Palmito

A Converted Takeaway That Earned a Michelin Nod

Western Road in Hove is not a street that invites lingering. A kebab shop on one side, a vape outlet on the other, and the general visual noise of a busy commuter strip. Against that backdrop, Palmito's olive-green frontage and pink neon sign read less like decoration and more like a declaration. The space was a takeaway before Diego Ricaurte converted it into a 20-seat small-plates restaurant, and the transformation is the first argument the room makes before you've ordered anything.

Interior architecture at this price point — Palmito sits in the £ to ££ bracket that defines much of Brighton and Hove's independent dining scene — often defaults to bare necessities. Here, exposed brickwork, decorative filament wall lamps, tiled floors, and simple wooden furniture create a room that is deliberate without being fussy. The open kitchen runs along one wall, visible from every seat, which matters in a 20-cover space where proximity is unavoidable. Tables sit close together, the kind of closeness that generates conversation rather than irritation, partly because the cooking itself gives people something to talk about. Michelin awarded the restaurant a Bib Gourmand in both 2024 and 2025, the designation reserved for restaurants that deliver above-expectation cooking at moderate prices , a relevant credential given the room's modest footprint.

The Physical Logic of a Small Room

Small-plates restaurants in the UK have multiplied across the last decade, but the format works unevenly depending on the space. When the room is tight, a high table count creates service friction and a sense of being processed. Palmito resolves that by keeping the cover count low enough that the kitchen and the front-of-house can both breathe. The chefs occasionally deliver dishes to the table themselves, which extends the interaction beyond a transactional exchange and allows diners to ask questions about what they're eating. That kind of format discipline , restraint in the number of covers, engagement in service , is more characteristic of the specialist-tier operations you find in cities like Cologne at taku or in Dubai at Jun's than of a neighbourhood restaurant occupying a converted fast-food unit in Hove.

The room seats 20. That figure matters practically and editorially. It constrains throughput, which is why planning ahead is sensible , the restaurant fills, and arriving without a reservation means taking a chance on early sittings. It also shapes the cooking, since a small kitchen serving a small room can exercise more control over each plate than a brigade managing 80 covers. Brighton and Hove's small-plates scene has several practitioners at this size and format: Cin Cin operates a similarly intimate Italian model, while Amari takes a comparable approach to Spanish small plates. Palmito competes in that peer group on price and format, but diverges sharply on cuisine direction.

Spice-Driven Cooking With a Coherent Geography

The menu description at Palmito , "spice driven" and drawing on multiple global cuisines , is the kind of framing that can signal either confident hybridity or unfocused eclecticism. In this case, the anchor is clear: Ricaurte's Ecuadorian background and the culinary connections between South American and Indian spice traditions produce a menu where the influences cohere rather than collide. Goat sourced from nearby Cuckmere appears as a birria taco; locally landed, line-caught sea bass is sliced into a Peruvian-style tiradito with kiwi and raspberry leche de tigre and scattered wildflowers. The sourcing is local where it can be, the technique is specific to the dish's reference point, and the pricing keeps it accessible.

That combination , carefully sourced local produce, internationally referenced technique, ££ pricing , is not common in Brighton's broader restaurant scene. Michelin's Bib Gourmand exists precisely to flag this category, and the back-to-back recognition in 2024 and 2025 signals consistency rather than a one-year spike. By comparison, the city's higher-profile critical attention has tended toward Embers and Burnt Orange on the Mediterranean-leaning side of the market, and Dilsk on the Modern British end. Palmito occupies a different quadrant: South American-inflected, spice-forward, operating without the backing of a larger restaurant group.

The drink selection is calibrated to the food rather than built for margin. A short wine list prioritises organic and biodynamic bottles, with selections like a Txakoli rosé that suit the acidity and brightness of the cooking. Local beers and well-constructed cocktails round out the options , the recommendation is to start with a cocktail, which functions as a palate primer for what follows. Dessert is treated as a closing argument rather than an afterthought.

Where Palmito Sits in Brighton's Dining Context

Brighton and Hove's independent restaurant sector is dense relative to its population. The city generates a volume of critical interest disproportionate to its size, supported by proximity to London and a local dining culture with genuine appetite for independent operators. The restaurant scene rewards both ambition and affordability, which is why the Bib Gourmand category maps well onto the market here: diners expect cooking that takes a position, not just plates that fill a gap.

Within that context, Palmito's Western Road address is a deliberate outlier. The street sits outside the tighter cluster of Church Road and the city centre's main dining corridors, which means its customer base comes by choice rather than by foot traffic. That changes the dynamic in the room: a table at Palmito is a planned reservation, not an impulse decision, and the 20-seat capacity reflects a restaurant that has no interest in casual walk-in volume. The Michelin recognition in 2025 brings Palmito into a national conversation that includes the established British canon , from The Fat Duck in Bray and The Ledbury in London to L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, and Hand and Flowers in Marlow , though it operates in a completely different register: neighbourhood scale, accessible pricing, no tasting menu architecture.

Planning Your Visit

Palmito is at 16 Western Road, Hove, BN3 1AE. The restaurant holds 20 seats, and Michelin recognition across two consecutive years means availability is tight. Arriving early or booking ahead is the practical approach; turning up without a reservation is a gamble that pays off at quieter sittings but not reliably. The pricing sits at ££, consistent with the Bib Gourmand designation, and the format , small plates, a short drinks list, an open kitchen , suits a measured pace rather than a quick dinner. For a wider picture of where to eat, drink, and stay while in the area, consult our full Brighton and Hove restaurants guide, our full Brighton and Hove bars guide, our full Brighton and Hove hotels guide, our full Brighton and Hove wineries guide, and our full Brighton and Hove experiences guide.