Pike and Pine St James’s Street, Brighton

Food: *****

Atmosphere: *****

Service: *****

THE Great British Menu is back on our screens, returning for a 12th season of Oliver Payton’s shrivelled sneers and some of TV’s most awkward banter.

With Prue Leith jumping ship to judge the rebranded Channel 4 Bake Off - the rambunctious Andi Oliver has been roped in to add a bit of spice to the winning, albeit repetitive TV recipe.

In last year’s competition 64 Degrees headchef Michael Bremner came a cat’s whisker from victory, with his dish Ode to the Lodestar transforming the humble mackerel into a showstopper. And next week he’s back on our screens, hoping to earn a much coveted place at the banquet.

Yet while his finals week performance was impressive - there is another chef in Brighton who’s gone one better. A man whose intricate 12 element goat dish won straight ten scores from both his fellow chefs and judges. The Gourmand decided it was about time to see what all the fuss is about.

Matt Gillan got his first break in the restaurant scene in 1996 when he compared weekly wages with a mate working as a pot wash at The Hen and Chicken in Froyle, just over the border in Hampshire. It was trumping his efforts as a paper boy - so when he got offered a Saturday shift in the kitchen, he never looked back.

The Gourmand checked out the newly refurbished Redroaster café in St James’s Street in March, a place that boasts among many things, the most wonderful herb bacon waffles. You can read our review of the daytime café at theargus.co.uk.

But by night, the luxurious space offers an altogether different dining experience. Renamed Pike and Pine, the lights are dimmed, the waiters have all slipped into black and Matt Gillan has taken his place at head of the kitchen.

There are three set menus on offer - a six and eight course options at £55 and £65, plus a vegetarian selection. The previous evening the restaurant appealed for bookings via Twitter after a large party cancelled at the last minute. The six course was therefore offered at £45.

We arrive for an early evening sitting and the place is half full, with a few people perched at counter table watching the chefs work. Gillan chats away amiably, delivering dishes and explaining courses. There isn’t a hint of celebrity chef pomp.

The drinks menu is exciting, with some very suave sounding cocktails. But we begin with a glass of Prosecco and a crisp Vedett extra white beer. A first course, simply dubbed ‘snacks’, includes four small, but intensely flavoured morsels. Mushroom arancini (deep fried stuffed rice balls) deliver a salty kick of caper mayonnaise. A cone of fine, crisp bric pastry is piped full with rich nutty humus. Shot glasses are filled with the lightest aerated potato foam, zingy with lime zest and crunchy with paprika rice crispies. What look like loaded prawn crackers are actually tapioca crisps, wafer light and packing a salty punch of onion powder and puree and the funk of parmesan.

Bread follows shortly after - two pert and glossy sourdough rolls in white and brown, and butter whipped with plenty of sea salt. Next is a beetroot tartare, a dish in multicolour – cubed beetroot topped with a perfectly fried egg that oozes fluorescent yolk. There’s a cheffy streak of green peppery watercress puree and dusting of lime ice snow – yes, snow – to cut through the rich flavours. It’s a dish for beetroot lovers but it is fresh and well executed.

Next out is the stone bass and it isn’t just the dish of the day, but probably the best fish dish the Gourmand has ever tasted. It’s the sort of dish that make Oliver Paynton toss his napkin down and declare perfection. Crispy hispi cabbage and thick asparagus spears are studded with meaty, tender morel mushrooms. The veg alone make a near perfect dish, buttery and crisp, with plenty of bite. But the addition of a perfectly cooked stone bass fillet, and a ladle of the most umami rich, glossy sauce take the dish to the next level.

Slow cooked pork belly is next. The succulent meat comes with balsamic turnips and tart buttermilk custard. A dusting of pork scratching powder gives the whole plate a lasting piggy kick. It is a plate that teeters on just the right side of outrageous – fatty, meaty and incredibly decadent.

Puddings are a finely balanced mix of fresh and creamy things. A rhubarb sorbet is the perfect palate cleanser, lip suckingly sharp. Pressed rhubarb cubes are a note sweeter, with a thick liquorice cream heading further towards sweetness. The final layer of flavour – toffee thick caramel popcorn – is the last note on a perfectly balanced flavour scale of tart to syrupy sweet.

We finish things off with a set chocolate custard, an elegant milk chocolate and caramel disc, flanked by two creamy white quenelles, one coffee mascarpone, the other a peanut butter ice cream. Thin shards of nutty tuille add texture and crunch but in the absence of anything sharp or fresh, it’s a heavy finish.

But it’s a minor quibble about what was otherwise a masterful six courses. Every dish memorable and none more so than the wonderful stone bass.

When the plate was delivered to our table, we heard a fellow diner ask Matt if he would consider another season of Great British Menu. He entertained the idea. But here’s hoping he doesn’t desert us for the capital any time soon – because Brighton’s dining scene is all the better for him.

The Gourmand pays for all his meals.

Menu

Six course tasting menu – usually £55 but £45 after a late cancellation

Prosecco – £5.50

Vedett extra white – £4.60