Andrew Kay enjoys the whole three courses at Terre à Terre

Terre à firma

Of all of Brighton and Hove’s restaurants, the one that visiting friends most request a meal at is Terre à Terre. For some that may come as a surprise, after all, it is a vegetarian restaurant. But what a restaurant. Larded (if veggie venues can be larded) with accolades and awards, it continues to delight its patrons with some of the finest food for miles around. It just happens not to serve meat or fish.

I was one of the first through the door when Terre à Terre opened in Pool Valley and I have been a fan ever since. Over the years, I have enjoyed some of the best cooking from around the world and their international reputation, in my book, is well earned.

I happened to be having a meeting there a few weeks back and, as the meeting drew to its natural conclusion, so did lunchtime happen upon us. Now Terre à Terre fare is not for the faint hearted. Fine dining it may be but the portions are generous. So much so that in all my years of going there I have never managed three courses. Well, not until this day.

I was dining with my friend Ms R. She was up for one course, but I decided to start with a new dish. I sometimes think that Amanda and Phil, co-owners and creators of Terre à Terre, devise new dishes simply so they can conjure up a new wacky title. I once described the menu as ‘purple sprouting prose’ and I stand by that.

For you I will translate. My starter consisted of perfect cauliflower bhajis with a spiced herb and coconut salad, yoghurt dip and tamarind dip. The batter on the cauli was laced with fresh coconut too. This was simply delicious, ticking every box with every mouthful. I would be happy to eat just that.

Ms R had just a main course and chose Fancy Nancy, at first I thought she was referring to me, but no, and I quote “Coco tamari fried spice rice with spring onion egg foo yung, topped with a salad of pickled and fried lotus root, coriander leaves, beansprout with chilli lime palm dressing yum tang salad. Finished with garlic, shallot and peanut sizzle and served with lime leaf red pepper lemon grass soup”. Well, that was a mouthful and so was the dish, a tummy-filling delight, of which I had more than a tiny share. The Eastern influences in their food are so well observed and well tempered. They are not afraid of big flavours and taking an idea and running with it. This was a huge success.

I chose a new dish, Pidgin English, and again I quote “Salt almond sugar glazed pâte à brik pastilla crammed with Sussex slipcote sheep’s cheese and Moroccan mince of sultanas, green olives, parsley, dill and mint; served with crushed butter beans, saffron rosemary braised baby artichokes, chantenay carrots, pickled chilli and onion, scented with nigella seeds, preserved lemon; finished with butter bean, wine, thyme artichoke liquor sauce, fenugreek and tomato hilbeh smudge and pomegranate sumac spice oil”. Whoa, steady on, I hear you say, but be not afraid, this is simply genius on a plate, the flavours of North Africa combined with local produce, you have to hand it to them, a dish of many parts brought together as a unified whole.

This is where I normally stop but Ms R was in a devilish mood and insisted I tried the cinnamon churros. I didn’t fight her and I am very glad too. The finger doughnuts dusted in sugar and spice came with all things nice, a pot of raspberry compote and firm, fresh raspberries and a lot of heavenly chocolate sauce topped with their divine salt caramel. It was heart-stopping stuff in every sense but I polished off the lot. This was a first for me, the full three courses.

When coffee arrived it also came with their petit fives (Ms R being naughty once again), a plate of sweet delights amongst which my favourites were a superb meringue and a stunning slice of nougat made with chestnut honey.
I chose not to drink wine but I did have a non-alcoholic grapefruit mojito which was delicious. Terre à Terre does it for me every time and I can now proudly say I made it through to dessert and beyond. I only wish that they would open Mer à Mer and work their magic on fish dishes, the Moo à Moo, Baa à Baa and Oink à Oink – now there’s a concept for a chain I would buy into.

Terre à Terre, The Vegetarian Restaurant
71 East Street, Brighton BN1 1HQ
01273 729051
www.terreaterre.co.uk