My favourite places to eat in Brighton
A non-comprehensive and shamelessly subjective rundown of my favourite seaside brunch, lunch and dinner spots.
I’m asked often for Brighton restaurant recommendations and it’s obvious why. Like any popular tourist destination, Brighton has what can be a dizzying number of restaurants (more per capita than anywhere else in Britain, apparently) and so it’s easy to make a mistake and end up with a crappy, overpriced meal and the sinking sense of having wasted the calories and missed an opportunity. There are some truly terrific places to eat here and because of Brighton’s resident demographic, almost all of them are vegan- and family- friendly. What follows barely scratches the surface, but they are some of my most haunted so I can link to the list whenever anyone asks. Any Brightonian will have a different heap of their own recommendations. I’ll follow up with more if people want it.
Breakfast, Brunch & Coffee
Café Coho
https://www.cafecoho.co.uk/brighton/
There are two, but I tend to only visit the branch on Ship Street to eat-in, as the other is near the station and always feels - through not fault of its own - slightly grim and transient. The food and coffee is equally good in both, but Ship Street has a relaxed but buzzy outdoor area and a pretty good (for Brighton) inside capacity. Pastries are melty, sandwiches are interesting in selection, scrambled eggs are rich yellow and soft-set and all portions are generous. Its convenient location in the heart of The Lanes puts it front of mind as a good meeting place.
Starfish & Coffee
https://starfishandcoffee.cafe/
A firm favourite with the residents of Queen’s Park and Kemptown, this is a bustling community café serving great coffee, fresh, well made fry-ups, pancakes, pastries, hash, smash and every style of egg, from Benedict to Florentine. My favourite is the Starfish Special of poached eggs, wild garlic, greens, lemon and chilli yoghurt and toast, but my meat-eating family raves about the crispness of the dry-cure smoked bacon with blueberry pancakes. Not cheap (woefully little in Brighton is) but the portions are generous enough to be able to swerve lunch altogether. And of course, I appreciate the Prince reference.
The New Club
https://thenewclubbrighton.com/menus/brunch/
Not ideally located if you’re wandering around the shops, but very much worth a 10-minute drift along the seafront. If you’ve been in Brighton to party, New Club’s spicy Mexican eggs (with or without chorizo) with pickled jalapeño, caramelised corn, mixed cheeses, smashed avocado and sour cream - are a top-notch hangover cure and my favourite (good baked eggs are hard to find, but there are no snotty egg-whites here). Re-tox with a “hard” St Clements (made with Absolute Citron), a spicy Bloody Mary or the Breakfast Martini. By the way, if we were doing best Sunday roasts (some other time) this bright, friendly seafront diner would ace that too. They’re on another level.
I also love:
Oeuf (terrific food if you’re ever in Hove. The cheese and onion crumpets are out of this world)
Egg & Spoon (modest but lovely and very friendly Kemptown breakfast and lunch spot)
Red Roaster (Brighton’s best coffee and with a lovely back garden for brunch)
Coffee Tsar (the best cakes in Brighton)
The Breakfast Club (a chain, but fun and serves good quality diner-style breakfasts all day)
A note on Bill’s:
People used to come from all over to eat at one of only two Bill’s grocers’ (the original is in nearby Lewes). For years, it was the first thing all my friends and family wanted to do when they got here and everyone was happy to snake around the open-fronted, produce-depot style building to wait the usual 30 minutes-plus for a weekend brunch table. The two original Bill’s are still famous and even now, I hear out-of-towners express a desire to visit them. But what was once a celebrated Brighton landmark is now an expensive, generic (albeit passable) casual dining spot serving food that 10 years ago, would never have made it past the kitchen. There is now no discernible difference between the East Sussex originals and Bill’s in Cardiff, London or Cambridge. It’s a tragedy. I don’t know anyone who lives in Brighton who still goes there, particularly since there are so many wonderful independent alternatives. Walk a couple of minutes in any direction and you’ll find something more effortful and interesting.
Lunch
The Chilli Pickle
When my now-husband and I agreed that we’d like to take over a restaurant rather than hire a wedding venue, Chilli Pickle was the obvious choice. We adore this place for its warm, friendly vibe, fair pricing and exceptionally good Indian food. Everyone I’ve ever taken there returns, and my friend’s Pakistan-born mother and aunt (who she tells me spend their lives disapproving of most restaurant curries and dhal), now ask to dine at Chilli Pickle whenever they visit. Vegetarians, vegans and carnivores are each given multiple options, all of them flavourful and fresh (I usually order the mushroom biryani or paneer jalfrezi), and the bhajis and samosas are the best I’ve tried - I always order extra so I can eat them with eggs for my next breakfast. The beer, wine list and cocktails are very good, too. The only reason I’ve put it in my lunch picks rather than in dinner, is that it’s so unusually unhurried and family-friendly, and the gunpowder fries are rarely available at nighttime.
