Very Recent reviews
Terre a Terre A A Gill - Sunday Times, May 9th 2010
Five stars amaizing
' We were here to eat at Terre à Terre, which has picked up a hand-made reputation for good food cooked by Amanda Powley with Philip Taylor. A matching duo of chefs is rare, but not unexpected in Brighton. The restaurant is also predictably, playfully bright and basic, a cross between a nursery activity room and a social worker’s canteen.......Nothing on the menu is anything you’ve eaten elsewhere. Even if its basics are familiar, it arrives as an original deconstruction with decorative features. We began with corn cakes and mashed avocado and a chilli jelly, a brilliant combination of competing flavours. .....For the main course, I went for smokey soul in a bowl, Jamaican maize cake with at least 10 other featured ingredients. And then a south Indian onion and chilli crumpet with edible gourds, stuffed with mangosteen dal and mango salad, with other stuff. ...I was so intrigued by this food that I bought the cookbook, which doesn’t so much leap from the pages as gush off it, and gave it to the Blonde, who started laughing. “Oh, my God. You must have hated this. This is everything you loathe. Dozens of competing ingredients, all fiddled and fussed with, everything done with a twist. And would you look at that presentation? Multicoloured, mad stacks of things. And it’s vegetarian!” Yes. Didn’t I mention? This was meatless and fishless. Quite a lot of it actually vegan, and everything the Blonde said was perfectly correct. It is a mad cacophony, a carnival of ingredients, and it looks as if it’s been made by a special-needs spatial-awareness teacher. It’s all hippie, bag lady, crocheted food. The cosy, punny names are as infuriating as cushions with faces. But — and it’s a big, sweet-and-sour, warmly moreish, slightly peppery but — but, actually, you had to be there. Because it’s incredibly good food, and I mean that in a credibly defying sense. It has understood the essential truth of vegetarianism: that it’s just food. Nobody looks at a pork chop and says: “What’s missing is nuts and some citrus fruit.” The problem with vegetarian food is it protests too much. It behaves like a gastronomic amputee doing a marathon: it assumes that something is missing, that there’s a hole that needs filling....But Terre à Terre’s food has enormous, sometimes incoherent flavours and a jumble sale of textures and temperatures. It’s overcomplex, a Babel of ideas, an argument on a plate, and it’s as camp as a Brazilian trannies’ chorus line, but it is also exciting and fun, and it’s somehow held together with sound technique and a generous soul. This was a brilliant lunch, well worth the trip, and the parkin with oatmeal ice cream was one of the best puddings I’ve had all year. This is most probably the best vegetarian restaurant in Britain, but it’s also better than that ghetto accolade. It is singularly and eccentrically marvellous. Alison said Peter Mandelson would like it, or perhaps she meant someone who looked like Peter Mandelson in suspenders would like it ' ... to read the full review
You can't easily kill it with poison or even by hacking it to pieces.But have you tried eating it on an oatcake with a bit of Sussex cheese? Now Brighton chef Dino Pavledis has come up with another way of dealing with the pest.
His plan, in short, is to eat it.
The chef from Brighton's Terre Terre restaurant worked with academic Dr Paul Beckett to create a range of dishes.
Paul got in touch with Dino Pavledis via
Twitter
feed and he suggested that the restaurant should try some recipes.
Dino came up with several recipes including knotweed and shallot jelly, served with Sussex Slipcote cheese on an oatcake and knotweed compote; knotweed with ginger, raspberries, sugar and vanilla.
"You wouldn't identify it because it isn't an identifiable flavour. The wonder of it is that you can use it for sweet or savoury," said Olivia Reid from Terre a Terre.......to read more
Listen to the interview
Awards
AA: Two Rosettes
Michelin: ” Bib Gourmand”
Which? Good Food Guide: Good cooking 3
Hardens : **A
Finalist Best Approved Catering For Vegetraian - The Vegetarian Society Awards 2009
WINNER 'Best for Vegetarian' Observer Food Monthly’s Waitrose Awards 2008
Runner up in Observer Food Monthly’s Waitrose Awards for best vegetarian restaurant 2007
Runner up in Observer Food Monthly’s Waitrose Awards for best restaurant over £20 a head 2005
Second place in Observer Food Monthly’s Waitrose Awards for best restaurant over £20 a head 2005
Top 100 UK Restaurant as voted by Olive, the Magazine for Food Lovers
UK Vegetarian restaurant by the Vegetarian Society 2001
AA: Best Organic Wine List 2002
Juicy Guide restaurant of the year 2000
Recent Reviews
Best New Christmas Books: Food Cooker 09- The Telegraph, Aileen Reid
"Terre à Terre is a vegetarian restaurant in Brighton, but if that turns you off, bear with me. Vegetarian cuisine has come a long way from the nut rissoles of the Sixties, but it has struggled to reach the level of fine dining. This book aims to do what the restaurant has done for 20 years – to offer dishes that make meat eaters forget they are eating vegetarian food by investing it with an equal variety of texture and flavour. These are complex and time consuming, not for a novice cook – seaweed and miso risotto served with chive rice clusters, etcetera. But the recipes are not without humour – Chilly Bristols, anyone? "
The Times, 1st Dec 09
Terre à Terre, The Vegetarian Cookbook by Amanda Powley and Philip Taylor
"The owner/chefs of the Brighton restaurnat share 100 of the innovative, unusual but not dauntingly difficult recipes that have made Terre à Terre a popular local institution. Witty photography by Lisa Barber matches the jaunty dishes. Chilly Bristols? Black Bean Cellophane Frisbee?"
