Friday 30 July 2010

NEW STEINE HOTEL & BISTRO 10TH BIRTHDAY

The New Steine Hotel & Bistro threw an extravagant party, with lashings of champagne and entertainment from the Pink Sinatra, to celebrate ten years on Brighton’s Kemptown seafront square.

This stylish boutique hotel and bistro has been fully refurbished to mark the occasion and is a wonderful place for dinner, for friends to come and stay, as well as for special events and business meetings, as it has some lovely function rooms.

Owner Herve Guyat said that he wanted to thank everyone who has helped him to make his business a success and particularly his customers, who keep on coming back to enjoy their hospitality and the delights of Brighton. He also paid tribute to his life partner Georges Amaru and his cousin and General Manager, Stephane Gaucher for their support.

Known for its warm welcome and quirky entertainment, which includes stunning art exhibitions, cabaret nights & popular Supper Club Dinners, the New Steine Hotel & Bistro is quite unique amongst the city’s boutique hotels, with an excellent restaurant for evening dining.

This cosy and stylish bistro offers homemade French food using top-quality Sussex produce, including well executed classics, such as foie gras de canard, French onion soup and escargots for starters and Sussex duck magret, rack of lamb or grill sea bass for mains. Their renowned creme brulée is a sinfully delicious dessert and they offer excellent value set price dining, evening only, seven nights per week. It also serves award-winning Sussex Breakfasts.

Herve, who comes from the South of France, moved to Brighton ten years ago to open the New Steine Hotel, after working for 14 years in London for some of the most prestigious hotels in sales and revenue manager roles, as well as Valentino and other famous fashion houses, where he started his career. This explains the stylish but very personal décor, with a French hint, which Hervé has used on the interior of all three of his properties.

The New Steine Hotel & Bistro is at 10 & 11 New Steine, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 1PB, 01273 681546, www.newsteinehotel.com

Do give it a try!

Monday 12 July 2010

ASK FOR LOCAL 'CATCH OF THE DAY'

Celebrity chef Tom Aikens helped kick off a campaign to promote local fishermen and fishmongers, calling on shoppers to ask for the local catch of the day.

He joined Henriette Reinders from South East Seafood and fishermen for an event held at the Billingsgate Fish Market in London, which also launches a South East competition seeking the best Sea Bass recipe from the public - best recipes should be sent to fish@naturalpr.biz

“We have wonderful, fresh fish caught from local waters, but so much of it is shipped elsewhere and people are beginning to really appreciate buying local. We have created a list of accredited fishmongers who sell local and are promoting it on our website and we want to support fishermen in the region, so that the local market grows,” said Henriette Reinders.

“We have also started a fish tagging scheme, focused on three very important and sustainable fish from our local coastal waters, Sea Bass, Dover Sole and Lobster, so that people know exactly which fishing boat caught each fish and that it was caught with as little impact as possible – and we want to encourage local fishmongers to sell sustainable, locally-caught fish as much as possible.”

Tom Aikens, who recently appeared on TV programmes Iron Chef and Junior Apprentice, has come out in support of the campaign and will this week be making an appearance at the Billingsgate Fish School, which is offering the competition prize of a fantastic fish preparation and cooking course for two.

For many years, the number of fishing vessels and employment in the UK fishing industry has been in decline. Reduced quotas and rising fuel prices continue to challenge the future of the industry and there is a growing demand from customers for seafood from sustainable sources.

The South East boasts 26 landing points and the majority of these ports land their catch from day boats or ‘under 10 metre’ boats. Day boats fish mainly within a 12 mile limit along our coast. This means that if the weather is bad, it is very difficult for them to go out and supply fresh seafood to the market and shops.

Continued Henriette Reinders: “We all eat fish and know that freshness comes first, but it is important to catch and consume sustainable seafood. Fishermen across the region are becoming more and more aware of sustainability: the introduction by Selsey fishermen of escape hatches on lobster pots enabling undersized lobsters to escape and areas on the seabed that are being avoided during the breeding/spawning season are examples of the latest projects to protect stocks.”

In 2007 Seafish introduced the Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS), offering a way for consumers to enjoy their favourite seafood dish comfortable in the knowledge that it is both the produce of the highest quality and that the fishing vessel which landed the catch operates according to strict guidelines, minimising its impact on the environment. The aim is that over time this scheme will become a condition of supply.

Said Henriette Reinders: “In the South East we are working with the fishing sector to get as many boats signed up to RFS as possible and this campaign is all about informing the public about the challenges our fishermen face daily to bring in a sustainable catch – and sure, you can’t expect the same thing to be available every day, but the fresh taste is absolutely worth it and we need to be flexible about the recipes we are willing to try daily.”

Postcards encouraging people to ask for their local catch of the day and including competition details to win the Billingsgate Fish School prize are available in fishmongers across the region or call Natural PR on Tel: 01273 857242 or email: fish@naturalpr.biz