The team behind a fine dining Brighton restaurant which closed earlier this year are opening a cafe and deli at the same site.
Isaac At closed in August after more than eight years serving up small plate menus at the Gloucester Street restaurant.
Now its award-winning sommelier Alex Preston and friend Maria Barney, with backing from Isaac At’s founder Isaac Bartlett-Copeland, are planning on opening a new venture there, Meat Bread Wine.
Alex, last year named as one of the country’s top 25 sommeliers by Harpers, said: “One thing I always wanted to do was to open a wine bar and with everything that was going on with the closure of Isaac At, I thought it would be a lovely space to make one.
“It’s going to be primarily a deli with a focus on really good local produce and predominantly English wines, but also starting to bring in different native varieties, like a Japanese wine made from koshu grapes just outside Mount Fuji.
“Once we have the licence through, customers have the option of buying the wines they drink to take back home.”
The licensing application to Brighton and Hove City Council, says: “The front of the venue is now going to be a deli style shop where high-end products for off-sale will be placed. Off-sale is applied for during all opening hours.
“The rear section of the premises will be for dine and drink in, where on-sales of alcohol will only be permitted from midday.
“There is to be no vertical drinking in the premises as this does not suit the new-style business. Similarly due to the style, later hours are no longer required and as such the applicant seeks to reduce these by one hour to 9.30pm.
“As residents of the area, the applicants are well aware of licensing issues, hence the request to update the premises licence with a number of updated and new conditions to satisfy the licensing objectives.”
The application asks to amend the floor plan, to start serving two hours earlier and to close earlier and to sell alcohol to be consumed off the premises.
Excellent news for the team as Isaac @ was a fantastic small restaurant, but there’s a fair amount of competition in Brighton for higher end wine bars and off licences from the Plumpton alumni. Best of luck to them.
A first rule of life is to steer away from places which proclaim themseles as “fine dining”.
It was the author of the article who ‘proclaimed’ this – not the venue itself
What’s even more crucial is to thoroughly read the article to ensure that one isn’t critiquing something that is solely a product of historical context.
So basically another pub/off licence in an area saturated by them.
For high end read high price. Is this just a repackaging of a failed project into something less than the original.
I am sure there are some people who will fall for this. A fool and his money……
OK, so Isaac at traded for eight and a half years and was consistently reviewed as one of the best restaurants in Brighton. Its owner has moved on to a new venture, Embers, which looks set to be equally successful. Not sure where this nonsense about “failed project” has come from.
Wine bars are lost on me. I don’t need a sommelier to tell me what I do and don’t like and I really don’t see the point of paying ~£100 for a bottle of wine that would cost me £30 in the supermarket. And as for English wines – great if you like expensive Pinot.
That’s really not what sommeliers do. For price, if that’s your comparison then don’t go to pubs either, a can of lager is also cheaper in the supermarket.
English wines are not just Pinot. Take a trip out to any of the many fine vineyards only minutes from our doorstep here in Sussex, it’s a great day out and a learning experience of what we have here on the south coast.
You misunderstand me. I am well aware of the role of a sommelier. Cold meats and bread do not require matching and I don’t experiment in bars. I don’t go to pubs to sample fine beer, I go (rarely these days) for the social aspect. Fine wine however, I do like. But throwing down a couple of bottles of expensive wine out, is not my idea of fun. As for English wine, we shall just have to disagree.
Then it’s really not for you Austin, and that’s okay. You are one person amongst many who would. 🙂
I wish them all the best, there may well still be a market for this sort of thing, but as you say, definitely not for me.
Alex is a brilliant sommelier and has introduced us to some amazing local wines. I suppose it depends on whether you want to engage with your senses and enjoy your drinks, or just get p!ssed as cheaply as possible. I hope it works out for them and look forward to visiting!
Good luck Alex – we really need places that support local Sussex wine. We are becoming a major region but with few outlets really getting behind English wine as much as Alex has. Best wishes
Problem with English wine ! Too snub to go to local shops and willing to do tasting … something which big , big spirit brandss t⁶asting been doing for years.
Completely beg to differ on this Shena! I can name several different tasting events I’ve seen marketed recently at independent merchants and restaurants by local wine producers, not to mention that you can taste wine at their cellar door shops.
Same meat, different gravy.
Mmm…meat and gravy…