In all of my previous restaurant/café reviews I have mainly concentrated on big-scale avenues of culinary outing but funnily enough, this quaint little café near the seafront of Brighton is quite small in size. This may have a great deal to do with how there are two other Café Coho branches in Brighton aside from this Ship Street branch and that this branch seems to be a straight up little-ol' café.
You might ask then; 'Well Ted, does that mean that I cannot get a proper bit of grub as well as a piece of carrot cake and coffee?'. Fortunately no, you can actually get a hefty meal here and despite not being all that large of a chain or branch the variety of food and drink here is more than impressive. It does skew a bit traditional café sort of food but there is some variations on the usual poached eggs on toast and fry up not to mention many varieties of nice toasted sandwiches. On top of this, the place has at least four or five different cakes and biscuits to scarf down on availability at any time and sometimes a great deal more than that with some of these sweet treats usually including millionaire shortbread, carrot cake and chocolate fudge brownies and the like.
So considering all that, what is the food actually like? Well I'm happy to say that the food at this place is great stuff. I'm not kidding when I say that the fry-up I had was among the best I've had in years from a restaurant or café and considering that I've been to some in that time that I'd consider 5 or even 6-star quality I'd say that shows up this place quite well. The sourdough toast my fry-up was served on absorbed the juices of the sausages and bacon on my plate nicely but thankfully not to the degree where the toast turned soggy. The Cumberland sausages to a point were among the nicest I've ever had from a café as were the scrambled eggs which were a near-perfect balance between runny and cohesive on the side of the plate. I also felt inclined to try the black pudding which was neither gratuitous in terms of saltiness or grittiness and was truly smooth and superb which combined along with the creaminess of the avocado served with my meal, made for a lovely accompaniment to the saltiness of the bacon and black pudding.
Adding in the clean plates, fresh vegetables and the fact that the brown and tomato sauces were presented in quaint little jars on the side of the plate and saying that the meal was well-presented would be the understatement of the week.
My mother who I went with to this fine establishment ordered the appleslaw and cheese sandwich and ordered it toasted with some olive oil and remarked that while the order had to be tweaked a couple of times it was still truly superb and filling only to the point where she did not feel overly-stuffed. I also felt the same with my fry-up which may be the strongest point about the food here in that the portions are big enough that you get your money's worth but aren't too big to the point where it'll make you feel ill.
The drinks in turn also are sizeable enough that you feel like you get your moneys worth and I certainly could attest to this as I was thoroughly enjoying my black Americano coffee although I was thinking that a pot of earl grey or the similar sorts would be a better accompaniment to the fry-up but its really just a matter of personal taste.
So what about the final two cruxes?; the atmosphere and the service? Fortunately enough for all you foodies out there, the service in this branch of Café Coho is brilliant with both friendly and patient staff in tremendous magnitude. Small bits and bobs of my mother's order were messed up here and there but the staff were friendly, enquiring and patient enough to sort out any issues either me or my mother had with admirable alacrity. On top of this, I felt like the staff were more than willing and well-informed enough to help clear up any enquiries I had about the restaurant or its menu. Considering that most places I've eaten at in Brighton have had great customer service this should come as standard and pretty telling.
As for the environment and atmosphere of the place it too is superb. The one exception would be that the music played in the venue wasn't notable and quite generic but it was at least not too poorly-suited for the venue that it was being played in and was also quiet enough that everyone in there could concentrate on their food, papers and conversation. Add this to the furniture and furnishings that we a lovely 50/50 or 40/60 balance between modernist and rustic chic and you have a place that is relaxing and calming as the food and drink is excellent. Now they just need to fix the door because while it isn't terrible, the handle is a bit crap and people did leave it open ajar sometimes which I truly detest.
Even still, the environment and atmosphere was superb and I would recommend this lovely little culinary abode to even the most sparsely-eating of foodies as its still a great place to just get a macaroon, cappuccino and sit at the window while reading The Times newspaper or check up on your e-mails. All in all, despite some aspects about the furnishing and slight slip-ups with the young staff, I'd definitely give this a recommendation for the traveller or local Brighton settler so definitely give this place some love.
Food: 9/10
Drink 8.5/10
Pricing/value for money: 9/10
Furnishing/furniture: 8/10
Service: 8.5/10
Overall rating: Much like the fry-up I had, Café Coho in Ship Street in Brighton has its minor flaws and some tweaks here and there but is overall a superb place to fill your gullet or just have a chilled out relax with the paper and a warm and rustic mocha.
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