A World Away Behind the Front Door
There is not much at the front door on Marine Parade to suggest what lies inside. The grand white building sits slap bang in the middle of the city, between the aquarium and Volk’s nightclub. Completed in 2022 for the Soho House group, it understandably sits with its nominal front door facing back towards the city.
Don’t let that fool you: its face is turned oceanwards, and the large sun terrace gives onto Palace Pier, the sea and the sky.
What You’ll Love
- One of Brighton’s most spectacular sea-view terraces
- Classic Northern Italian dishes done with confidence
- A lively atmosphere that’s perfect for celebrations
- The famous giant veal Milanese
- Soho House glamour without needing a membership
A Terrace With Ambition
The aim behind Cecconi’s in Brighton, previously reserved for Soho House members but open to the public for about a year now, is to have the best terrace in Brighton, says manager Charly, with refreshing openness.
For a city so bound to the sea, there are actually few places in Brighton where you can dine by the water, so it feels quite special on our visit to gaze out at the flickering neon signs on the pier and watch the waves sighing into the beach, breaking into regiments of lace.
It had been blowing like boots for the last couple of days, with surfers a few miles away at Shoreham reporting overhead waves earlier that same day. Great for them, but for my wife and me, the residual wind and chill meant sitting inside instead of out on that wonderful terrace, both of which share the same stunning mosaic floor.
Inside, it was warm and very lively on our Friday night visit, mostly a youthful crowd, some here to be seen. It’s popular for birthdays, says Charly, and I also spy a few boomers treating their grown-up kids to a dinner out. It’s definitely somewhere to come for an occasion.
It was nice to see a few solo diners perched at the bar, and even better to see how serious the two bartenders looked, like doctors dispensing medicine. It’s the sort of place you might hope to see a Brighton player come in. In this, but only this, we were disappointed.
The Biggest Veal Milanese I’ve Ever Seen
The cuisine here is, broadly speaking, Northern Italian, after Cecconi’s founder, Enzo Cecconi, who opened the first of the breed in Mayfair in 1978 and cut his teeth at Harry’s Bar in Venice.
The first courses of dressed crab and tuna tartare were the perfect foil for what came next, which was the largest veal Milanese I’ve ever seen; actually the largest thing I’ve ever seen on a plate.
I should probably add at this point that I was raised in Milan for five years as a child, so I’ve seen a few. It was the proper deal: bone-in, succulent inside, crunchy outside, and good though it was, I found myself unable to finish it for only the second time in my life (the only other time, coincidentally, was in Brighton – the Gut Buster breakfast at the Market Diner in 1995).
However glamorous the setting, I doggy-bagged the rest of it for a spectacular sandwich the next day.
The lobster tagliolini (similar to spaghetti) was as rich and heavy as a velvet curtain and based on what tasted and looked like a classic shellfish reduction.
A Little Bit of International Brighton
With that veal cutlet safely bagged up, it was time for pudding, which was a shared tiramisu. Tira mi su means ‘pull me up’ in Italian. If anything, I think we were enjoying the whiff of glamour at Cecconi’s and feeling some pride for Brighton.
After all, the only other cities with a Cecconi’s are London (3), New York (2), Hollywood, Miami, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Mumbai and Istanbul.
The internationalism explains the menu, which is a greatest hits compilation of high-end Northern Italian dining, with a few other favourites thrown in.
Peak Brighton
Cecconi’s location is second to none. The terrace, sea view and central location combine to create what feels like peak Brighton. That, and the general feeling that you are somewhere special, along with the crowd-pleasing menu, explain why it’s such a good choice for an occasion, a big night out or a celebration.
And here’s another idea: the rise and rise in the price of more modest eating in Britain (pizzerias, gastropubs and so on) means that these days, higher-end establishments like this are often offering similar, or even better, value. Steak and chips is cheaper at The Ivy than at my local, for instance.
In the same vein, you can go to Cecconi’s and order a pizza for just £12. So for a smaller celebration, how about a pizza and a beer on that sunny terrace for lunch?
