I wandered down Preston Street, Brighton's ever changing restaurant strip, to forage for lunch today. Sapporo has closed - rather suddenly judging by the chef's whites draped over a railing and the cutlery and napkins piled up. I can't say I'm surprised or saddened. The one and only time I went there for lunch all the staff seemed to be from countries other than Japan and that showed in the food. Sushi Garden is now the resident Japanese restaurant on the street, but was closed, despite claiming to be open every day from 11:30am. The sign up in the window looking for waiting staff may have been a clue.
So I ended up in China China, which had a large number of Chinese eating there - always a good sign. I read somewhere that Brighton has the biggest Chinese population in the UK after London and Manchester- not sure if that's true, but we certainly have some sizable and popular Chinese restaurants around Preston Street, near the Chinese association on Western Road.
The menu was a bit too long and no lunch specials, so I took too much time for the affable Chinese waiter's taste to decide. I ended up ordering the king prawns with black bean sauce and crispy noodles (£5) as a bit of a test, as I've ordered crispy noodles before and then couldn't find anything crisp. It arrived very promptly in a huge plastic plate and the noodles were crispy, there were plenty of big king prawns and the black bean sauce had not been watered down. The veg were in big chunks, which I understand from Sour Sweet is a sign of adjusting to Western tastes. I did wonder if the Chinese were being put in the larger room and the gweilo in the smaller room, and maybe being served something different but as I left, a Chinese couple were put in the smaller room. I bet though, as with Chinese restaurants in London's Chinatown, that the real pros order off the menu. There was some nice looking duck and chinese cabbage hanging from hooks in the kitchen, so I think next time I'll be a bit more adventurous, or bring the family and go for dim sum.