I was so stoked when I first heard about Green Kitchen, totally vegan cafes aren't the easiest to come by - most of Brighton's best brekkie spots are veggie with vegan leanings - but what makes this spot stand out even more is it's location. You'll find Green Kitchen just beyond Preston Circus on Preston Road which is a first for a veggie eatery let alone a completely vegan one.
I visited on a Saturday morning and the place was busy with an eclectic clientele and a frankily mind boggling amount of Deliveroo orders which was only annoying due to the fact that the drivers kept leaving the front door wide open ruining the cosy atmosphere and letting in the chilly March air.
I love that you can now get pancakes and a full English delivered to your house / flat / hotel though - that's pretty cool and something I'm sure I would've taken advantage of when I lived in the city full time.
The menu at Green Kitchen is pretty vast but I knew that I wanted to start my day with pancakes. Unfortunately for me but fortunately for everyone else the bacon that Green Kitchen use is from Sgaia Foods, Scotland's most epic mock meat company. They make amazing artisan mock meats but they're pretty heavy on the paprika so I had to skip the bacon and go for bananas and maple syrup as my topping. I also arrived just as they were making a beetroot, carrot, apple and ginger juice so I got a glass of that too.
The pancakes were excellent, flavourful and cinnamon spiced with just the right amount of syrup. I would definitely order these again but I'd also be tempted by their French toast or the full English with added black pudding - a first for Brighton! I wasn't in any kid of hurry after breakfast so I decided to add a savoury chaser and order one of their cheese scones with margarine and cream cheese and chives.
The scone arrived warm and although it was a little on the small side it was so delicious that I didn't even mind. This is up there with the best scones I've ever eaten and I used to have a friend who made seriously epic vegan cheese scones so it had some tough competition!
I didn't get a chance to fit in a slice of cake as I had serious dessert plans for the rest of the afternoon but the gluten free Rhubarb and Custard cake looked pretty temping and I was pleased that it was a more reasonably priced slice than at places elsewhere in the city. Hopefully that means that people will be dropping their pennies into the Raystede collection box on the counter!
Green Kitchen made a really nice change from my usual breakfast haunts, it's a little quieter due to the location (there are less tourists around Preston Park) and they open at 9 on a Saturday and 10 on a Sunday meaning you can fit in a proper breakfast before getting on with your day. I'd definitely return to try one of their burgers, the golden peach, rosemary and cinnamon burger from supplier Sgaia has been on my must eat list for a while now, and I'd love to try some of their sandwichs - with options ranging from cheese and apple, to vegan egg mayo with cress, and even chicken and sweetcorn I feel like they've veganised all of the sandwiches I would have ordered pre-vegan!
Where's your go-to breakfast spot? Do you prefer to cook something up at home in your PJ's or make yourself a little presentable to go and read the papers elsewhere? Have you been to Green Kitchen? What did you think?