BEST CHEF
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1. Dave Mothersill, Furna
Yorkshire-born, Dave Mothersill moved to Brighton in his twenties where his first job was at the legendary vegetarian restaurant Terre a Terre.
After working as head chef Ben McKellar’s The Gingerman group, Mothersill went on to oversee the food of Raz Helalat’s Black Rock Restaurants group, opening The Salt Room in Brighton and the London branch of The Coal Shed.
After returning to work for McKellar as head chef of The Gingerman, Mothersill opened Furna, his first restaurant as chef patron, in late 2022. The Michelin Guide praised Mothersill for his ‘precisely crafted dishes’ while the Good Food Guide described the menus at Furna as ‘epic’ with every course delivering ‘vivid flavours, on-point cooking and artful presentation’.
2. Dan Kenny, The Set
Dan Kenny lived in Ho Chi Minh city for two years before moving to Brighton to work at The Gingerman.
He launched The Set as a pop up for Halloween in 2014 at the Artist Residence which led to The Set’s first incarnation as the hotel’s permanent in-house restaurant. Kenny opened the casual and much missed Dizzy Gull at the Brighton Beer Dispensary, winning Brighton’s Best Sunday Roast Award in 2017.
The Set relocated to its current location at Cafe Rust in Preston Road in 2021 where Kenny’s wildly creative multi-course tasting menu’s ‘deliver well-defined flavours (The Michelin Guide) and ‘every dish hits the mark’.
3. Duncan Ray, Little Fish Market
Duncan Ray was part of the original kitchen brigade at Heston Blumenthal’s world famous The Fat Duck. He also worked at the three Michelin starred Georges Blanc restaurant in France and Michelin starred restaurants in the UK including Lettonie and L’Ortolan.
He was head chef of the prestigious Penny Hill Park Hotel at the age of just 23 and went on to work as a private chef for A-listers and royalty. He ran the Five Alls in the Cotswolds before opening The Little Fish Market in Hove in 2013.
The restaurant has received rave reviews in the national press with The Telegraph saying Ray ‘is in the business of very successfully making fish taste its finest. Everything we ate was both perfectly and delicately realised’ while the Financial Times said Chef Duncan Ray has developed a sure style and unimpeachable craft skills. The restaurant holds three AA rosettes and is rated ‘Very Good’ by The Good Food Guide. ,