October Best x The Chilli Pickle

As part of Brighton’s October Best restaurant festival, The Chilli Pickle have created Al and D’s Toddy Shop.

Based on the roadside drinking shacks in Kerala, the dish reflects some of South India’s best street food and nods to the popular palm wine.

Enormous platters are lined with banana leaves, comprising a selection of duck stew, Kerala appam, mussel chilli broth, slip sole fry with curry leaf chutney, black pepper ribs, yoghurt, peanut rice pawa and pomegranate onion salad. With this, a generous carafe of cold toddy and a mango coconut roll to end. All for £20!

A dish that encourages getting your hands dirty, the toddy shop is a whole lot of fun whilst showcasing the kind of cuisine that many of us would not experience outside of India. Personal highlights for me included the tender, creamy duck stew (but watch out for the green chilli!) accompanied by the slightly sweet, almost pancake-like Kerala appam.

Third place?

Having visited The Chilli Pickle just once prior to blogging, I’d been itching to get back to see if it was how I remembered. Thankfully, it was – a bustling Indian eatery full of warmth and colour, with a smiley team and food that knocks your socks off. We had the luxury of a few hours at our table; pleasantly full and sipping our toddy, it really took me back to evenings in Goa, when going out for dinner could easily stretch to a luxurious four hours.

After a thrilling street food experience, I’m planning on returning very soon for brunch to try the famous pork knuckle vindaloo – which incidentally won the 2016 October Best dish.

More about October Best

From 1st-15th, Brighton and Hove’s Top 20 restaurants are offering special £20 menus and deals to showcase the best of the city’s electric food scene.

If you’ve had some of these on your list, there is still time to book in and tick a few off! Check out the October Best page for all of the special menus, deals and events – let me know if you go along to any, I’d love to hear your thoughts.