Latest opening: Tern
What: A fine dining restaurant on Worthing Pier. Named after a type of seabird, the 25-cover Tern is located on the first floor of the Art Deco structure’s southern pavilion within recently-launched restaurant and café Perch on the Pier. Facing north to give impressive 180-degree views of the coastline, the restaurant offers an £85 seven course tasting menu in the evening and a shorter, more affordable, menu at lunchtimes.
Who: The chef behind the project is Johnny Stanford, who is perhaps best known for his stint at Brighton’s Pascere, which received a positive review from then The Guardian critic Marina O’Loughlin. Born in Manchester, Stanford began his career working with the late Paul Kitchin at his acclaimed restaurant Juniper in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. He worked in a number of other top UK restaurants before settling in Sussex in 2012 initially holding the position of sous chef at The Pass near Horsham, which at the time was helmed by Matt Gillan and held a Michelin star. Since the somewhat premature closure of Pascere, Stanford has overseen the kitchens of a number of Sussex restaurants and pubs including Restaurant AG at Alexander House, No.1 Broad Street and The Half Moon Kirdford. Tern’s host venue Perch is owned by Alex Coombes, who also operates Perch-branded ventures in nearby Lancing and Shoreham (he recently acquired a second Worthing premises for a pizza restaurant).
The vibe: The horseshoe-shaped space has a fully-open kitchen and bar area to the rear with tables facing inland in most cases to take full advantage of the view. Design features include chairs shod in green velvet, grey table tops and a dark wood floor. The overall feel is relaxed-yet-professional with Tern’s dining room overseen by a young but clearly experienced team.
The food: For the most part Stanford’s menus don’t feature very premium ingredients such as lobster, caviar and truffles with the chef saying that “taking something familiar and transforming it into something special is what excites me the most about cooking”. The policy has also allowed him to keep prices relatively accessible. With a focus on UK - but not necessarily local - ingredients and a neat plating style, Stanford’s launch menu includes razor clam with elderflower, crème fraiche, pea, lavender and Riesling vinegar served in an edible shell; Jersey Royals with smoked roe and wild garlic; lamb with turnip and nettle; and sweet cicely with rhubarb and sheep’s yoghurt.
To drink: Tern offers an exclusively-English wine list that has been created - Restaurant understands - with input from Alex Preston, who created what was claimed at the time to be the first English wine list at soon-to-close Brighton restaurant Isaac At. Costing £45, the wine pairing is focused on wines made using low-intervention methods with the producers featured including Bolney Wine Estate, Artelium Wine, Biddenden Vineyards and Offbeat Wines.
And another thing: While claims of Worthing being a ‘foodie hotspot’ might be a bit premature, the hospitality scene in the West Sussex town is certainly evolving fast. Indeed, Tern will soon have some competition with former Smoking Goat head chef Aaron Dalton set to open an ambitious tasting menu-only restaurant within his home later this summer.
