Phil Bartley's Plates is now open on the old Gingerman site in Norfolk Square

Plates, a 30-cover sharing-plates restaurant from Phil Bartley, has opened at 21A Norfolk Square, where The Gingerman used to be.

Every dish on the opening menu costs £10 or less, according to the trade title Restaurant Online¹. The menu includes a paloma ceviche of sea bass with jalapeño, tequila and mint, and a pulled mutton flatbread with cucumber, feta and pomegranate. Cocktails are made with Sussex spirits, and the wine list is all English.

Bartley founded Carne, the Hove steakhouse that recently moved to a smaller site on Church Road. He announced Plates in the Serving Up newsletter before it opened, and said the kitchen would be run by the former chef and sous chef of Dill in Lewes, which held a Michelin Bib Gourmand before it closed earlier this year.

“We’re sticking to local ingredients, so we’re going to be using a lot of dayboat fish,” he told Serving Up. “The main thing we want to do is relax it a little bit, make it a little bit more casual and a bit more affordable.”

The Gingerman, the flagship of Ben and Pamela McKellar, closed this summer after nearly 30 years.