POLPO | Brighton*

POLPO is a small, unassuming restaurant, situated at 20 New Road (near the Theatre Royal).  It’s well-known for their share plates of incredible Venetian food, a beautifully relaxed vibe and extensive cocktail menu. 

I’ve passed by a lot, but never had the chance to stop and go in, until now.

POLPO has recently refurbished their bar area and I was invited along to their relaunch to check it out 🙂

POLPO is the latest restaurant chain to work with Sipsmith, a London gin company, and they now have four brand new cocktails available which are all designed to perfectly go with their cichèti ❤️

POLPO and Sipsmith have a Spirit of Dining offer running until the end of October where, from 9pm, you get a free cichèti dish for every two cocktails you buy (individually, the cichèti is priced between £4 and £4.50)

The Sipsmith G&T is a classic with a twist as they’ve added juniper berries to complement the cichèti dishes.

The Artichoke Negroni, with Campari and Cynar, definitely did not taste like something I ever want to put in my mouth again, but I’m sure to a different palate, it would taste amazing!  It does look stunning though!

The American Tourist looks really pretty and tasted deliciously sweet.  I love anything lemony 🍋🍋  Plus it has Bourbon and honey in it so it’s the perfect cocktail for when you’re feeling under the weather!!

Alexander, one of the representatives from Sipsmith, kindly offered me a sample of their sloe gin; it was so smooth and rich, I actually really loved it which surprised me!

I opted to get a soft cocktail (although I did get to sample most of the Sipsmith cocktails, thanks to my friends) and went for the dark cherry lemonade.  If you don’t drink, or you’re the designated driver, I’d definitely recommend this one 🙂

Weirdly, we didn’t get to sample any of the cichèti on offer, although they very kindly brought round some amazing looking off-menu food for us to try.  Everything was so full of flavour and delicious, it definitely makes me want to go back for more.

We had spoons of chopped veal with peas with balsamic vinegar, plus spicy prawn doughnuts.  The veal was remarkably tender and worked well with the vinegar.  The spicy prawn doughnuts were probably my favourite thing though ❤️

These olive oil breadsticks wrapped in cured pork were to die for.  I was expecting them to be hard like English breadsticks but actually, the dough was really soft 🙂  I had to stop myself from scoffing a whole plate to myself though, they were so moreish!!

There was also a vegan selection brought round for us to try as well.  First up was pickled rainbow carrots and Portobello mushrooms with an aubergine caponata.  Unfortunately I was so busy photographing them, I forgot to take any to try 😂😂😂

POLPO have various restaurants dotted around London, plus the one in Brighton, so if you’re looking for a night out with friends, it’s the perfect place to go for cocktails and small bites to eat 🙂

Have you been to POLPO before?  Are you a cocktail fan?  Are you a fan of gin?  Let me know in the comments below 🙂 x

*I was invited by the venue to review but all views are my own.

Follow me on: Bloglovin 💋 Facebook 💋 Instagram 💋 Pinterest  💋 Twitter

You may also like

9 Comments

  1. Now I’m hungry! 😅 Especially for those breadsticks, they sound fab. I’ve never been to Brighton but it’s definitely somewhere I want to visit at some point, if only because the TV show Sugar Rush was filmed there. I’m not a great lover of gin (I like rum) but I am a lover of cocktails.

Leave a Reply to HollyCancel reply