Cin Cin Italian Bar & Kitchen | Brighton

Recently, I joined my lovely bloggers pals Holly, Sammy and Jess for a night of Authentic Italian dining at Cin Cin, Brighton. Unless you know Brighton inside out, you wouldn't know this was there. It's tucked away on Vine Street in an old garage style building. It has a rustic, industrial type feel to it as you walk in with the iron bar stools and dark wooden tops. David, Fabrizio and Jamie make the perfect team and are so welcoming, it's impossible to not feel looked after from the get go.

You sit around the kitchen/bar area, meaning you really get that personalised service whilst you dine. You can watch everything being prepared before you eat it, so you know exactly what you're getting and how it's prepared. Space is very limited at Cin Cin and I can tell this will be one of those restaurants which has extremely high demand. So I'd get in there quickly if you want to give it a try!

We were greeted with what I swear was unlimited Prosecco (..no complaints there) and some Antipasti. This included focaccia, parma ham (which literally melted in your mouth), finely cut carpaccio, olives and even smoked ricotta. We were off to a good start and I was seriously impressed with the antipasti alone, so I knew it could only get better!

After much antipasti, we started off with the truffle porcini arancini. This was basically a ball of creamy mushroom risotto (baring in my I'm obsessed with mushroom risotto, this was utter heaven!) I could not fault this at all and could easily have eaten about 10 of these and not even been sorry!

Jerusalem artichoke, fig and lemon mayo followed shortly after. I had never eaten fig before, however I gave it my all and tried some. Although I'm not fully converted, the fig was actually nicer than I expected. The artichoke with lemon mayo on the other hand.. OH MY YUM! I never dreamed lemon mayo would ever be a thing, but it's a thing and everyone needs it in their lives! What a revelation!

Our third course was veal tartare, kale pesto, crispy kale & smoked ricotta. This was a very small dish but SO moreish. I don't usually eat kale, but I very much enjoyed it crunchy and in pesto form! I had never tried Veal before and I didn't really know what to expect; it was chewy, yet so tender and the kale pesto and ricotta complimented this dish so well.

Our next sample was citrus cured monkfish, heritage tomato and tapenade. This was absolutely delicious! Firstly, I love all three things and for someone who isn't that adventurous with fish, I loved this. It was super zesty and such a fresh tasting meal. I've never tried tapenade before which is surprising because I absolutely love olives, so this went down a treat!  

Pappardelle, Sussex dexter shin and pecorino was our final savoury course. This was probably my favourite dish! The beef shin was SO incredibly tender and cooked to absolute perfection. It was served on parppardelle (which are essentially thick pasta noodles) and dusted with parmesan cheese.  This was definitely one of the more filling dishes we tried, so I was glad we only had dessert to go!

We were surprised with not only one, but TWO desserts! *licks lips* The first was the hazelnut praline cheesecake with marsarla pears cooked in caramel. I am all for cheesecake and I had never tried pear before but as they came cooked in caramel, I had no reason not to love them! The cheesecake itself was so light and the perfect pud for that sweet fix.

Last but not least, we were served the Sicilian lemon tart with vanilla crème fraîche. The reason it's so yellow is because they used the leftover egg yolk from making the pasta. It tasted lovely and was still warm and gooey! By this point, I was so full I could barely finish it, so it left it in the keen hands of Holly for her to finish.. Haha! ;)

I strongly urge you to go and visit Cin Cin if you haven't already. It really has opened my eyes to real Italian food! The food really will please the fussiest of eaters (like myself!) Everyone did an incredible job of making us feel so welcome and I have already recommended this place to so many people! Thank you so much to Cincin for having us, I'll definitely be returning very soon! :)

Have you visited Cin Cin yet? 

Tania xxx

*I was invited along by Cin Cin to review. All views are my own*