This little restaurant, a former takeaway on Western Road, only opened last year and has been receiving rave reviews in national press (Giles Coren called it "extraordinary" and Grace Dent "intoxicating") much to the chagrin of locals who were trying to keep it a secret. 

Its ever changing menu is best described as wood-fired and 'spice-driven', as it is inspired not only by Diego's Ecuadorian upbringing, but by his travels around Latin America, Southern Europe and South Asia too. He loves his grill and builds each dish from seasonal ingredients such as Barcombe's very own veg (our purple sweet potatoes, pictured below, reminded him of Peru) along with other local, sustainable produce such as wild foraged salad greens from Stanmer Park, Sussex halloumi, Sussex cider, Sussex meat, Sussex fish and Sussex sourdough. He even commissioned a neighbour-potter to create the perfect vessels for drinking mezcal out of- with plenty of room for one's nose! Mezcal is of course only one of the beverages on offer amongst non-alcoholic cocktails based on house-made kombucha and tepache (a pineappley ferment).

One plant based dish that caught our eye (or tantalised our taste buds) recently was the 'salbutes' (deep fried puffed masa corn tortillas originally from Belize and the Yucatan region of Mexico) served with roasted beetroot guacamole, grilled kohlrabi and radicchio and a keraji mandarin dressing. Not to mention the oyster mushroom anticucho with cannellini bean dip, the harissa cauliflower with roasted grapes, smoked lemon labneh and walnuts or the 'elote': Mexican street corn covered in parmesan, chipotle mayo, lime and salt. Or how about grilled hispi cabbage rubbed in a salsa pepita (pumpkin seed and ancho chilli paste) and served with a fennel and coconut sauce from Pondicherry? From ceviche to empanadas, by all accounts each Palmito plate is an absolute explosion of sweet, sour, charred, fragrant richness- all at once!