Big Hospitality - Becky Paskin
Brighton Restaurant Terre à Terre Launches Vegetarian Cookbook, Dec 09
"Terre à Terre, the inovative vegetarian restaurnat situated in Brighton, has released its long -awaited cookbook .... to read on "
Mostly Food Journal
Terre à Terre - Vegetarian Cookbook, Dec 09
"I do rather worry when I am presented with a vegetarian cookbook. so many of them in the past have been unappealing to all but the most committed vegetarian .....Thank goodness for the new trend in vegetarian food. We can now eat well and not notice the absence of meat. Beige has been replaced by vibrant colour.... to read on "
October 2009 -Paul Gould, Financial Times
" a few steps from brighton's pebbly beach. Terre a Terre's fare is a million miles away from the British seaside staple of fish and chips. The food is so suductive that meat eaters often don't notice that it's exclusively vegetarian...Portions were generous...For all its global inflences, Terre a Terre prides itself on using local .."
September 2009 - Cook Vegetarian Magazine
The Restaurant of the month - Taste Sensation - Rachel Callen
"In two words: the food! with its classy but relatively understated decor, when you step into
Terre a Terre you expect pleasant, bistro-style dishes. What you're not prepared for is the innovative approach to meat-free food that's obvious from the moment you open the menu .....we left the restaurant completely satisfied and dying to return to sample the rest of the menu"
Blogs & Forums
Happy Cow
Veggie Board
13th September 2008- England City Breaks , The Guardian
Nikki Spencer - 'Some of the Best Places to Eat In England'
Brighton- Terre à Terre
A grown -up vegetarian restaurant where carnivores will be happy too. You may not know what you are eating( the extensive menu does take some translating) but who cares?it looks good and it tastes even better.
April 2008 - Kate Carter The Guardian- 'I like to make a story with food'
From humble beginnings, Brighton's Terre à Terre has become the foremost vegetarian restaurant in Britain - if not beyond. Kate Carter meets the founder and owner, Amanda Powley, and asks where she can go from here...It doesn't sound like an ordinary vegetarian meal. But then Terre à Terre is not an ordinary vegetarian restaurant. It recently won the prize for the best UK vegetarian restaurant at the 2008 Observer Food Monthly awards, but for my money - and I say this having eaten at many Michelin-starred restaurants and veggie places across the world - this is the best vegetarian food there is...Amanda states her own influences as "anything and everything - I like to make a story with food." She tells me about a dish she's been experimenting with at home that morning, trying to make a nice version of a socca - a chickpea pancake her parents used to buy her when they lived in France that she really hated. She says the dish is a disaster - "though it could be a great pudding with different ingredients".......
....."Really, I just love the playfulness of food. Because it's about fun," she adds. It is noticeable eating at Terre à Terre that people do seem to be enjoying themselves - there is none of the hushed, sterile reverence of some of the temples of high gastronomy. That, clearly, has never been her aspiration - though surely no chef, however modest, would blanch at awards. "Do you aspire to a Michelin star?" I ask. She laughs. "I don't think we'd ever get that - I mean of course I'd love it but I think you have to have starched tablecloths and things like that. To be honest, that's just not our scene."
.....
......So where next for Terre à Terre? Surely there's no way it would ever move from Brighton? Amanda deadpans that when they took one popular dish off the menu last year there were "riots on the streets" so heaven knows how the locals would react if the restaurant ever opened a branch in the capital. "We keep dipping our toes in the water with London," she admits. "We've yet to decide really. We've got a few wheels in motion - but it's probably 50-50 at the moment." In the meantime there is a cookbook in the offing, which Amanda promises will include simpler versions of the restaurant's favourite dishes as well as some new creations....
