Food For Chefs

Food for Chefs is a classy little food store for the chef in everyone, stocked with a wide variety of preserved goods for everyone’s gourmand needs. Unfortunately, a lack of fresh local produce, or cooking utensils, or anything to give you another reason to go makes Food for Chefs too specialised for most.
In Brighton, we are a little spoiled for upmarket, amazing shops to buy specialty food items. With some of the larger chains, as well as a lot of local stores offering kitchen utensils, as well as fresh produce and specialty sauces and ingredients from around the world, the choice is exceptional. Where most of these stores branch out a little, offering a little bit of everything to entice the repeat customer, Food for Chefs instead offers only specialty ingredients, sourced from all over the world. While the items are excellent, the lack of any other specialty kitchen items, in an area bustling with shops that offer so much more, leaves Food for Chefs a little lacking.
On top of that, the prices are astronomical. I understand that they’ve been sourced from all over the world and are, by and large, the best of the best, but I’d assume the prices were out of most residents’ range, especially for simple ingredients such as olive oil and tomatoes. Yes, yes, olive oil snobs, I know that it can be viewed like wine and some are so much better than others, but I doubt many people are interested enough to pay these prices!
Being around the corner from Carluccio’s, Food for Chefs faces and even greater problem: excellent competition in most of the goods they stock, plus fresh produce and a chance to eat down and eat. If you’re looking for that one specialty ingredient you’re happy to pay through the nose for, Food for Chefs is a good bet, but otherwise give it a miss.

From the outside, Food For Chefs looks like the kind of adorable little grocery store where you’d pick up all kinds of expensive but moreish goodies.
Unfortunately, when I stepped through the door I felt like I’d entered some weird food store in the middle of nowhere. There’s no fresh fruit, vegetables or salads, no mouth-​watering cheeses or thinly slices pieces of parma ham, no fresh bread or strong smelling coffee. Instead there’s shelves and shelves of preserved vegetables, anti-​pastas, olive oils, vinegars, sauces, pastas and chutneys in fancy jars.
Apparently, the food is sourced by the owners from specialist suppliers in Italy, France and Greece. Sadly, it just doesn’t look that appetising or aesthetically appealing. I know quite a few chefs and I think they’d all prefer a global knife for a present.