Terre à Terre

A few days in Brighton (staying at our favourite Hotel Una) saw us having lunch at what could possibly be the best vegetarian restaurant in the country, Terre à Terre. Terre à Terre has a cafe out front, with the main restaurant in a large room with a small open garden and patio at the back, perfect for the warm summers day we were there.

We started with the tapas to share, a huge platter containing a selection of dishes from the menu. All were delicious, with some lovely beetroot soup and sour cream in a shot glass, 2 absolutely fantastic vodka roasted tomatoes, warm and fragrant and unlike any tomato I've had before, corn cakes, some spice covered crispbreads with aubergine dip, smoked tofu and a fabulous ratatouille and burrata.  This was a great selection, and presented a good variety to demonstrate that there was some seriously good food coming out of the kitchen.

My main was an excellent goats cheese ravioli on a particularly good globe artichoke, poached egg on a grana padano sauce and smoked tomato sauce, with a mustard dressed salad providing some crunch from green beans and hazelnuts. The ravioli, egg, cheese and tomato sauces had some excellent deep and rich flavours, My wife had some fantastic beer battered halloumi, chips, preserved lemon relish, pea mint hash and some home made tartar sauce and pickled quails eggs. The batter had a nice crisp, with the lemon relish a stand out, again a quality dish.

Dessert was a gargantuan plate of churros to share, with 6 huge warm churros, a superb caramel sauce, a chocolate sauce with brandy cream and my favourite, vodka cherries. The doughnuts were really good, light and fluffy and the sauces accompanying them absolutely divine. After the huge starter and generous mains, we only managed half of the plate, and the remaining were packaged up for us to bring home.

Our meal at Terre à Terre was really good, with top notch dishes and some very high quality food on offer. Unlike some of the other vegetarian restaurants I know of, this is one that I am happy to visit, losing nothing at all by missing out on meat or fish. We will definitely return to sample more. The bill came to £120 and included an elderflower cocktail and kir royale for my wife, and 2 mango non alcoholic drinks for me.

Brighton has got to be one of the most vegetarian friendly towns in the UK, with Terre à Terre setting standards of vegetarian cooking for all others to aspire too, and the Laines containing not just one but a dozen or so vegan and vegetarian cafes, a far higher concentration than anywhere else, even in London.

Tapas

Sussex Poached Pillow Talk.

Better Batter and Lemony Yemeni Relish.

Churrosimo.

Terre à Terre