Brighton's Giggling Squid's seasonal selection

The two and three-course menus, bristling with new dishes, are priced at £32.99 per person for two courses and £38.99 for three courses.

We braved a bracing December Friday to have wee looksie at the new menu at the Market St restaurant in Brighton.

The venue wasn’t quite the sanctuary from the cold that we’d hoped for, with the heating not exactly making its presence felt, and a wicked draft blasting through every time the front door was opened.

But as Pollyanna might have noted, it was perfect conditions for a warming curry, and the lovely attentive staff couldn’t have been any nicer.

We stuck to the Crimbo menu with two and a half courses each.

Giggling Squid has always prided itself on offering original dishes which you wouldn’t find in a standard Thai restaurants ‘full of carved wood like a temple’.

By and large the dishes on the, rather expensive, set menu, manage to achieve this aim.

The best of the bunch was the perkily named Merry Moo Dang with Jingle Jaew Sauce starter.

The pork skewers were absolute flavour bomb, heavily coated in a traditional sweet, sour with a slightly spicy Thai dipping sauce and topped with spring onions, sliced chilli and crispy turmeric fried garlic, and a few more wouldn’t have gone amiss.

A second suitably named starter – a Crispy Christmas Quacker, was also very good. Bite-sized pieces of deep-fried crispy duck in a tamarind sauce, were mixed with fried shallots, chillies, peppers. and crunchy jicama to great effect in terms of bite and texture.

There were also some good Yuletide cocktails on offer, my dining chum reverted to type with The Grinch, a nicely balanced tangy green number made with Midori, vodka and lemon, your reviewer wanted a sup of something and a Merry Bakewell duly obliged with Disaronno, cranberry and lemon, and nicely adorned with blooms.

Dining chum’s main course of Festive Sticky Chicken was based on an established Giggling Squid dish, satisfyingly sticky chicken with fried shallots and plenty of peppers, water chestnuts and cashews.

I chose Prancer's Prawn Red Curry, and it appears I have similar tastes in curry to the fleet-footed reindeer.

The thick, sweet coconut curry sauce wasn’t without bite, and was heavy on the veg, with cabbage and pak choi.

We shared a slice of Caramelised Mango Cake to finish, it’s consistency was curiously squidgy and pleasant enough.