Cup/Bottle

At around 5pm, a subtle transformation occurs in Jubilee Street.

The neon sign that reads “cup” at what used to be Zilli’s Cafe, flickers briefly and disappears before the word “bottle” splutters into life above it.

But why? Well, as the sign shifts, so too does the emphasis inside the building.

Cup aims for an elegant, cafe experience during the day, serving a bakery selection, pizzettes, hot pots, toasties and salads.

After 5pm, Cup becomes Bottle, a late-night bar serving beers and wines, but with the same menu until late.

On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, DJs will be playing a blend of acid jazz and dance, but food and beverages manager Gigi Huon says the venue will hold on to its relaxed ambience at all times.

“When we have music in here, it’s more of a Cafe Del Mar atmosphere than the pounding music at a nightclub.

We want Bottle to be somewhere different for people to go that taps more into wine bar culture than pub or club culture,” he says.

“Somewhere where you don’t want to feel it’s too noisy and crowded, and people want a laid-back, chic setting.”

A new venture from Mike Lucy, restaurateur and owner of the acclaimed catering group Company Of Cooks, Cup/Bottle has a sister operation in Concrete, the popular Southbank venue that adjoins the Hayward Gallery in London.

Officially opened with a glitzy launch party earlier this month, the people behind Bottle hope it will provide an alternative evening destination in a part of town largely populated by pubs.

The food and drinks are reasonably priced.

“We still want to make it an affordable place for people to go,” Gigi says.

Locally-sourced food has become more expectation than novelty in Brighton in recent years, but rarer is a commitment to stocking drinks from the nearby breweries.

Where possible, everything served in Bottle is sourced in this way, and so a wide range of local brewers’ ales and organic lager sits behind the bar with wines from Sussex.

“We don’t stock local products just because they are local,” Gigi says.

“It’s because this is food and drink that’s of very good quality.

There are wines that, naturally, we can’t get here, but almost everything else is from Sussex.”

An extensive wine list has been put together that takes in Italy, Spain, New Zealand, South Africa and Gigi’s native Champagne.

He says if he were to pick something from the menu for himself, he’d choose the picpoul de pinet or Hepworth’s full-bodied Prospect ale.

Like the drinks, much of the food is sourced locally and includes a series of smaller, snacking dishes, such as an excellent Gorgonzola and mushroom toastie and a flavoursome range of pizzettes.

The only thing that’s missing is a design for the back wall.

Cup/Bottle is inviting visitors to submit design ideas for the huge blank canvas that is the back wall of room.

Sample the menu

Small plates
Grilled courgette and Sussex feta with garlic oil: £4.25
Sussex Weald wild boar salami: £4
Pork rillette: £3.50
Pizettes: £4
Cumbrian air-dried ham, rocket and lemon oil
Four cheeses
Bottled Beers
Blonde Organic Lager, Hepworth & Co, Horsham; Prospect, Hepworth & Co., Horsham; Harveys Blue Label, Harveys, Lewes; Bohemia, Mexico
White
(glass/carafe/bottle) Picpoul de Pinet, Els Pyreneus, Languedoc, 2008, France: £5.25/£15/£22
Dry White
Bacchus Sedlescombe, Sussex, 2006, England: £5.75/£17/£24
Red
Primitivo, Villa dei Fiori, Puglia, 2008, Italy: £4.75/ £11.50/£17
Valpolicella Classico Superiore ‘Vigneto Va lverde’ Te deschi, Veneto, 2007, Italy: £6/£17.50/£25

Open from 9am-5pm as Cup, and from 5pm until late as Bottle