.....I'm interested to know Amanda's own favourite restaurants, but though she cites Providores and the River Cafe as favourites, she finally admits, "You know, I love going out to have bad meals because I come back here and I feel so proud of everybody and everything in here and that we stuck with our guns."
for full review The Guardian .co.uk- April 2008
May 2008- Delicious Magazine - Our favourite UK vegetarian restaurants:
'Terre à Terre - South East. Brighton's all-conquering Terre à Terre is recognised as perhaps the best vegetarian restaurant in the UK. The home to nouveau dishes like mushroom cappuccino and Parmesan dougnuts with porcini salt. The menu operates at the cutting edge of vegetarian cooking but without any of the pretensions. Experimental dishes are self-assured, well complemented by the organic wine list and the varied decor. Bound to impress the most hardened of carnivores and the most weary of vegetarians in equal meassure'.
Delicious Magazine online May 2008
May 2008 The Pink Paper- Steve Bustin
'A word of warning, should you decide to eat at legendary vegetarian restaurant Terre à Terre ( and be lieve me , you really should); read the menu very carefully , and don't let them take it away after you've ordered because I can guarentee you're going to want to refer to it again when your food arrives. This isn't because the food bears no resemmblance to what you ordered but rather that there is so much going on across the plate that half the pleasure is finding out what each little oile , parcel or pool of sauce contains...... Terre à Terre isn't "just" a vegetarian restaurant . It's simply a great restaurant that doesn't serve meat, but cooking this assured even the most ardent of carnivores won't notice, let alone mind. - Steve Bustin
January 2008 Sugarvine.com
'The New York Times recently described Brighton's Terre à Terre as "the finest vegetarian restaurant on the south coast of England. . .a truly outstanding choice." It's no exaggeration and if you've never really given vegetarian food a chance, this is the place to explode your preconceptions. Terre à Terre boasts two AA rosettes and a Michelin bib gourmand and you can expect intense flavours, sublime textures and daring combination of ingredients. The fact that there's no meat on the menu is secondary. In business for 15 years now, the restaurant is open every day except Monday from noon till close offering a variety of menus, including their new take on Afternoon Tea -- the Teas, Stickies & Bickies menu. The extensive wine list is entirely organic with many biodynamic choices'.
Friday , 4th may 2007
The New York Times
The finest vegetarian restaurant on the South Coast of England, this is a truly outstanding choice even if you're a carnivore. You dine in a trio of spacious rooms in vivid colors, and everything has a bustling brasserie aura. Cooks roam the world for inspiration in the preparation of their delectable dishes......
16th April, 2007
Ginny Dougary, The Times
...In Brighton, Terre à Terre, although a very different sort of concern (being exclusively vegetarian, for one thing), occupies a similar position in my hierarchy of consistently happy-making eating experiences....
Tip-top Tapas
Friday December 1st 2006
The guide food & drink The Argus
vegetarian or not, eat at Terre à Terre and you will be so distracted by the intensity of flavours on your plate, the fact there is no meat on the menu will be the last thing on your mind. ....
Tuesday September 5, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Terre à Terre, Brighton
One taste of Terre à Terre's startlingly original vegetarian dishes will coax drooling effusions about tomatoes from even the most hardened of carnivores, says Anna Pickard.
Guides
Hardens 2007: **
“ A fist class vegetarian dining experience to win over even the most hardened carnivore" - the UK's most famous( and highest-rated) veggie makes an unlikely find in the touristy lanes; it is, however, almost invariably "packed"
AA Restaurant Guide 2007
‘An oasis in Brighton's hectic centre, Terre à Terre stands out for its unswerving devotion to vegetarian cooking. The long,, Slim space is constantly filled though the new terrace with tables adds more options in warm weather. The food almost defies description, with its layering of ingredients that make each dish more like a mezze. Nothing is straightforward, and the kitchen's verve and imagination can be breathtaking. Witty nudges at junk food, like buttermilk-soaked halloumi dipped in chip shop batter, show that vegetarian cooking can be light-hearted and fun.’
The Which? Good Food Guide 2006
'A bright light in the trendy centre of town for more than a decade, this 'extraordinary place' continues as a standard- bearer for inventive vegetarian food. Flavours are global, ingredients can be bewildering ( but staff know their stuff), and dish names are deliberately wacky...New chef Glen Lester is proving his worth, and while some declare the food too clever for its own good, others find the labour-intensity of it all highly effective.
Le Routiers British Hotels& Restaurants 2006
'Philip Taylor and Amanda Powley's groundbreaking vegetarian restaurant continues to go from strength to strength. It's truly a one-off that thinks about food in a way that other restaurants don't. The cooking style is truly international, with ideas drawn right across the mediterranean to central and Eastern Europe, the Far East and America, backed up by a kitchen confident enough to break culinary boundaries ’
Vegetarian Britain 2006
'Terre à Terre is known throughout Brighton and beyond for its innovative cuisine. You'll feel truly spoilt dining here. Come for an evening, relax and enjoy the friendly efficient service and fabulous food . The restaurant is large and spacious, seating over a hundred people. It has a vibrant, modern feel and is perfect for either a large party or a cosy candlelit dinner for two. They have made a big move towards local and seasonal produce. Vegans well catered for and they will do you a three course raw meal with a couple of days notice. ’
Time Out Eating & Drinking in Great Britain & Ireland 2005
‘Brighton’s reliable inventive flagship vegetarian restaurant enjoys a reputation that attracts hordes of weekending pan-fried weary Londoners to its simple space. Friendly, child-welcoming and with homely jars of tangy oils and preserves on sale out front, Terre à Terre spreads a fine tapestry of meat-free dishes.’
