Brighton is a city with it’s fair share of vegetarians, so restaurant 1847 BRIGHTON made a good choice when they set up shop in The Lanes.
The fresh white and yellow decor, with monochrome herringbone tiled floor and live herb walls, reflect what this restaurant is all about. 1847 specialises in high quality, locally produced vegetarian, vegan and gluten free contemporary dining. This eating experience feels like clean living, even the wine list offers vegan only bottles.
In the basement there is a chic ‘Dandelion’ bar area area, where expert mixologists serve up botanically based cocktails (you can feel virtuous drinking alcohol…marvellous!). It’s definitely worth a visit, either for an aperitif before dinner, or just to drop in for a drink or two.
I am a certified meat eater. I did the vegetarian thing back in my art college days, but after one to many nut roasts, a bacon sandwich was my downfall, (apparently the downfall of many a veggie) and since then I haven’t looked back. I often find vegetarian food a bit bland, so I approached 1847 with interest.
My friend and i started with the ‘Mushroom Pate’, which was meaty in substance (although obviously not meat!) and the ‘Crispy Egg’, which was perfectly cooked with just the right amount of ‘runny’ to the yolk.
For our Main Event, we chose ‘Beef Bourguignon’ (a beetroot stew,with sautéed potatoes and crumbled goat cheese), ‘Winter Veggies and Coconut‘ (roasted vegetables with black beans and spicy sweet potato cream) and another course simply called ‘Cabbages’.
I am not a sprout fan, but always try them purely, because when I was a child my mother drummed it in to me that I must…and it sort of stuck. However the Cabbages dish, which was a sprout frittata with sautéed savoy, vadouvan and cauliflower veloute was not like any brussel sprout dish I have tasted before. It was delicious. In fact all three dishes were full of flavour and my friend and I found it difficult to pick our favourite.
The desert menu sounded pretty good too, but our over-ordering with three main dishes made it a struggle to eat anymore, although we managed the ‘Chocolate and Pear’ (soft ganache, port poached pear, gingerbread and mulled wine gel). We were glad we did as it was beautifully presented and a great mix of taste.
If, in the past you thought vegetarian and vegan food was dull and not filling, this is the restaurant to prove you wrong. The food is colourful, good looking and filling and best of all it’s healthy too!