Coggings & Co

A little bit like last month's venue, Burger Bothers, this restaurant scores heavily on the Trip Advisor Richter scale and we were all very keen to get ourselves over there to taste what they were serving up.

First impressions as we walked through the door; muy impresionados, as they say in the Spanish speaking world. The restaurant is lovely and open, spacious, with huge windows at the front letting in lots of natural light. The decor is pretty cool too; lots of open brickwork and some really nice prints on the wall showcasing Brighton's diversity. Nosing through @coggingsandco's twitter account it looks like these prints are from a nearby gallery. Always nice to see local businesses supporting each. Kudos.

We were greeted very enthusiastically by who I presumed to be the owner, Andrew Coggings, and shown to our table. The service throughout was excellent. Clearly this is an area which Andrew is serious about. We were given a complementary bottle of water as soon as we sat down and the friendly and efficient waitress offered to top it up as soon as we'd finished it.

What is also definitely worth mentioning here is that provenance and sustainability and are hugely important to this restaurant's ethos. So much so that Coggings & Co has been given 'The Three Star Sustainability Champion Award' by 'The Sustainable Restaurant Association'.

The ingredients are all sourced locally, where possible. The beef is provided by Redlands Farm in Horam, and ground daily on the premises. The buns are from Real Patisserie in Brighton, the ice cream comes from Downsview Farmhouse in Ringmer and the beers, ciders and wines are all sourced through local breweries and vineyards. It's hard not to admire Coggings & Co for their approach - even their menus are made from recycled paper!

So, on to the serious business of the burgerliciousness. The menu itself is relatively simple, which was a bit of a relief. Sometimes it's nice just to see a few items - less is more. One thing missing, in my humble opinion was burger names! I'm sure there's a reason behind it but I'd like to have been able to say, "I'll have the 'Big Kahuna Burger' or the 'Royale with cheese'", rather than asking for "this one here" and pointing at the menu.

Dan opted for the entry level burger, 6oz of Redlands Farm's freshly ground beef, coastal cheddar, tomato, mayonnaise, dill pickles, salad.

Stuart and Tristan both plumped for the next one off the menu - 6oz beef, coastal cheddar, dry-cured honey-glazed streaky bacon, mustard mayonnaise, salad. Tristan, of course, asked that anything green or of plant based parentage be removed from between his buns.

Greg piled in to the spicy option, as is often the case, consisting of 6oz beef, braised brisket chilli, tomato salsa, sour cream, salad.

All four also chose the triple cooked rosemary fries cooked in beef dripping - awesome. These are also available in slightly less artery hardening form, having been cooked in vegetable oil, but I think we'd have been a little disappointed not to try them as they were intended.

What can I say about these burgers once they'd arrived? They were pretty damn good. The meat itself was wonderful; juicy and tasty and cooked medium, which is to say (in my opinion) perfection. The bun was soft yet had the capability to harness the force within. The salad was dressed, which is a must, but you'd be surprised how often this important piece of the jigsaw is left in the box.

Tristan gave 10 out of 10 for X factor! A feat in itself for Code 7's toughest reviewer and made all the more impressive given that the food turned up on a fish shaped bread board - ordinarily a little too artisan-y for our head developer's taste.

It's a shame really that the burgers were so filling as the dessert menu looked pretty good too. Dan had already decided that he was definitely going for the sweet option but, when push came to shove, he failed to deliver. The raspberry doughnuts with white chocolate dripping sauce and the chocolate, almond and and orange brownies sounded amazing - and of course the chocolate is fair trade!

All in all, a wonderful lunchtime treat. We've currently got Coggings & Co running neck and neck with Burger Brothers for the winners of Brighton's best burgers. We may have to go back to both in the next few weeks to try and wrestle these two big hitters apart. It's a tough job but one we're happy to take on.

Luckily for us, we were given a couple of 'buy one, get one free' vouchers as we left - the icing on the proverbial cake!