Welcome to Intimo!!

Welcome to Intimo - the great place to eat in Hastings.

Here you'll find out news on special events, what's happening in Hastings, how to find us and contact numbers to make your reservation.

Below you'll find links to our current menus - but scroll further down for all our latest news.

Intimo Restaurant

6-7 York Buildings, Wellington Place, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 1NN
Tel 01424 439080

Wednesday 30 July 2008

It's carnival time again!

The popular Hastings old town carnival will be back again in little over a week’s time as the culmination of a week of events known as Hastings week.

Described by many as the Notting Hill carnival by sea the carnival is one of the highlights of the Hastings calendar. The old town will be awash with colourful floats and stalls with visitors and locals alike enjoying the sights and sounds while taking in the atmosphere.

This truly family friendly event seems to grow in popularity each year and attracts visitors from all over the country an indeed the world.

Hastings Old Town Carnival - Saturday 9th August 6pm for further info visit: http://www.1066.net/carnival/

Monday 21 July 2008

Hastings 100 year anniversary marathon

To celebrate 100 years of the Hastings Marathon, the town will stage a special marathon on the 14th December. Fifty-one competitors took part in the original Hastings Marathon in December 1908, including six Olympic runners.

Organisers are trying to trace the descendants of the winners of the original marathon. Race director Eric Hardwick said he hoped relatives of the original winners would bring along their medals.

The first Hastings runner home in 1908 was George White, while Edmund Catt won the Silver Cup. "We want some of these local people or anyone else that took part in the 1908 race - any descendants or people that know about it - to please let us know," said Mr Hardwick.

The overall winner of the 1908 race was WT Clarke, of the Sefton Harriers in Liverpool, in 2 hours 37 minutes and 16.8 seconds.

Mr Hardwick said Mr Clarke's descendants had already been located.

Monday 14 July 2008

St Leonards Festival 19th July 2008

The 3rd St Leonards Festival promises to be bigger and better.

The streets will once again resound with laughter and happy voices. The Kings Road will again feature a Festival Market with more stalls and a wider range of goods to tempt and delight shoppers. The entertainment lined up for Kings Road this year is fantastic and must not be missed.

The main band this year will be Maron Town, who will be performing on the stage in Warrior Square Gardens.

Jukanoo will be creating a wonderful carnival all around Warrior Sq. Making a third return will be all the various market stalls along Kings Rd selling exotic foods and vibrant goods.

The seafront will once again be the place to be for the more active and sports minded visitor. Run by Active Hastings there will be a variety of events for people to participate in. Warrior Square Gardens will once again feature a skateboard ramp to thrill our younger visitors.

Also on Warrior Square Gardens will be a range of community stands to browse and gather information on local groups and services. The much anticipated contributions and performances from local community groups on the main stage on Warrior Square Gardens will commence at noon. These are planned to include as many local groups as possible and will feature dance groups as well as music and song.

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Hastings set to become art hotspot

The Jerwood Foundation, plans to build a £4million gallery in Hastings Old Town to house its main collection of 20th and 21st century British art. The gallery will be free to the public when it opens.

Simon Hubbard, corporate director for regeneration and planning at Hastings council said: "The town will gain a high quality cultural asset which will achieve a cultural-led regeneration of part of the seafront and provide the key for future improvement."


Cllr Jeremy Birch said: "This is a real opportunity for us in not just seeing a viable and exciting construction on The Stade but also being able to change the type of visitors to Hastings.

He said: "This could be life-changing for Old Town. At last we will see the culture and arts at the heart of regeneration."

Council leader Peter Pragnell said: "These are exciting times, not just for Old Town, but for the whole of the surrounding area.

"Jerwood is going to invest a lot of money in our town and we want it to fully benefit from it.

"We will work closely with the Jerwood Foundation, other organisations such as the Arts Council, the South East England Development Agency, the Hastings Foreshore Trust, and East Sussex County Council, and of course the local community, to do all we can to realise this vision."

Monday 9 June 2008

Fathers Day 22nd June 2008


The first known celebration of Father's Day was on July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia, where it was commemorated at William Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South – now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton is believed to have suggested it to her pastor after a deadly explosion in nearby Monongah in December, killing 361 men.

It was also during a sermon in 1909 that Sonora Smart Dodd became inspired by Mother's Day. After the death of her mother, Sonora and her siblings were raised by their father William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran. Sonora wanted to show how thankful she was to her father and, because William was born in June, she worked to have the first Father's Day celebrated on June 19, 1910.

In 1924, President Coolidge recommended that Father's Day become a national holiday. President Johnson designated the third Sunday of June to be Father's Day in 1966. It was not until 1972 that President Nixon instituted Father's Day as a national observance.

We are looking forward to a great Father's Day but it's bound to be busy. So, if you want to treat Dad, why not bring him along this Sunday? lunchtime or evenings, we're not proud!

Booking advised - so give us a call on 01424 439080.

Tuesday 18 March 2008

Marathon session!

We had a fabulous Sunday.

A number of our prize athletic specimens amongst the regulars joined in running Sunday's Hastings Half Marathon. After the race we entertained a healthy crowd of runners and supporters to lunch.

