Sussex columnist: Worthing's food scene is booming – and I'm all for it!

And this week was no different, as I was lucky enough to visit old and new haunts, as well as hear about some exciting businesses coming to town.

My husband’s family visited us at the weekend, so we took them to one of our favourite restaurants – Issa Sushi.

If you haven’t been before, please go, as everything we have ever tried in there is delicious.

If there was a way to set up a drip that constantly fed me their massaman sauce, I would be happy forever. It’s that tasty!

It’s also a hit with our kids – and, let’s face it, there’s no point going anywhere with children if they’re not going to enjoy the food – as they love trying different bits from our plates (a beef udon noodle dish and cucumber and carrot sushi won the day on Saturday).

That was a tried and tested venue, but when the need for coffee hit later in the day, we decided on somewhere we hadn’t visited before.

Jones Coffee Co. opened in Chapel Road last year. According to its website, it’s an independent coffee shop, focusing on great customer service, ethically sourced coffee and providing a welcoming and friendly space. And having finally tried it for myself, I’m very much inclined to agree.

There’s comfortable sofas and armchairs to sit on, tasty cakes and the staff were really nice – particularly when my son kept going and asking for more chocolate sprinkles for his babyccino!

I made a hat-trick of visiting local food and drink businesses by meeting my friend Sarah at Brewhouse & Kitchen on Saturday night. I’d been wanting to try it for ages, and when we wanted somewhere to catch up over a glass or two of wine, it seemed like a perfect choice.

It’s such a transformation from when it was Beechwood Hall. It now houses a microbrewery and has 10 hotel rooms above the pub. It was lovely and cosy in there, and it was so nice to see it busy – and have a good catch up with a friend.

I was also lucky enough to find out about two great food businesses coming to town when I was out and about for work this week.

Victoria’s Sponge, currently a tea room in Steyning, is opening another venue in the Guildbourne Centre in a few weeks. As a massive cake fan (I mean, who isn’t?!), it sounds like a great addition to the town centre.

But if that wasn’t enough sugar, up in Broadwater, bakery chain Real Patisserie will be opening its first Worthing branch in the spring.

Having chatted to founder Alastair Gourlay, it’s safe to say I am pretty excited to try some of his French delicacies – fresh bread, cakes, tarts and treats is right up my street.

But there was sad news, with the announcement that Boston Tea Party closed suddenly and for good last week. Having been a massive fan of it, and having sung its praises in this column, I’m really gutted.

I hope something else equally nice moves in there soon.

It’s so nice Worthing has such a vibrant food scene – although I could do with a salad shop opening next, as I’m not sure all these cakes are so kind on my waistline...

In thoughts on just how random children can be, when I was helping my four-year-old son get ready for bed the other night, he suddenly declared he had a new name.

“I’m a baby, who’s one, called William Johnson Haiko,” he told me. “Can you call me William now?”

William isn’t his name, and there is no context for this whatsoever, as we don’t know anybody with this name or even anything similar. It just came out of nowhere and really made me smile.

That’s the thing with kids, you think you’re just doing the normal bedtime routine, and suddenly you’re plunged into a world of fantasy. I absolutely love it!

The mundanity of brushing my teeth would probably be made so much more exciting if I changed my name to something crazy, and came up with a backstory. Maybe I’ll try it tonight?!

William later became a dinosaur, and eventually changed his name to William Hulk JK. It was an exciting evening. Lesson for the week is ‘be a little more William’!

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