About
Moving well beyond stout and oysters, this Hove gastropub serves more than 100 craft ales and a menu almost entirely dedicated to shellfish. Booking is essential for the spartan dining room, where the daily seafood selection is chalked on the blackboard. On our visit, tender salt and pepper squid with ginger and soy were the pick of the starters, but razor clams in coconut and lemongrass were gritty. There were no such problems with a plate of scallops, seasoned with salty samphire and a punchy sage gremolata, although we needed to order extra chips and bread to provide ballast for the beers. The citrus flavours of hoppy ales are a natural match for shellfish, and The Urchin’s bottled beer list ranges from Belgian classic Chimay and US trailblazer Sierra Nevada to new-wave British brewers Siren and Wild Beer Co. However, the draught beers, including Harveys and Meantime, are relatively mainstream.