Andrew Kay welcomes back the internationally acclaimed Terre à Terre

Heaven on Earth

There has been a huge gap in Brighton’s culinary firmament since Last October, But now Terre à Terre, Brighton’s acclaimed vegetarian restaurant, is happy to announce a re-opening date of Monday 4 February after the fire which ravaged their kitchen late in 2012.

Terre à Terre, Brighton’s celebrated restaurant was forced to close after the accidental fire in October 2012. The fire gutted the kitchen and caused huge damage resulting in the restaurant shutting over the festive season for a full kitchen refurbishment. Customers and regulars were horrified to hear the news but happy that the Terre à Terre team were safe and eagerly working towards a February re-opening date.

Now, after a hugely active couple of months stripping the kitchen back to nothing and rebuilding it again the team are excited to be getting back to cooking and preparing to receive customers. Their new state-of-the-art shiny kitchen, which services the 100 cover restaurant, has been given a new lease of life, an inspiring start to Terre à Terre’s 20th year in business.

The restaurant will open as normal on Monday 4 February, offering its a la carte menu featuring old and new dishes and some set menu options hoping to provide customers with all that they have missed over the period of closure.
Terre à Terre is proud and happy to have managed to retain all staff during the period of closure and are deeply grateful for their commitment and understanding. Throughout the rebuild the team have been involved in the refurbishment and in planning new ventures. Terre à Terre has also taken the opportunity to refurbish some of the common areas and is in the midst of developing a new website and swipe active loyalty card system to be launched shortly after re-opening.
Terre à Terre is hugely appreciative to customers and local businesses for all the wonderful support during the period of closure and looks forward to welcoming them back.

“After 20 years in business it was devastating to find ourselves having to rebuild the kitchen and our business after the fire,” says owners Amanda Powley and Philip Taylor. “But we have managed to turn it around, improving our facilities and bringing the team together resulting in a common vision of a bright future, in truth it has made us realise how lucky we are. We feel honoured to have retained our full team and are hugely grateful to them for staying with us and to all our customers and regulars who have been remarkably supportive and joined us on this journey – we look forward to lots of feasting fun over 2013.”

I know I am amongst a huge number of regulars who are delighted that, what has been for 20 years now, Brighton’s most inspirational restaurant is back and raring to go. I never had any doubt that they would rise from the ashes, phoenix like, and I cannot wait to get in there to try the new dishes and revisit some of my old favourites. It’s hard to believe that it is 20 years since I first went into the original Terre à Terre in Pool Valley for a coffee and cake but since that day, their very first, I have watched Amanda, Phil and the team grow in stature as culinary forces to be reckoned with. Their unique approach to cooking has changed the way many of us look at vegetarian food, they have introduced us to a palette of global flavours and methods that excite and delight and I wish them a brighter and even more delicious future with their spanking new kitchen.

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