About

Mum and Dad opened their first restaurant back in 1983. Rosie’s Vineyard was born from a culmination of passion, hard work and sheer determination to bring something new to the 80’s dining scene in Southsea. Serving only wine, accompanied by French Bistro inspired food and live jazz, Rosie’s became the hot ticket for your Friday night.

After 25 years, Rosie’s was sold and abarbistro in Old Portsmouth was born. An existing pub was transformed into a seafood focused bistro, with the same signature excellent service and great food & drink combined with a buzzing atmosphere.

Not keen to rest on their laurels, (and a sucker for a new project) they soon after embarked on creating a secondary business under abar’s umbrella – Camber Wines. A wine wholesaler and retail outlet, Camber offered the scope for customers dining downstairs to taste their wines upstairs pre-dinner. It has remained a firm favourite of local shoppers, and with a delivery service direct to your door, they really have serviced a need for the quaffers of Portsmouth.

More recently Mum and Dad have become adoring grandparents to Oscar, Maggie, Molly and Margot, and are enjoying taking a less active role in their businesses, preferring to catch up on the latest goings on of Peppa Pig and Iggle Piggle.

Having met at Rosie’s back in the day, we followed our respective careers in fundraising and banking to The Big Smoke. Soon becoming disillusioned by the rat race, we were tempted back to our seaside roots by the opportunity to take over the running of the already hugely popular Tenth Hole Tearooms. It turns out running your own business isn’t all lie-ins and delegation hey!? After a steep learning curve and 5 years of graft, we won the tender for what is now The Canteen. Another steep learning curve ensued, but we’ve enjoyed every high and low so far.

We stumbled across the site for The Briny whilst house hunting on Rightmove, and despite becoming new parents to the precious Oscar & Molly in addition to everything else, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to snap up this incredible spot on the Southsea coastline. We are very excited about embarking on something new to us and to the people of Portsmouth. Joining forces with the rest of the family to bring together all of our expertise, is a really fun experience and we can’t wait to welcome you all into the fold!

Steve Square Head Martin (50p lid to his mates) has roots at the Uni of Plymouth where he completed a degree in Hospitality Management. He brings an undeniable passion for excellent food and a wealth of wine knowledge to the table. After nabbing the bosses daughter during his time at the abar, Steve has definitely made his mark on the family business.

Katie has followed her own successful career in teaching and they are now the proud parents of the beautiful Maggie & Margot.

Steve jumped at the chance to get stuck into a new project and will actually be leading us all at The Briny. If you’re looking for a wine pairing or inspiration to try out something new – he’s your man.

Katie joined the Abar family back in 2013 after moving back from Cape Town in South Africa. A Portsmouth High School alumni (we’re doing you proud over here PHS), Katie completed a degree in hospitality at The University of Plymouth.

With 14 years of experience in the hospitality industry, the lovely Katie has worked her way through all four of our sister restaurants, sparkling gold dust wherever she goes. With us since the beginning, Katie took up the role of General Manager in September 2019.

We are very lucky to have Katie’s passion for good food & drink, and most importantly excellent service, at the helm to motivate the troops and ensure your Briny experience is second to none. And if you haven’t sampled one of Katie's creations on the cocktail menu yet then what are you waiting for?! She sites a Picante Margarita as her aperitif of choice.

Cameron started his journey into the world of food helping out with his Dad in the kitchen at home. This inspired him to take his first step into the catering world at the age of 21 when he took the job of Commis Chef at The Millstream Hotel in their 2 AA Rosette restaurant, whilst studying at Chichester College. After being spotted at a cooking competition, he was then offered the opportunity to work at The Landau at The Langham in London for a year. Since then he has worked at Pennyhill Park, The Devonshire Arms on the Chatsworth Estate, and most recently 3 AA Rosette 36 on the Quay in Emsworth.

Proud to have been at the helm in winning our first Briny Rosette, Cameron now has his sights set on our second.

He is Daddy to gorgeous 8 year old Finley and husband to the lovely Kelly - who loves to play mystery diner at The Briny!

Signature Dish: Never really felt I had the right to have a signature dish up until now...so I'm going to take one from The Briny menu. I would pick the olive oil poached cod with pork belly, sugar snap salad, tomatoes and tarragon emulsion. I love all of the ingredients in this dish and the way they all compliment each other; a real celebration of sunny days by the sea.

Chef hero: Michael Wignall, The Latymer Restaurant, Pennyhill Park. He was a good teacher and took the time to train me. I always found his ethos on food inspiring. He encouraged me to be creative which helped me form my cooking style today. Recently I am also a big fan of Tom Brown, a protegee of Nathan Outlaw. He is massive on fish and I love his confidence in simplicity with his food. An ethos I am taking into my approach with our menu and dishes.

Favourite Ingredient: Elderflower. Not only for its beautiful delicate flavour but also for its season. I'm keen on home brewing and I love making elderflower fizz.

Our astoundingly passionate and continuously creative Sous Chef Tommy, has been part of The Briny family since day one. Impressed by his keenness and enthusiasm, Cameron snapped him up and hasn’t looked back since.

Having been mentored at a young age by the Exec Chef on the QE2, Tommy completed catering college winning numerous competitions before securing a position under Tony Fleming at 5 Star London Hotel South Place. From there he moved to the Goodwood Estate, where he served the Duke and Duchess of Richmond. After holding a position as Junior Sous at Farmer Butcher Chef, he moved back to Portsmouth where as luck would have it, he landed in our lap. Tommy spent the first 2 years of his time with us as Junior Sous, before being promoted to Sous working alongside Cameron to create and deliver our food offering with the support of the team.

When all round good egg Tommy isn’t concocting delicious specials in our kitchen, he is Daddy to the equally delicious Beatrice.

Signature dish: Braised Ox Cheek, Poached Lobster, Bone Marrow Crumb, Shellfish Bisque

Chef Hero: Marco Pierre White

Favourite Ingredient: Native British Lobster