straightforward, English seasonal fare without pretension. Yet
what is served on the plate is supremely well-executed, dishes you immediately
regret finishing as you take your last mouthful. The beef tartare amuse-bouche
augured what was to come; the meat was full of mouth-watering flavour. The
starter of Nutbourne tomatoes, fresh goat cheese, caper pangrattato and
Lambrusco vinegar was stunning. Maynard told me that the tomatoes are specially
sourced as they are the most delicious he can find. He’s not wrong. The caper pangratatto
is brilliant: seasoned breadcrumbs that chef Munro blitzes with fried capers to
lend a welcome punch and offset the smooth goat cheese. Starter of the year?
It’s up there.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1668785251759-wild+flor+steak_copy.jpg">Aged sirloin beef, grilled gem, oyster emulsion with Pommes Anna and cheek croquette As I
had been well-behaved on a balanced diet, I treated myself with aged sirloin
beef served with grilled gem, oyster emulsion with Pommes Anna and cheek
croquette. The meat was tender, and amongst the best I’ve eaten in recent years;
this particular beef was sourced from HG Walter and aged for 60 days on the
bone. Maynard told me that the entire loin comes into the restaurant, the fillets
parsed away for the aforementioned tartare, while the Sirloin is roasted whole,
rested and carved. The cheek croquette was a morsel of loveliness with a melt-in-your-mouth
consistency.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1668785286091-wild+flor+cheese_copy.jpg">Neal’s Yard cheeses We
finished with some Neal’s Yard cheese, sadly, has nothing to do with this
writer. This was a Beenleigh blue from Devon, and like all Wild Flor’s cheeses,
they are aged at Neal’s Yard.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1668785351802-wild+flor+riesling_copy.jpg">The
wine list is superb, a fairly wide selection in price order, zigzagging between
Old and New World with an assiduous range of interesting producers that are
keenly priced. I particularly applaud the interpolation of tempting but affordable
mature claret dotted around the list: Cru Bourgeois with 30 years on the
clock. Maynard told me that their staff is WSET-educated, and their sound
knowledge was evident. They also have a fairly friendly BYO policy, but I was
so impressed with their list that I just chose one (due to last-minute
complications, I had to drive home afterward, so I took it easy on the wine
front…on this occasion). The 2015 Riesling Lenz from Emrich
Schönleber offers wild peaches and apricots on the fragrant nose that
retains admirable delineation and freshness. The palate is balanced, not
complex or brimming with mineralité, yet delivers purity and articulates
the grape variety with pride, and just a touch of oiliness to the texture on
the finish. Delightful. 





















































































Wild
Flor is an outstanding addition to Brighton’s dining scene. After years of
coasting, Brighton is finally waking up to the fact that it can coexist with the
proliferation of casual gastropubs and vegan eateries. It was refreshing to see
a serious, thoughtful wine list whose accumulative costs are probably a little
more than that 1996 Chambertin! I cannot wait to return.© 2022, Vinous. No portion of this article may
be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so
is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of
independent wine criticism.

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