Brighton’s Due South reopens

25-May-2021 - Last updated on 27-May-2021 at 07:11 GMT

Well-regarded Brighton beach restaurant Due South has reopened in its original location following a decade-long hiatus.

Launched in 2004, the restaurant closed in 2011 to make way for Arch 139 before becoming the second Brighton restaurant for Riddle & Finns - Riddle & Finns on the Beach - but has now reopened following the launch of a new Riddle & Finns restaurant close by on Kings Road.

Both Due South and Riddle & Finns are co-owned by Brighton restaurateur Rob Shenton, but Due South is now being run as a separate business.

Also involved in the project are former Riddle & Finns head chef Mark Wadsworth and his business partner Charlie Bunn.

Wadsworth's CV includes a stint with Ben McKeller's Gingerman Group and The Crab Tree in West Sussex.

“It’s very exciting. I went to the restaurant years ago and thought it was incredible. With its focus on using local produce and sustainability it was ahead of its time,” says Wadsworth.

"We will continue to take local sourcing to the extreme, with 80% of our menu sourced within 35 miles. We will also continue avoiding ingredients that need to be imported, such as lemons."

Wadsworth's menu will be cooked largely over fire and is ambitious, including the likes of stuffed and smoked chicken wings with lardo, miso honey, lavender and puffed grains; flame cooked celeriac with porcini mushroom sabayon, confit egg yolk and apple; and wood fired lemon sole with confit garlic.

The original Due South was one of Brighton & Hove's best known restaurants and where 64 Degrees and Murmur chef Michael Bremner made his name.