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© David Charbit
tortillas had a gentle chew and a nutty base for everything else to pile upon, and the combination of lamb( slow-cooked until just the right side of collapse), herbs, pickled onions, fruity mole and a house hot sauce all delivered in help-yourself pots, means you can take the flavour profile in whichever direction you choose. It’ s tactile, it’ s fun, and it’ s also very clever in the confidence of its simplicity, as was its paired wine- an Alvarinho Vinho Verde that cut through the spice with zest and minerality.
An extremely smart and technically tight plate, the aged Hamachi crudo is the dish that best showed the kitchen’ s lighter hand. Hamachi, a Japanese yellowtail prized for its gently sweet and buttery flesh, arrived sliced thick enough for proper bite, accompanied by ajo blanco- a classic Andalusian blend of almonds, garlic and olive oil blended for subtlety over punch- fresh tomato adding acidity and brightness, and cobnuts that scattered crunch and a hint of praliné over the top.
Salt-baked beetroot with mackerel and whey followed and was far bolder than its description suggested. Salt-baking intensifies beetroot’ s natural sweetness and earthiness, which, paired with oily, assertive mackerel and the lactic tang of whey, becomes something much more savoury.
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It’ s a combination that makes sense once you taste it- the beetroot behaving almost like fruit, with the fish and whey preventing it from tipping into dessert territory.
The standout dish? Native lobster rice with ox tongue. Arriving looking deceptively straightforward( a shallow dish of rice with a gloss added by reduction rather than butter overload with a generous piece of local lobster resting on top), somewhere in this magical mix is ox tongue and oxtail fat, which runs invisibly through the rice, giving each grain a deep, beefy savouriness. The brilliance here is in how that flavour plays with both your mouth and your mind. There’ s enough depth for your palate to recognise that lobster is a‘ meaty’ ingredient, and also to happily handle a Californian Tyler pinot noir alongside it, but not so much that the natural sweetness of the lobster is ever bullied. The rice has bite, the sauce is intense without being sticky and every mouthful differs slightly depending on the ratio of tongue, rice and fat you receive- really satisfying and very much of this kitchen.
We finished by sharing a choux bun with fig leaf ice cream, fig and Pedro Ximénez,
© David Charbit
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the green vanilla and coconut notes of the fig leaf lifting the dish’ s verdant depths, while the PX added warmth and sweetness underneath. Balanced, interesting and a suitably thought-provoking finale, it was matched with the honey and apricot flavours of a French Sauternes dessert wine in a parting reminder that nothing about Maré is left to chance.
What Maré offers is a sharp sense of focus. Deeply true to Cagali’ s philosophy and technically masterful, it’ s overseen by a young head chef and team who clearly care about what they are doing. The cooking is imaginative without being obscure, the atmosphere is relaxed without sloppiness, and the location in Hove feels not just convenient but correct. I got the sense that this is a restaurant that intends to be here for the long term; moving with the tides of season and produce, yes, but anchored in a clear idea of who it is and who it’ s cooking for. And that, in a city of foodies that loves a new opening, is extremely exciting.
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© David Charbit © David Charbit |