Bonum
cibum
[Latin.] good food.
Warung Tujuh
7 Pool Valley,
The Lanes Brighton
The good part of the regular ‘Litigation
Department Social’ outing is the trying of
new restaurants in Sussex and different
cuisines. The autumn social was no
different and the team headed down a
small Brighton lane, close the seafront,
and to Warung Tujuh restaurant. It had
received some good reviews from some
of us who had already visited or from
comments by friends.
Its website promised that the restaurant
was “a hit with hometown hipsters and
day trippers alike”. Promising indeed as a
search on Google revealed that hipsters
are a “subculture of men and women
typically in their 20s and 30s that value
independent thinking, counter-culture,
progressive politics, an appreciation of
art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence,
and witty banter …” Now that may not
describe all of the individual members of
the litigation team, and in fact some of
us are well over the 30’s age mark, but
witty banter, creativity and intelligence is
never in short supply.
So well armed with reviews and website
comments we headed down the lane oddly
named Pool Valley where the bright and
colourful restaurant is based. The menu
said it is named after the popular street
food stalls of Indonesia where people
enjoy sitting outside to eat together as a
social occasion with friends or family. And
the word ‘Tujuh’ is the Indonesian word
for lucky number 7 which is the address
number for this restaurant.
This was my first visit to the restaurant
and experience of Indonesian food. The
48
ground floor part of the restaurant was
very busy, particularly surprising on a
Tuesday evening. The tables are also very
close so if your plan is a romantic meal
for two then you might wish to reconsider.
Saying all of that the atmosphere was
lively, the staff very polite, pleasant and
attentive. The food was served promptly
and it was all very well presented and
without any fuss. And that is the attraction
of Warung Tujuh – everything was done
simply and without any ‘drama’.
Most of us chose the taster plate with
beef rendang as the main highlight. The
cost was slightly high but well worth it –
the food included various starters and a
main with some side dishes and rice. The
menu itself included a huge variety of
Indonesian cuisine from traditional sate
(marinated meat, seafood and vegetable
on skewers served with peanut sauce)
to exotic and mouthwatering dishes
such Gule Kambing which is lamb stew
with coconut milk, chillies, spices and
candlenuts or Sambal Udang, tiger
prawns in a delicious spicy sauce with
beans and salad or Ayam Bumbu Rujuk,
a tangy chicken dish simmered in spices
and coconut milk. The menu had a large
selection of starters, soups, rice dishes
and then the main meals included meat,
chicken and seafood dishes as well as
a smattering of vegetarian dishes. In
fact this was an issue for me – I wanted
to try all the dishes as they sounded so
good but alas couldn’t. So that was the
reason for the taster plate. And that was
a good choice for me and others – the
dishes were full of flavour, the taste was
wonderful, the texture an interesting
variety and we managed to sample of
the varied Indonesian cuisine.
Yes I would