I'm not sure how the name aids or in any way relates to what the restaurant represents, which is great vegetarian food. The name to me screams cheesy, outdated and is easily forgettable. The restaurant itself however is very relaxed, modern and inviting.
It is a one of a surprising number of vegetarian only restaurants in Brighton. It is situated in South Lanes at the entrance of the twisting and turning little lanes. We'd not heard of it before, but it looked lovely inside and the menu looked delicious. It had also won Best Restaurant in the 2012 Foodie Awards - not that I've heard of this award before, or pay attention to what awards a restaurant has.
Vegetarian food doesn't scare me. I love it (surprising given the number of burgers I eat, examples here and here) and mostly cook veggie food for myself. I find that vegetarian dishes can be much more interesting because more herbs, spices and different and interesting ingredients must be added in order to create flavour, which a meat would naturally give to a dish.
The drinks menu looked extremely enticing. I ordered a "Fire Cracker" which had gin (a must), chambord, fresh chilli and lime juice, cranberry juice, with raspberry and rose water.
I've never tasted anything like it - amazing.
Also - check out the straw!! Stuck to the glass! Blew my mind.
My sister had a serious Mango Mojito.
To begin, we shared a superfood salad with barley, quinoa, puy lentil, fine beans, pomegranate seeds and red cabbage, tossed in a Dijon and pumpkin seed dressing.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a salad look so pretty.
I then had portobello mushrooms stuffed with feta, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts, served with roast onion boulangere, fine beans, red and green pesto and crème fraîche.
My sister ordered crispy oyster mushrooms and English asparagus served with cumin roast sweet potato, pea purée and a carrot, parsnip and pickled ginger galette.
If you are scared of vegetarian food, think it's just rabbit food or have a meat complex you need to get down here. I think the fact that you are not eating meat will never enter your mind. The food is outstanding.
I have never seen rabbit food that looks like that. If you have, then you feed your rabbit some gourmet ish.
For dessert, we shared a dark chocolate truffle torte baked on a hazelnut base with a berry coulis.
Everything was beautiful. I could not find a fault. Now if they could just get their marketing team to work on a new name.....
Prices are reasonable, considering the quality, the presentation and workmanship that goes into these dishes. I think our main dishes were around £12.50 each. They also do a set menu that is very good value.
We left Brighton feeling very satisfied. A perfect end to our trip.
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