今日はブライトンに用があったので、用を済ませる前に気になっていたタイ料理のレストラン「Chilli」でランチをしました。ブライトンまでは我が家から車で大体４５分くらい、車を停めてお店まで歩いたところで１時間くらい。１２時丁度くらいに着いたので、一番乗りでした。わたしたちの印象ではロンドンとは違い、少なくとも今の時期は早めに行くならブライトンのレストランは予約は必要なさそうな気がしています。
We had something we needed to go to Brighton for so we had lunch first at “Chilli”, a Thai restaurant, that I’ve been wanting to try. It takes about 45 minutes from home and by the time we park, then walk to the restaurant it’s about an hour. We arrived there just around 12:00 so we were the first customers. We have the feeling we don’t need to book restaurants in Brighton unlike in London, at least when you get there earlyish and this time of year.
前菜から春巻きとチキンサテー。夫が好きなのでほとんど毎回このメニュー。春巻きは美味しかったです。チキンサテーは、ちょっとドライでしたが、まぁまぁかな。
We had Spring Rolls & Chicken Satay from the starters – my husband always wants to have these two. Spring rolls were good. Chicken satay was a little dry but tasted good.
そして、メインからミンチチキンのサラダ（ラーブ）。これが、辛かった！いくつか小さな丸ごとのドライのチリが入っていたので気をつけないと大変なことになると思います、多分、わたしは１つ食べてしまいかなり辛かったです。丸ごとチリを食べなくても結構辛い。味付けは辛いけれど甘みも結構しっかりしていて、わたしはもう少しライムを効かせたいところでしたが、ミントたっぷりで美味しかったです。わたしたちにはこの辛さが美味しいと思えるぎりぎりかな、と思いました。食べ終わる頃にはヒーヒーしました。あとは、ジャスミンライス。これで、丁度良い量でした。
Then we had Mince Chicken Salad (Laab) from the main (salad). This was very spicy! We found a few very small dried chillis hidden inside so we had to be very careful, I think I had one of them and it was really spicy! It was spicy even when you don’t have small whole chillis, though. I know this dish is supposed to be spicy but we were surprised by the level as English people in general don’t seem to like very spicy food. It was a bit too sweet at the same time as being very spicy so I would have added a little lime juice myself but it was quite good, specially with lots of mint. We did enjoy it but we thought it was at the edge of not being able to enjoy. Our tongues were burning by the time we finished it. We had it with Jasmine rice and these 3 dishes were just about the right amount for us for lunch.
デザートはバナナフリッターと決めていたのですが、ここのメニューにはなく、夫がパラタ（バターたっぷりのペイストリーのようなパン）のフライトタイティーのアイスをオーダーしました。わたしも一口だけ食べましたが、それでなくてもバターたっぷりのパラタを揚げてあるので相当体に悪そうで、わたしは一口だけにしました。夫は美味しいと言っていましたが。
We were going to order Banana Fritter for dessert but it wasn’t on their menu, they only had 2 desserts available and my husband chose Deep-fried Paratha with Thai Iced Tea Ice Cream. I had just one little bite and it was enough. Paratha is full of butter and they deep-fried it! It cannot be good for you…. so I just had one little bite. My husband enjoyed it, though.
ビール２杯と上記のもので５７ポンド（１２０００円）だったので、イギリスではまぁお安い方かなと思います。ただ、ディナーだったらもう１品くらいほしいところですよね。そうすると７０ポンド（１４，７００円）を少し超えるかもしれませんが、それでもまぁ、イギリスでは高くはないと思います。味付けも、個人的にはチチェスターのレモングラスより好みかな。まぁ、３品しか食べていないのでわかりませんが。
With a small beer each, it was £57, so I suppose it’s on the reasonable side. I think we would have ordered another main if we were there for dinner, then it would have been £70 or more. It’s still not bad for England. I think we like the food here more than at Lemongrass in Chichester although we only had 3 dishes (plus dessert) so we probably need to have a few more to really know.