Having heard a great deal about Hove's Bali Brasserie, we thought it was about time we actually sampled its delights. I'm pleased to say it was one of the best meals we've ever tasted, and the Bali Brasserie is topping our personal good food guide. The Bali's Tropical Bar is an unusual blend of atmospheres. It provides the comfort of a hotel bar, the informality of a local pub, yet at the same time feels as welcoming as being invited into someone's home. TC, owner of the Bali Brasserie, is the ideal ‘mine host'. Always on the move, TC ensures all his guests are welcomed and well cared for. Thursday is ‘live music night' at the Bali Brasserie, so we opted to stay in the Tropical Bar to enjoy the entertainment and sample the bar food. We chose from a range of Malaysian - Indonesian dishes, which is the hallmark of the Bali Brasserie. Two courses in the Tropical Bar costs only £7.95! While we were waiting at the bar, our table was being prepared. How many bar meals come with real table linen? No tatty paper napkins here! To start, we chose the Indonesian sausage and the steamed deep-fried dumplings. As a main course, we went for the Malaysian Chicken Curry and chicken in a cream sauce with lemon grass and lime. All the dishes were presented to an exceptional standard. Our food not only looked fantastic, it tasted wonderful. A far cry from the soggy jacket potato or reheated ready meal, which is the usual bar food fare! Not only was the food some of the best I've ever experienced, the service was first class too. As a former restaurant owner, I know a great deal about customer service. Good service doesn't involve an obsequious waiter fawning over you, or being asked if ‘everything is OK' before tasting a mouthful. The secret of good service is in the ‘cueing'. When one's customer wants attention their body language changes. They will try to make eye contact with the waiting staff, and for a skilled professional it's very obvious: in the majority of situations, the signals go unnoticed. The Bali Brasserie team can cue! We waited for nothing and were very impressed with the standard of service—and this was just a bar meal! It really was service with a genuine smile! The Bali team know just how to make you feel welcome. For me, the acid test is always the coffee. How difficult is it to make a cup of decent coffee? The ground coffee comes in pre-measured doses, the machine does all the work, yet all too often the coffee tastes like something filtered from the dishwasher, not the coffee machine. I'm pleased to say the Bali Brasserie's coffee was every bit as good as the meal, the service and the live entertainment! You might be forgiven for wondering if this review is the work of a zealous writer fawning over a client. Definitely not! We rarely eat out, mainly because we're tired of mediocre food served at exorbitant prices. There is nothing mediocre about the Bali Brasserie. It's now numbered amongst our favourite eating places. But don't just take my word for it—if you're near Brighton & Hove, make a point of visiting the Bali Brasserie, I don't think you'll be disappointed! - Joy M  

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