The story
Little Fish Market serves seafood at 10 Upper Market Street in Brighton, and its 3 AA Rosettes for 2026 reflect a kitchen that cooks fish with precision. Chef Duncan Ray runs the restaurant as a set-menu seafood kitchen, with a focus on sustainable produce from the British Isles.
Duncan Ray owns and runs the restaurant and cooks in a small basement kitchen. The menu changes regularly, and each dish typically stays for four to six weeks. Ray works closely with his suppliers to source the best available produce. The Good Food Guide notes that he previously cooked at The Fat Duck, and that some of the local fish is landed nearby.
The signature TLFM Egg & Soldiers layers Jerusalem artichoke purée, egg yolk, smoked haddock, acidulated cream and passion fruit purée. A recent dinner included raw Orkney hand-dived scallop with wasabi mayonnaise, apple and basil dressing. Line-caught wild bass arrived with roast cauliflower purée, toasted hazelnuts, golden raisin, capers and sable grapes in a lobster vinaigrette. Dessert was a frozen blackberry parfait with lime and mint curd and a honey biscuit.
The dining room seats around 22 guests. It was refitted after a closure, and the Good Food Guide describes bare-wood tables, designer armchairs and white walls hung with seafood-themed art. The dinner runs at an easy pace, closer to a supper club than a formal service. The six-course dinner menu is priced at £85 per person, with an optional cheese course for an extra £15.
The restaurant has no bar, so guests can arrive early and have a drink at their table. The wine list is short and leans towards France. A matched wine pairing, curated by Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew of Noble Rot, is available alongside the tasting menu.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
It’s now more than a decade since chef Duncan Ray (formerly of the Fat Duck) launched his much-loved seafood restaurant in a converted fishmongers on a backstreet close to Hove seafront. Since then, the intimate dining room has been spruced up with large, well-spaced bare-wood tables, comfortable designer armchairs and a tastefully minimalist interior featuring polished wood floors and white walls hung with seafood-themed art. Ray no longer runs the small basement kitchen single handed, which allows him time to serve and personally explain some of the dishes on his regularly changing seven-course tasting menu. In the beginning, there was just one waiter, now a full front-of-house team is headed up by Ray’s partner, Nicky Stephens, who brings a warm liveliness to proceedings. Open for dinner only, the evening runs rather like a supper club, with all 20 or so diners requested to arrive at 6.45pm. Things kick off with a trio of canapés that might include an artfully composed and delicious seaweed cracker of wild Argentinian red prawn, walnut mayonnaise, pork scratching and confit ginger. The signature ‘TLFM egg’, a riff on an Alain Passard classic, has become a staple of the menu and currently includes apparently random layers of Jerusalem artichoke purée, egg yolk, smoked haddock jelly, acidulated cream and passion fruit purée that actually work brilliantly together. The real stars of the show, however, are the three headline courses featuring the finest, freshest seafood, some of it locally landed. One standout dish involved a superb piece of meltingly soft confit Loch Duart salmon with a 90s-style Champagne foam encircled by a cordon of cauliflower and seaweed purée – although the accompanying mini loaves of Comté-stuffed milk bread, glazed with shrimp and rosemary butter almost stole the show. Desserts are outstanding, too: our chocolate délice, given a subtle, saline tang with the genius addition of capers and some contrasting crunch from a praline base and a crisp pistachio and pink peppercorn tuile brought proceedings to a memorable close. The short wine list leans mainly towards France and while mark-ups are far from greedy, you may have to break the £50 barrier to find a bottle that will do proper justice to the food. Alternatively, opt for the interesting matched wine pairing, curated by Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew of Noble Rot.
3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
Location
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