A very big claim to take, I know, however I do believe that so far, VIP is the best restaurant I have been to in Brighton.

Origionaly going to VIP was not on the cards for my weekend, however, whilst walking into town, I found myself walking past a normally completely full restaurant. I could see a few spare tables, and knew instantly I could not turn down this opportunity. Also, as I rave about it to everyone, I was excited to take my cousin. I think it is safe to say neither of us were disappointed.

The restaurant is small and cosy, with lovely wooden benches and tables. There is a large open kitchen, huge deli counter, and shelves stocked full of Italian produce covering the walls. Meat, bread and cheeses hang from the cieling, and pre-cooked pizzas, along with a seleciton of fresh vegetables filled the counters. It is truly like stepping into Naples, where this family restaurant first started. Another great feature is that all of the staff are Italian, and they are all so welcoming and helpful. The atmosphere is always great, with a bustling vibe and Italian music. The tables are quite intimate, but I think that adds to the authenticity of a small family run business.

On this visit we decided to share a few dishes, mainly because we didn’t want to get too full- little did we know we would leave STUFFED. To start, we chose a bread and dip board, and calamari. The bread and dip board came and was HUGE. It included tapenade, chilli oil, balsamic, garlic bread, rosemary bread and lovely olives. The calamari was lovely, and quite a big portion. After the starters we were quite full, but with the Parma pizza on the way, we knew there would be a little bit of space left. I always have room for pizza!

The Parma pizza was one of the best I have had at VIP. Like all the pizzas, it was cooked in the traditional wood burning pizza oven. It was topped with: tomato, mozzarella, rocket, Parma ham, parmesan and rocket, and then I added on lots of chilli oil which made it even better. We shared this pizza between us, which was a very wise choice, I never would have been able to manage a whole one!

Along with our food we both had wine, which, like all the food, is very well priced. I had a large glass of house white for just over £4- you can’t go wrong! Although the desserts all looked amazing, there was no way I could squeeze in anything else, however I had tried a few before and I hugely recommend.
I feel like I could write about VIP forever, as it is honestly so good. Not only is there amazing meat, cheese, pizza, pasta, veggies and desserts the staff are all lovely- you may even learn a little Italian!