Here I am back at Giggling Squid Brighton having only recently reviewed the standard menu. This time I'm tucking into the Christmas menu (yes my life is hard).

I'm glad to see they haven't tried to be clever with giving turkey and spouts a Thai twist but the menu is full of the fresh and vibrant food I remembered from my last visit.

There are two three-course evening menus to choose from, one at £24.95 and the other at £29.95 (includes a glass of fizz). I could easily have ordered from either really so dipped into both. (There is also a lunch option with Thai tapas sets for £18.95.)



As before we had drinks and a huge bowl of those awesome prawn crackers (they need to outsource these to pubs).



We started with the duck spring rolls which arrived in four huge pieces. They were filled with plenty of sweet shredded duck meat wrapped in a fine, crisp Thai pastry and served with a plum sauce. Utterly crowd pleasing, I don't know anyone that wouldn't enjoy these. Apart from vegans maybe.



The pork dumplings were beautifully presented (shout out to the kitchen porter for all the washing up they need to do). Texture wasn't my favourite being wrapped in some sort of pastry and steamed. A stronger lemongrass and more seasoning would have helped too.

The wine list here is great. I admit I chose my glass of Kung Fu Girl Riesling based on the name alone (wine connoisseur that I am) but there was a lot of love for it on my social feeds after I posted about it. And it wasn't just smart branding with crisp, fruity, aromatic and just sweet enough, it's perfect with Asian food.

The lamb shank for the main was incredible. Everyone loves a massaman curry and here it was everything I wanted it to be; fragrant, rich and sweetly spiced by star anise, cinnamon and nutmeg. The lamb shank was tender and fell off the bone, the vegetables still had some bite which I liked too. The nature of food at Giggling Squid is that you want to share so we had this in the middle of the table. Even after we finished we were still drinking spoonfuls of the leftover sauce. But I've been with my husband 18 years so we can behave like this in front of one another thankfully!



Our other main was equally as good. Four plump, sweet and juicy King prawns, beautifully butterflied with a salt and pepper batter. Scattered on top was plenty of fresh chilli and spring onion. So simple yet so delicious.



Desserts are the same on both menus - I rarely want chocolate after a meal so opted for just a scoop of the Black Sesame ice cream made by Brighton's Boho Gelato. This is such an odd ball flavour yet so good in practise. It's more delicate than you would imagine with just an after taste of that toasted sesame flavour. There are also other flavours like Rose Yogurt, Lemongrass & Basil and Banana & Honey too.



We also tried the Caramenlised Mango cake which could have been a little sweeter but was fine with the vanilla ice-cream. If you did like chocolate, the Feuillantine would definitely be a good option having seen it.



Giggling Squid continues to be a relaxed and fun restaurant, perfect for small group bookings for Christmas. Fine dining has its place but so does a mid-market, good value and decent quality restaurant like this. The atmosphere is intimate and bustling and even Mr GF remarked that it had been a while since we've been out and had such a laugh at a restaurant.

Giggling Squid Brighton
11 Market St, Brighton BN1 1HH

(Also at)
Giggling Squid Hove
129 Church Rd, Hove BN3 2AE

I was invited to review Giggling Squid. Words and thoughts, as always, are my own.