Restaurant Review: Pabellon, Brighton

This month’s restaurant review is at the fabulous Pabellon, set within an iconic building in the heart of Brighton. This quaint restaurant offers classic Spanish tapas fused with Asian flavours.

My party and I arrived at 1pm and were seated with a view of the open kitchen, watching the chefs create some culinary delights. As you know from my previous reviews, I am a huge fan of small plates and tapas-style dining as you get to try an eclectic array of dishes. The menu is very simple and split into Aperitivo, Planta, Pescado, and Carne. My two guests and I asked our knowledgeable, friendly waiter to bring us a selection and that he did.

The small plates are made to order and are served to the table when ready. Our first couple of dishes arrived, a tapas favourite Patatas Bravas, drizzled in Aioli and Bravas sauce. They were fantastic. As too was the Green asparagus. They had one of my favourite cheeses, Manchego, thinly sliced over the top and well worth a try. Then, from the pescado section, we had the salt and pepper calamares, served with squid ink romesco and mango. In some places calamares can be slightly chewy, but this was far from it, cooked to perfection and combined with the squid ink and mango was tasty, fresh – simply delightful. 

‘The dishes kept coming’

Pabellon source all their ingredients and produce from Spain as well as local suppliers and it’s suggested that between 4-5 dishes should be enough for two people, depending on your appetite of course. 

After a great start, the dishes kept coming. We had marinated anchovies, prior to two meat dishes. The pork tenderloin with Korean BBQ sauce and, my personal favourite, the aged soya lamb cutlets with fennel kimichi. The meat simply fell off the bone and was mouth-wateringly tender. Each dish was presented almost like a piece of art and I, for one, love the visual aspect of a great dish. Taste is king, but you often think if it tastes as good as it looks then.. and all the dishes so far certainly achieved that.

To accompany our dishes, we again asked our knowledgeable waiter/manager to recommend a wine. We went for the Baluarte roble, chivite family estate, 2017. It was full of dark fruit flavours with just a hint of spice. We later discovered that both managers at Pabellon are trained sommeliers, hence why their choices were on point.

After our 6th dish, my guests and I feeling semi-full still had room for a little more. We were then presented with our final two dishes, Pollo Con Fuego, chicken in an aromatic sauce and finally the Eivissenca seared tuna steak, with pine nuts, raisins and salsa verde. Again, I find tuna steak can be slightly hit or miss in some places, but certainly not at Pabellon, and it was the prefect finish to what can only be described as a feast. 

About Pabellon, Brighton

Pabellon offers traditional Spanish-style tapas but certainly with a modern twist. The fusion of Asian flavours separates it from other tapas restaurants and is an absolute must try for our readers.

My guest and I had a two-and-half hour meeting over some truly fabulous cuisine and certainly a perfect place to take and impress clients. Staff are both friendly and extremely knowledgeable.

Their menu is updated frequently, dependent on best quality and freshest produce, with some great offers for businesses as well as their Tapas Tuesday offer. My advice is, if you haven’t been  – go. You will not be disappointed. Since the review, I have actually been back twice already and am looking forward to returning again soon.