Burnt Orange
A restaurant that’s only a few years old yet one that somehow feels like it’s always been here. My friendship group is split fairly evenly between vegetarians, pescatarians and meat eaters, and the small plate concept here makes that very easy to navigate. Everything is absolutely delicious, but I spend more time than I should thinking about the skillet-baked potatoes with herb cream and sheep’s cheese, preserved lemon aioli, and the flatbread dripping with melted sesame brown butter. Burnt Orange’s cocktails are also very good. My London girlfriends will sometimes tell me they’re coming to visit almost purely to quell their cravings for one. All this also applies to dinner, but I usually like to go for lunch so we can sit in the intimate little courtyard and natter.
La Choza
I’m fussy about Mexican food, almost entirely because chain restaurants make so much of it taste generic and identical. La Choza in North Laine reminds me of how delicious and interesting it is when done properly. This fun, lively Mexican serves up fresh, vibrant salads, no-stodge quesadillas, green rice and spiced, citrusy cobs of corn, all at relatively reasonable prices. Annoyingly, there’s no booking for a table in the small, crowded and somewhat noisy dining room, but it slightly adds to the casual energy of the whole thing.
I also love:
Bardsley’s (fish and chips)
Riddle & Finn’s (seafood and excellent vibes)
Happy Maki (grab and go maki rolls)
We Love Falafel (tasty pitta pockets, homemade garlic hummus and takeaway street food)
Fatto a Mano (super friendly family Italian with great pizza)
Dinner
All my lunch recommendations apart from Happy Maki and We Love Falafel are great for dinner too, but I’d add:
Palmito
My first visit to Palmito served up one of the best meals of my entire life. This is an extraordinarily good, tiny, family-run and Michelin-approved dining room serving fresh Latin and Asian-inspired dishes made from local ingredients, many of them cooked on an open fire by the Ecuadorian chef/owner. There’s little point in my recommending anything, as the meticulously seasonal menu changes constantly, but I would do terrible things for a bowl of their sweetcorn, limesalt and Parmesan. The inventive cocktails are the best I’ve had in Brighton. The size of Palmito and its small number of tables (there are just 20 seats), means it doesn’t work for large groups, discreet conversation or languishing for a whole evening, but the food is so good and the service so kind, that you’ll work around anything in order to go.
Cin Cin
https://www.cincin.co.uk/restaurants/cin-cin-hove/
I really love a short menu. I like to be in, immediately tempted, decided, ordered, back to my conversation and awaiting my lovely scran. This is one of the main reasons I love Cin Cin. Typically, there’ll be four starters, four mains (a meaty pasta, a vegetarian pasta, a fish and a meat) and two sides, all of them Italian, fresh, seasonal and lovingly made. I’ve never once ended up with a dud, and notably, it’s one of the few restaurants where I’ll order dessert, knowing that it won’t be overly sweet and sickly (“pistachio affogato” is exactly my level, and delicious). If you’ve already been and are missing it, it’s worth knowing that there’s now a sister restaurant in London.
The Salt Room
https://saltroom-restaurant.co.uk/
When anyone on social media asks me for a special occasion restaurant in Brighton, I always suggest here because well, it really does Bring The Brighton. The large, smart dining room overlooks the sea and feels grand and romantic in all seasons, even (perhaps especially) when blustery wind is thrashing sea spray against the glass. The menu - local produce with a slight leaning towards fish and seafood dishes - is always interesting and seasonal, and the staff are knowledgeable, warm and professional. I’ve been lucky to have eaten here many times and ironically, the only thing I’ve ever felt ambivalent about is their famous medley of desserts, which is really more an Instagram moment than delicious pud. Meanwhile, two years after I took him, my foodie friend Chris still claims The Salt Room’s less photogenic trifle was the greatest dessert of his life.
I also love:
Flint House (Modern British. Fresh, seasonal menu in a smart location in the heart of The Lanes)
The Coal Shed (Go here for the best steaks. Especially cosy and comforting in winter)
The Set (Modern British with French and Asian influences. Another small menu place)
Terre a Terre (Great and much loved vegetarian restaurant with excellent cocktails)
I should also mention 64 Degrees, since everyone in and around Brighton loves it (as does Michelin) - and clearly with good reason. I only don’t go because on the two occasions I’ve visited, the menu hasn’t featured much I want to eat because when it comes to the wilful proliferation of sweet fruit in savoury dishes, I am a culinary philistine. It drives my husband mad but I can’t help it - I hate the combination and it’s becoming almost impossible to avoid. So I think you should ignore my savagery, listen to those more sophisticated, and go here for a spendy and special occasion.
Let’s start a campaign to stop chefs mixing sweet and savoury food. The madness must stop.
Palmito! Oh my goodness… the corn! The cocktails! The friendly staff! It’s amazing. I think about it about 3 times a week…. 😍