The Avenue Restaurant & Wine – launch review

This is a joyous occasion for the owners, Sarah and Ash, of the new restaurant and wine bar The Avenue. This has been a four-month journey for them alongside welcoming a new baby who made is appearance at the launch. Sarah was onsite instructing builders within days of delivery. This is a labour of love in all forms.

Tucked into the top of Second Avenue and Queen’s Place the entrance is open and chic with an expanse of black framed glass windows upon which the company logo is emblazoned.  Moving inside you’re immediately hit with an overwhelming feeling of warmth and welcome with the outside theme of black and gold being echoed inside. There are accents of gold alongside the black walls like the beautifully upholstered banquettes. Greenery trails from the more than adequately stocked bar. Chandeliers made of globe lights, reminiscent of Paris in the 1920s, cast light across the diners.

Cool jazz plays as my daughter and I peruse the menu starting with the house cocktails developed by mixologist Tyler Bowring giving us a bounty of riches to choose from.

I settled on the Party On The Avenue, particularly as it featured a Hasting Raspberry Gin nestled alongside, rose prosecco, rose liqueur, pink lemonade and topped off with tiny roses. A delightful balance of sweet, floral and crisp.

My daughter chose the mocktail Nah ’ Garita – sour and crisp with a non-alcoholic Tequila, lime and orange syrup with the obligatory salt frosting.

Having sated some hunger over a selection of roasted, lightly seasoned nuts we made our dinner choices.

My offspring chose the Burrata Brushetta : achingly delicious tomatoes with basil, a generous portion of Burrata nestling between with extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic.

I went for the Citrus Kissed Sea Bream – a delight to all the senses with garlic crostini topped with sea bream ceviche and chive oil.

Before our mains we decided to try more of the house’s gorgeous mocktails.

I plumped for the Seaside Spritz which was super light and crisp with a base of non-alcoholic bubbly, Everleaf Marine, lemon & cucumber soda.

My daughter chose The Sober Paddington which was a delightful mix of sharp and slightly sweet contacting Everleaf Marine, bitters, marmalade, orange juice and orange syrup. It won the prize of the evening for presentation in a marmalade pot and a dollop of marmalade on the top.

Our main dishes were Chicken Supreme for my daughter – deliciously marinated and sliced chicken sitting upon golden saffron rice, broccoli and a pairing of the best parmesan frites. I tucked in to Ocean Harvest Seabass which was perfectly cooked and sat atop clams, sea vegetables and burnt butter with sides of creamy mashed potato with truffle oil which truly lived up to its ‘creamy’ label and perfectly cooked sugar snaps and peas with butter and sea salt.

We rounded off the evening, for the full The Avenue experience, with desserts. My girl chose Moelleux Au Chocolat – a crisp outer shell which when broken exposed an exquisite walk molten chocolate fondant and served with Madagascar vanilla ice cream; a perfect pairing in texture and temperature.                 

I decided to go for Gateau Au Fromage Framboise. Now I’m fussy about my classic New York cheesecake. They must be not too sweet, smooth, not over firm but not too soft either and the base shouldn’t be too crisp or thick so quite something to live up to.  However this ticked all the boxes, set off with a suitably tart raspberry coulis and Chantilly cream. In short it was divine!

All in all a perfect gastronomic evening plus some well overdue mother/daughter time.

If you don’t want to overindulge in the cocktail menu let me assure you that the wine list is perfectly adequate for any taste and I was delighted to see that they include Sussex wines.

I urge you to pay a visit to The Avenue as soon as you can. In fact why not make it this weekend or join them on their official opening from 1200 Friday 14^th March.  You won’t be disappointed.

The Avenue is running an Instagram competition to win a meal for two with a bottle of house wine so pop over to @theavenuehove to try your luck!

Opening 1200 Friday 14^th March 2025

The Avenue Restaurant & Wine,

6 Queen’s Place, Second Ave, Brighton and Hove, BN3 2LT

Tel: 01273 435698