Last week, to brighten up a cold and wet week we decided to cheer ourselves up with an amazing meal out at Brighton’s Food for Friends Vegetarian Restaurant. I’ve been wanting to go for sooo long (maybe even years) but I’ve never quite got there. Being vegetarian, it’s utter heaven to me to have so many amazing choices on the menu so I was pretty excited, to say the least! I even looked up the menu online and decided on what I’d order the day before… talk about keen!
We started off with some cocktails, of course! Date night has to include cocktails to start with, it’s a tradition. All of the cocktails at Food for Friends were really unique, it was tricky to decide what to have! I chose the English Garden, a blend of Bombay Sapphire Gin, Elderflower liquor, lemon juice, fresh mint, sugar syrup and rhubarb bitters. It was delicious – like a delicately fruity mojito. Vee went for the Brandy Crusta, a mix of Courvoisier VS Cognac and cointreau, with fresh lemon in a sugar and lemon rimmed glass. Our cocktails were served with sweet potato crisps to start, which were gone in about 10 seconds flat!
The starters are a selection of Mezze dishes, they recommend 3 to share between two and this was the trickiest decision – there was so many delicious options! The dishes aren’t your traditional Mezze so we had a real mix of flavours, we finally decided on a Sweet Tofu pocket with stir fried noodles and ginger, the fig and smoked ricotta salad and lastly the beets, potato and parsnip rosti’s. Each was such a different taste and beautiful presentation, we devoured each one individually enjoying every single flavour.
I’m really not used to having so many options for my main course, so after much deliberation I decided on the Haloumi Burger, as it came jammed with so many delicious extras such as portobello mushrooms, grilled peppers, gherkins, topped with a massive dollop of red onion marmalade – sounded amazing.
The hugest veggie burger in the world
When it arrived it did not disappoint at all – it was absolutely HUGE! Plus, it came with the chunkiest triple cooked chips and homemade coleslaw. It was absolutely divine and one of the best veggie burgers I’ve had in a long time. Vee opted for the Twice Baked Goat’s Cheese Soufflé, which I sneaked a little taste of, it was so rich and delicious, definitely one to have next time.
Now, puddings are where I really get my money’s worth. I have a REAL sweet tooth and of course, being the chocoholic I am I opted for the Molton chocolate pudding, which was rich, warm chocolate sponge with a melted chocolate filling. This came with a giant swirl of salted caramel sauce (my favourite bit!) and vanilla ice cream. You’d think that I’d be full by this point but it was so amazing I finished every last bit (and felt a bit sick, but it was totally worth it).
Overall, I was so impressed with my meal at Food for Friends, I wondered why I’d never been there before! There were so many options on the menu that I want to try so I’m going to have to go back and try them all. In the meantime I’ve downloaded their recipe book (which is available on iBooks) so I can have a go at making some of the dishes at home. I’ve always worried about taking my meat-eating friends to a vegetarian restaurant, however Vee isn’t vegetarian and loved it. There are so many fantastic options, I really don’t think it would be an issue, so I’ll hopefully be going back again soon!
A big thank you to Food for Friends for having us!