The Crazy Goose Experience: a feast worth sharing in Sussex
When the food is fantastic and the service is even better, a restaurant is doing something right. That was our experience at The Crazy Goose in Brighton, where a revamped menu puts charcoal rotisserie chicken firmly in the spotlight.
There’s a real cosy and charming feel to the revamped eatery in Boyce’s Street – the original home of The Coal Shed.
Cooking over fire remains central to the offering, but here it’s the chicken that gets top billing. Whole birds are marinated for 48 hours before being slowly turned over charcoal, forming the centrepiece of a menu designed for sharing.
We chose The Crazy Goose Experience, priced at £37.50 per person when we visited, for a minimum of two sharing. It’s an appealing way to get acquainted with the kitchen, taking you through a selection of starters and wood-fired halloumi before the signature chicken arrives. With soft serve ice cream to finish, it feels like a complete meal, and I thought it was superb value for money.
The opening dishes give you plenty to work through. Flatbread comes with sesame brown butter, while black chickpea hummus is paired with caramelised miso onions and coconut yoghurt. Pressed pickled cucumber, served with taramasalata, toasted rye and Aleppo crumb, completes the first selection.
It’s a menu with plenty of detail in the accompaniments, and that continues with the halloumi, served with Urfa honey and fried curry leaves. There’s enough variety along the way to make the experience interesting before you reach the dish around which the restaurant has built its new identity.
The chicken itself was a highlight and thoroughly deserved its place at the centre of the meal. We really enjoyed it, and with burnt green chillies, French fries, pickle salad and sauces alongside, it made for a fantastic main course to share. The harissa oyster mushrooms and charred tenderstem broccoli complemented it beautifully.
The mushrooms come with parsley sauce, while the broccoli is served with whipped tahini and sesame seeds. They fit neatly into the wider menu’s approach, which gives vegetables plenty of attention through its use of fire, spices, dressings and sauces. Even with the chicken taking centre stage, there are good reasons to explore the rest of the menu.
There’s also a great range of cocktails to choose from. If you enjoy taking your time over the drinks list, there’s plenty to consider alongside the food.
But it was the service that made the strongest impression. With a meal we enjoyed this much, that’s a considerable compliment. The team looking after us made an excellent experience even better, and their contribution deserves just as much recognition as what came out of the kitchen.
The Crazy Goose has a clear focus in its new menu, and the £37.50 experience is a very enjoyable way to discover it. I felt it delivered superb value, with fantastic food from start to finish.
Razak Helalat, founder of Black Rock Restaurant Group, said: “Fifteen years ago, we built this business around cooking over fire and sourcing the best dry-aged beef in the country, when nobody else was doing either.
"We've put everything we learnt from that into chickens, in the same building where The Coal Shed started. This is where the bird takes a turn. What we love about chicken is how many occasions it stretches across.
"It's a table of six sharing on a Friday night, it's a family roast on a Sunday, and it's one person eating well on their own midweek. Very few things on a menu do all three.”
On Sundays the rotisserie turns to a traditional roast, with whole and half Crazy Chicken, rotisserie lamb shoulder, a vegan roast cauliflower steak and a kids' roast, all served with crispy smashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and roasting-tray gravy.
Kim Woodward, group head chef at Black Rock Restaurant Group, said: “The 48-hour marinade gives the chicken time to absorb all those flavours, while the charcoal adds a deep smokiness and beautifully charred skin. Rotisserie cooking may look simple but getting it consistently right takes real skill. It’s all about controlling the heat and keeping the bird turning evenly to achieve juice meat with crisp, caramelised skin.”
The Crazy Goose is part of Black Rock Restaurants, the independent restaurant group founded by Brighton-based restaurateur Razak Helalat. The group’s award-winning portfolio includes The Coal Shed in Brighton and London, The Salt Room, Burnt Orange and Tutto.
Find out more at thecrazygoose.co.uk.