The race is one of the top half marathons in the country and really helps put Hastings on the map. We always go out of our way to welcome runners - and for those staying in town the night before, we have a good selection of pasta for that important carbo-loading!

If you're visiting the town for the race next year - or, if you're local, why not book in for your pre-race Dinner with Intimo?

Monday 3 March 2008

How long will lunch be?

We're shocked.

We know that each country has its own distinct culinary tastes - and they can often appear starnge to those not familiar with them.

Now we hear of a restaurant in China which specialises in serving ... ahem penises and testicles!

It's true! And, apparently, Beijing's Guo-li-zhuang Restaurant seems to be going from strength to strength. Apparently they sell many and varied pieces of meat, including private parts from water buffalo, goat and bull.

If you're heading to China and keen to try such delicacies, be warned, it's not cheap to eat the private parts of animals. A rarer penis can cost up to $500.

But we can guarantee one thing.

Don't even think about it ... the answer is 'no!'.

Monday 18 February 2008

1066 ... was that some battle?

One of our local tourist guides has come in for a fair bit of stick recently and has had to be pulped after naming the 1066 Battle of Hastings victor as the Duke of Wellington.

The Battle Town Map and Guide describes how Wellington crossed the Channel in 1066 to take on England’s King Harold. Wellington — famous for his triumph at Waterloo — as any fool knows was not born until 700 years later.

The problem, of course, is that these things are no longer carried out by local companies but by firms from outside the area staffed by bozos who don't know their Wellington from their Hush Puppy!

Bosses at Cityscape Maps have apologised for the mistake. Les Ball, managing director of the Lincoln-based firm, said: “We are aware there is an error”.
You're not wrong there Les.

Tuesday 29 January 2008

Cashing in?

The British restaurant and hotel trade have never been slow at spotting an angle but one restaurant, in London (where else?) is really pushing its luck by offering a Valentine's Dunner for an astonishing £10,000 – plus service, natch – for a meal for two.

Two people will get an eight-course dinner featuring the restaurant world's most expensive delicacies including foie gras, truffles, wagyu beef, bluefin tuna, Beluga caviare – oh and the lucky lady, who had better not be either vegetarian or ethically minded, will also get a diamond ring worth £5,000.

Galvin at Windows, which is offering the meal to just one couple on 14 February, is confident that someone will jump at the chance of shelling out more than the cost of a hatchback car, despite the economic gloom hanging over the City of London.

Fred Sirieix, the general manager, said that just a month ago one table of four shelled out £13,000 on a meal. "It will be such a special treat; you could talk about it for years to come." But he expects any "I dos" to be given in Russian or Arabic, as Russians and Arabs make up the restaurant's core clientèle.

Thursday 24 January 2008

On tap?

The UK's biggest water provider is linking up with the government to end a long-standing culture of tap water "snobbery" by urging restaurants and chafes to routinely serve free tap water to their customers. Thames Water is to take the lead at a time of growing consumer dissatisfaction with bottled mineral water, and concerns about its cost and carbon footprint.

The initiative will come alongside a drive to encourage the UK hospitality industry to offer customers tap water as a matter of course. It is led by the government-funded Consumer Council for Water (CCW), which has drawn up plans for a national kite mark, or accreditation scheme, which would allow consumers to choose restaurants with the friendliest policies on serving tap water based on a "tick" symbol displayed on doors, menus and websites.

Thames Water - which serves about 13 million business and domestic customers in London and the Thames Valley - will this month announce a campaign to encourage catering outlets to serve tap water without people having to ask for it. The environment minister Phil Woolas said: "It is not up to us to say what people drink. But people pay significant sums for mineral water and I welcome any campaign to drink more tap water, which is of a better quality than it has ever been before." Britons drink 3bn bottles of bottled water every year. Half a billion are flown or shipped in from overseas, leaving a huge carbon footprint. Transporting bottled water in the UK is estimated to produce about 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions - equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 6,000 homes.

But, just for the record - if you visit Intimo and would like tap water. It's quite simple.

Just ask!

Monday 7 January 2008

Hastings City?

Hastings is one of several towns in Sussex which could compete for the right to become a city. The Prime Minister said this week that he wanted to see more cities across the UK and a number of Sussex towns have already thrown their hats into the ring.

Council leaders from Worthing, Crawley and Eastbourne have all come out and said they would welcome the elevation to city status.

Hastings Borough Council leader Peter Pragnell said he and his colleagues would be looking into the benefits of becoming a city.

He said: "If it is worth it, we will go for it."

The scramble to become a city started after comments made by the Prime Minister at a Newspaper Society event at Westminster.

He said: "We have 50 cities in England and we have 66 in the United Kingdom as a whole.

"I look forward over the next few years to many towns in our country becoming cities as we add to the number of cities in the UK."

Sussex already has two cities - Chichester and Brighton and Hove, but with a growing population the belief is the region could accommodate another.

And where better?

Thursday 3 January 2008

The Ten Great Restaurant Swindles - not at Intimo though - we guarantee it!

We were interested in a report issued this week on the Ten Greatest Restaurant Swindles.

