Lime Squeezy Brighton A Food Review

Lime Squeezy Brighton A Food Review

With its vibrant and delicious authentic Thai food in the heart of Brighton, Lime Squeezy has launched a new menu celebrating dishes from all across the Asian continent.


Brighton institution and hugely successful restaurant chain Giggling Squid has always been my go-to restaurant for Thai cuisine that not only lives up to the dishes I sampled on the backpacking adventures of my youth, but consistently provides warm friendly and welcoming hospitality knows no bounds. Lime Squeezy is the latest concept by Giggling Squid founder: Pranee Laurillard which also serves Thai-Food, but in a more casual and communal setting, conveniently located in the centre of town occupying the premium ex-Pizza Express site towering over Jubilee Square in Brighton’s north lane area, offering fast, fresh and fuss-free Thai food. Lime Squeezy has also just launched a new menu, celebrating dishes and flavours from across the Asian continent including Bao Buns, BBQ Mekhong ribs and a whole host of South-east asian favourites such as curries and laksas and Nasi Goreng. This has all proven too much for me to resist so I decided to make a long overdue visit to see if  Lime Squeezy lives up to Giggling Squids fine long-standing reputation. Of course, it did!

Arriving for lunch on a gorgeous sunny day, and having never visited the site when it was a Pizza Express, I am taken aback by the sheer vastness of the glass building Lime Squeezy occupies. Despite its size, the restaurant has an air of tranquillity. Utopian and uncluttered with white-washed walls and light-wood tone and an open-plan kitchen in full view behind a bar to the rear which gives the chef commanding presence over the room. It is fun to watch him already cooking up some incredible looking plates of food. The layout is based on communal seatings consanguineous to the casual way of eating in Thailand, capturing the spirit of mealtimes, which are all about lots of dishes that everyone shares

After taking our seat at the front of the restaurant so we get a superb view of the comings and goings on Jubilee Square our waiter appears and takes us through the menu. We have the option of dining traditionally with plates of food coming out when they are ready, or going western, following the starters-mains-dessert routine which we decide on doing, though still fully intending on sharing whatever we choose. We are able to order through our phones by scanning a QR code but our waiter is more than happy to take our order, recommending dishes to us as we go.

To begin we plump to share Nori Squid with Wasabi dip, which is billed as “the best calamari on the the block,”  Hot-Pan Prawns – Juicy shell-on prawns flame-sauteed with sweet radish, sea-salt, spring onion and fiery chilli, and a “Bau Selector” – A mix and match of  buns with a choice of delicious fillings listed on the menu. The Squid is cooked to perfection with a lovely mildly-spiced coating that brings out the flavour of the squid, the wasabi dip further highlights the flavour and has a luscious creamy texture, these tasty morsels may-well live up to the bold statement Lime Squeezy proclaims on the menu.. The Hot-Pan Prawns were an absolute delight. I cannot begin to describe how tasty this dish is. The wonderful powerful bold flavours that the prawns are coated in are enhanced by the sweet crisp raddish and spring onion and the chilli’s pack a real punch. This delightful dish really left a mark on me. Incredible flavours and textures that pull your tastebuds in all sorts of wonderful directions. A must try.

As for the Bau’s, hands down the best in town. light and fluffy steamed bao buns which came jam packed with our chosen fillings –  saucy spicy chicken, tender shredded Teryiaki beef and my personal favourite, Gochujang mushrooms, all of which were an absolute delight, but the mushrooms really stole the show with a sublime spicy sauce, along with crunchy slivers of spring onion and cucumber. with crunchy peanuts to add a bit of excitement to the texture and completing the circle of sweet, spice, and savoury that altogether do a merry dance on the tongue.

Our mains were equally impressive. We share the new additions of BBQ Mekong Ribs, and Laksa with Prawns and Chicken.  The ribs were nothing short of spectacular. Slow cooking was certainly evident as the pork melted away from the bone, releasing the meats full flavour which went perfectly with the rich, intensely fragrant and colourful BBQ sauce that hit all the right notes. The Laksa, sheer perfection in a bowl. Crammed with plump juicy prawns, tender pieces of chicken, a whole host of veg and rice noodles altogether made it as filling as it was delicious. Spiced just enough to give it a nice kick but not too much to overpower all the gorgeous fresh ingredients.

When you visit Lime Squeezy please do make sure you save some room for dessert. The incredibly well thought out dessert menu was just too tantalising to ignore. We just about managed to squeeze in some Mochi, another new Asian-inspired addition to the menu. A super-chewy, traditional Japanese snack, made from an ingredient known as mochigome which is a short-grain glutinous rice. Texture-wise it’s difficult to explain if you haven’t yet tried it, but essentially it’s a delightfully gooey combination of rice and dough, they come in a variety of flavours and  when bitten into a soft ice-cream or sorbet centre is revealed releasing a highly pleasurable burst of refreshment. We could not get enough of these tasty treats, whilst also greedily guzzling down a delectably rich slice of chocolate cheesecake drizzled in toffee sauce.

As we waddled out of the restaurant my companion and I agreed that Lime Squeezy is as exciting and innovative as it gets. In knowing that has been contrived by Pranee Laurillard, It is hard not to compare it to Giggling Squid, Though it feels completely fresh, invigorating and unique, especially with the exciting and absolutely delicious new additions to the menu, inspired by dishes from all over Asia! .

Tony Shattell

Lime Squeezy

Jubilee Street

Brighton

BN1 1GE

01273 089245

brighton@limesqueezy.co.uk