Off gallivanting again...

Yes we were off out again earlier this week, and this time we had to squeeze two trips into one outing, what busy bees we are!

So first of all we trundled off to Kemp Town, well more precisely to Broad Street to see Nineteen which was one of the first boutique hotels to open up in Brighton. Walking in we all agreed that apart from having a tardis-like quality to the building, there was also a very welcoming atmosphere. Mark then explained to us the whole ethos behind Nineteen as Mark himself as a design background, so there are some unique features including lights under the bed, but the highlight has to in the downstairs bedroom which has it's own private courtyard with a massive hot tub with room for four to relax in and sip Champagne, fabulous. Another key feature is the high level of service Mark offers including on one occasion tracking down a restaurant which serves halal meat. To get a flavour of what Nineteen is like then take a look at their website: www.hotelnineteen.co.uk

After seeing Nineteen we then moved on to Bar 106 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole to attend the launch party for the Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival. This celebration of local food and drink will run from the 1st to the 30th September, as in previous years there will be the Fiery Food Festival and the Bar Idol contest to find the best bar tender in the city. But personally the highlight from last year's festival was the Taste of Sussex market on the newly pedestrianised New Road, so I'm very pleased to see that is back again and it looks like it will bigger as it will spread out into the Pavilion Gardens and Jubilee Square as well.

We enjoyed this event as not only did we get a couple of glasses of local Champagne but we also got to take part in a sausage taste test and vote for our favourite, although sadly what I felt was the tastiest sausage didn't win but it was good getting to try them all. The event was also attended by Aldo Zilli who was shamelessly promoting his new Cafe which recently opened in the myhotel and the full restaurant will be opening there in a couple of months time.

And it's not just Aldo Zilli as Jamie Oliver is soon to open a new restaurant and Norman Cook has also jumped on the bandwagon and just opened Okinami. All this and the Food Festival keeps getting bigger and better plus Terre a Terre were recently named the best vegetarian. Surely Brighton must be a food fanatics paradise!

Charlotte