Restaurant review #5: Cafe Coho in Ship Street, Brighton

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.

Restaurant review #4: A Terre Terre in Brighton

Well hot damn now hasn't this sort of shindig been a while coming eh?  I'll admit that as with the news reviews, I haven't done a proper restaurant review in a long old time but when I go to a restaurant like A Terre Terre just round the corner from Old Steine in South Brighton I have to say something.  If a restaurant that I've been to is so good or so bad that I keep thinking about it, I will probably review it at some point and fortunately I can say with absolute certainty that A Terre Terre falls into the former category.

I'm not a vegetarian but I can easily say that, hand on heart, this is one of the best vegetarian places to eat that I've ever been to on the south coast of England, not just within Brighton itself.  What makes this all the more exceptional for me is that Brighton is choc-full of quality of vegetarian restaurants like Food For Friends (Address: 17 - 18 Prince Albert Street, Brighton BN1 1HF) or any number of independent vegetarian and vegan cafes that you'll find on a nice walk around the city.  Therefore, when I say this about Brighton's vegetarian food scene, you'd better believe me when I say that despite the top-quality competition from similar venues, A Terre Terre, is still one of my favourite places to eat in Brighton.

Now yes. the fact that this is a vegetarian restaurant is limiting for those who may not like such food or who like meat quite a great deal.  Now don't get me wrong, I eat allot of chicken and beef in particular myself and enjoy allot of fish and seafood but sometimes it is good to give the digestion system a good ol' relax and eat some more easily-digestible food.  Just all the more of a bonus that its made superbly and in a venue with great service and atmosphere.

So onto the most important aspect, the food and its value.  Unfortunately this isn't the cheapest place to eat in the city which is the main reason as to why I prefer to keep going to it for special family occasions like a birthday or something like that.  In turn this will prompt you to look for more everyday places to eat with slightly cheaper menus while enjoying A Terre Terre when you go there for an occasional treat.  This doesn't however, devalue from the food which is truly fantastic in quality and presentation not to mention hygiene.  Both times I've been here I have never had a dirty bit of crockery, cutlery or glass and I doubt I ever shall, not to mention how fresh the salad is so I can guarantee that this place is cleaner than a princesses' arse.  As for the food, its a wide variety of post-modern mixes of multiple cuisines with my favourite main 'Rosti Revisited' having a blend of chic-modern-quasi French and English mix as a well-cooked potato and onion rosti topped with parmesan and a poached egg and a truly sublime warm coolie.

The starters are reasonably sized as to give you a little-warm up but if you're against overspending like mad then I'd recommend the vegetarian tapas as it'll give you a good taste of what's on offer on the starters menu while filling you up but just not too much.  This is of course to imply that the starters like the mains are superb.  My favourite is probably the somewhat unassuming daily soup served up with a different, freshly-baked bread for each day of the week and made with sublime seasoning and vegetables.  To drink with the tapas and 'Rosti Revisited' I'd recommend a glass of white wine or prosecco and a Belgian blonde ale respectively.

The puddings in turn aren't perhaps as varied as the main dishes although the restaurant does serve brunch and while I've never been for brunch at A Terre Terre, its quite clear that yet again, they put a lot of variety and thought into their brunch cake menu.  The puddings for lunch and dinner though are still superb with my absolute favourite being the Churrrisimo; a few Mexican-style cinnamon donut sticks with a trio of dips including salted caramel, dark chocolate and vodka-soaked cherries.  I would make a simile of sorts for how much I enjoy this pudding but it'd probably just involve me spazzing out on the floor covered in cinnamon dust for three hours.

The service doesn't emit as horrifyingly a psychotic response from myself but it is still very good.  The staff at this place are very hard-worked as the place is usually reasonably busy albeit not totally packed (so you should be able to have a nice and relaxed meal here.  They're to-the-point and don't fluff around too much except when they have to such as when explaining what all the components in a tapas are.  The service is also quick and I never feel like I have to wait too long for anything really whether it be an order-correction or a drink.

The atmosphere too is also very functional but nice and relaxing.  The decor in A Terre Terre doesn't dolly itself up too much and allot of the furniture is nice and reasonably plain allowing the eyes to relax and concentrate on the conversation and food.  The music can get a bit annoying with it sometimes blaring out some bizarre folk tunes but ask the staff to either change the tune or turn it down.  And the booth seats, man oh man are they so comfortable that they'll make your arse melt like a marshmallow on a flamethrower!

So I guess anything else at this point would be repetition of sorts and I do kind of tend to do that ALOT with food (seriously, just ask any of my mates and they'll tell you the same).  So I'll conclude by saying that A Terre Terre isn't perhaps the most affordable place on the market in terms of vegetarian restaurants in Brighton but if its for a family get-together or any other special occasion, then I would give it a definite recommendation.

And so until next time, enjoy whatever you're eating, have fun, stay safe and don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Food: 9/10
Drink; 8/10
Atmosphere 7/10
Service: 8.5/10
Price: 6.75/10

OVERALL RATING: kind of like a movie night with that one guy who commentates over everything before the movie not by talking quietly like you or I would but shouting so everyone in the room can hear him.  A bit fucking irritating but eventually he either shuts up or you stop noticing him and besides, you still have some tasty food and drink to enjoy.