Itchy Brighton guide 2004
‘Nationally famous vegetarian food that can even turn confirmed carnivores' heads. The menu is constantly surprising and valiantly manages to steer clear of the usual veggie standbys. Dishes sparkle with different flavours making you linger over every mouthful’.
The Grapevine Great British, where to eat Vegetarian, Restaurant Guide 2004:
‘This buzzing restaurant shows an enthusiastic commitment to serving exciting, unusual food… nibbly appetisers…. Italian, Greek and Levantine breads…main courses are intriguingly different…even the quirkily written menu is entertaining in its own right’
The Good Food Guide 2004:
‘it is somewhere I know I could take someone who would go “Wow” after their meal’. ’The menu roves the world for influences, with South Indian, Japanese, Greek and Italian flavours coming to the fore’
Michelin, the Red Guide 2003
‘Hearty helpings of bold, and original vegetarian cuisine lyrically evoked on an eclectic menu. Despite fast-growing popularity, still friendly, hip and suitably down-to-earth’
Juicy Guide to Brighton
Terre à Terre is one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the country….the vibe original and the waiters set a standard with their wit and charm…the menu is global and eclectic.”
Vegetarian Britain
‘You’ll feel truly spoilt dinning here’. ‘Relax and enjoy the friendly efficient service and fabulous, Innovative cuisine’.
Gourmet Britain
'One of the countries best vegetarian restaurants - and with a modern and interesting menu to match. The dining room is colourful (even by Brighton standards), and the staff friendly and knowledgeable.
So expect the likes of 'Wild Garlic and Goat's Cheese Risotto' or strangely-labelled dishes such as 'Black Bean Cellophane Frisbee' as starters; maybe 'Asparagus Tips and Piccalilli' or 'Fundamentally Fungus Souffle' to follow. '
Reviews
The Argus
“ Terre à Terre has also been embraced by The Times and The Telegraph as one of the country’s best meat-free restaurants.”
“Instead of sloppy dairy overload with a side portion of fat sticks, I was baptised into a world of vegetable salvation.”
“The miraculous thing about Terre à Terre is it manages to satisfy both vegetarians and meat-eaters with its gratifying, generous and wildly-inventive food.”
“No Terre à Terre experience is complete without a bit of shopping…check out the Goodies To Go menu and invest in some tangy Snapper Slapper Oil, some fiery Chilli Chelly, a jar of punch-packing Piccalishus Piccalilli” Southern Business Times
“For business lunches…an impressive wine list…lighter dishes that always seem to have greater appeal at lunchtime…background music does not interfere with its patrons having a tete a tete”.
The Insight
“I had certainly the best vegetarian meal in our slightly hazy memories…the staff were great; the atmosphere is friendly….they don’t just serve great vegetarian food, they serve great food”.
Waitrose
“Terre à Terre is a great place to visit even if you believe that meat eaters have no reason to go to a vegetarian restaurant. The bewilderingly worded menu uses superbly fresh, locally ` produce in intriguing but well judged combinations”
Harpers and Queen
“Terre à Terre….I commend to you as a rare outpost of naughty vegetarianism”
“Terre à Terre, a fashionable vegetarian restaurant with wildly inventive cooking…any recipe may be pressed into service to make meat and fish-free food exciting, with good-to-excellent results” Which? Good Food
“Any lingering doubts over whether vegetarian food has cast off its lentils and sandals image should be instantly dispelled by a visit to Terre à Terre…so wildly inventive is the menu…a tribute to its kitchen’s keen understanding of flavour and technique.”
The Observer
“Fabulous”, “ Brilliant”, “ Exciting”, “Sophisticated, “Superb”-“the best vegetarian food in the UK” inspires a hymn of promise the like of which we rarely encounter.
“total gastronomic fulfillment, with perfect balance of tastes in every dish” is rare enough – in a veggie restaurant it’s extraordinary”
Independent
“Terre à Terre is a veggie restaurant with universal appeal”, “arguably one of Britain’s finest vegetarian restaurants”
“The UK’s best gourmet vegetarian restaurant”
Time out
“This very inventive brand of vegetarian cuisine wiped green lentil bake off the-agenda years ago…food is attractive and the atmosphere relaxed…Terre à Terre offers vegetarians a classy dinning experience, one that will satisfy committed meat eaters.”
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