1. Sea bass or not?

Once cooked, the prime fillet of sea bass can be hard to identify – and there are many lookalike, imposter species being dressed up as the original. Among the counterfeit fish recently identified in Britain's kitchens by local authorities were the Patagonian toothfish – which is often sold under the moniker of "sea bass".

Intimo Sea Bass is ... Sea Bass. Guaranteed!!

2. Plastic salads

Supermarket bagged salads are full of additives, deteriorate rapidly, and have been vilified as an environmental disaster. But while it may be acceptable to crack open a bag in the comfort of your own home, there's no excuse for serving the stuff in a restaurant. But most pub chains do use pre-prepared salad to garnish their burgers and fries.

Our kitchen is crammed with rael, fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers - honestly!!

3. Instant egg, and other powders in a packet

According to Government food policy officer Les Bailey, the appearance of the words " made from natural ingredients" on menus should set alarm bells ringing. The officer, who oversees trading standards in British restaurants, has heard of countless examples of the less work-intensive powdered egg being passed off as scrambled. Less common is powdered potato – often conspicuous by its ever-present lumps – but still passed off by crafty caterers as genuine mash.

Powdered Egg????? Michael would kill us!! Our eggs are laid by real hens!


4. Reformed ham, chicken or scampi

It's common for eateries to pass off scampi tails glued together with additives as "scampi" pieces. They can even be minced scampi that has been breaded. This is " reformed scampi", a turn-off for menu-writers.

Reformed? NO!!!!!

5. When "organic" equals factory-farmed

Foodies love organic meat, and are willing to pay vastly inflated prices in the belief that it's healthier and tastes better. But not every restaurant plays by the rules. In December, a Notting Hill eaterie frequented by Kate Moss, Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue was fined £7,500 for falsely claiming that meat it was using was organic.

When we do say Organic, we mean organic. But more often than not we serve honest to goodness meat. And we cook it well too!


6. Dodgy drinks

Drinks can account for half a typical restaurant bill, so it's little surprise that canny outlets use every trick in the book to increase their margins. Always check that the label on your wine bottle tallies with the menu – cheaper vintages are often substituted in the hope that a diner won't notice.

Check our wine list - it does what it says on the tin.

7. The fishy business of "wild" salmon

It is little wonder, given how many times we are told that farmed salmon is full of toxic nasties, that people are prepared to pay a fortune for the wild variety. However, research by the Food Standards Agency reveals that up to 15 per cent of fish labelled as "wild" is actually farmed. Its survey found that 10 per cent of "wild" sea bass on menus was farmed, rising to 11 per cent of sea bream and 15 per cent of salmon. The reason is purely financial. Farmed fish is much cheaper than wild: in markets wild salmon can cost £30 per kg, while the farmed variety can cost from just £4.20 per kg.

When we use Salmon, we always tell you the source. We sometimes use farmed salmon - which cooked right tastes just great and is priced reasonably to reflect its quality.

8. When "home cooked" means microwaved

The term " home-cooked" that is scrawled across many a pub chalkboard is meaningless. Ideally, steak-and-kidney pies, pasties and apple pies should be prepared on-site with enough genuine effort to be called " home-cooked ".

When we say home cooked, we mean home cooked. Period!


9. Boil-in-the-bag main course

The "pub grub" industry needs to produce reliable food, fast. Many outlets therefore resort to serving "boil-in-the-bag" main courses, which chefs tend to call " sous vide" – a nebulous (if gourmet-licious) term that literally translates as "in a vacuum". It is, for example, almost impossible to lay one's teeth on a freshly cooked lamb shank in UK pubs (including Mr Dancer's), because it can take up to five hours to cook. Boil-in-the-bag can be heated up in minutes.

Not even worth commenting on. Our competitors may - but we never use boil in the bag!

10. Line-caught lies

"Line-caught" conjures up images of an artisan fisher with a rod. What it actually means is that an ugly great trawler has crossed the ocean with several hundred yards of nylon and hooks hanging out the back, indiscriminately killing all sea life as well as the occasional albatross. Even then, line-caught fish is more expensive than farmed or netted alternatives, since it is normally fresher and its flesh firmer. Most consumers cannot taste the difference, and an estimated 5 per cent is mislabelled by disreputable outlets or suppliers.

We serve unpretentious food. So 'line caught doesn't enter the equation.

Phew - was that it??

Well it's all gone quiet now.

Chef has put his Christmas pinny away and has cooked his last turkey of the season - and we've picked the bones of the last bird in the house! It's been a great Christmas, with some terrific evenings. On Christmas Eve we had a large party booked in and, indeed, we saw a steady stream of visitors right through to New Years Eve.

New Year celebrations night saw us welcome 2008 with a large group of friends - both old and new.

So, what can we look forward to in the coming weeks?

Well we just start all over again!

We will continue to serve up our fabulous food right the way through the winter months - so do pay us a visit soon!

We are looking forward to some special evenings - Valentines springs to mind - and, of course we're looking forward to an early start to the busy season with Easter being early this year.

So do please pop along and visit us - lunchtime or evenings, we're not proud!