Terre à Terre – Uniquely creative and still serving up immaculate meat-free dishes

Blazing a trail way back in 1993 when it was no picnic (and certainly no gourmet meal ) being vegetarian or vegan, even in right-on Brighton.

Terrance Terrance (as a dear old veggie chum used to call it) began in relatively snug premises in Poole Valley before settling into it’s larger, familiar home on East Street.

Over the years its collected awards, wowed veggies and vegans, and won over legions of doubting carnivores with a singular style of elaborately-composed, inventive and hugely satisfying, meat-fee dishes.

It’s been more than a few years since your reviewer had last visited and it was immediately reassuring to see the venue is still looking good (with its familiar plummy/burgundy hues) and rocking a comfortable vibe early on a sunny Thursday evening.

A very herbal and very grown up Nearly Negroni, further added to that comfortable vibe, Campari-free but a perfectly bitter mix of Organic Juniper Green Gin and Organic Rosso vermouth, while my slightly sluggish dining chum attempted to lively up himself with a bottle of Brunehaut Blonde, a gluten-free and organic Belgian beer with a not insubstantial 6.5 per cent ABV.

Everyone loves a bit of nostalgia and it was also great to clock an old favourite in the nibbles section of the menu – the Aubergine Zhuganoosh, Terre à Terre’s long-running take on the traditional Baba Ganoush

The extensive list of elements, reminded me what was so marvellous about Terre à Terre.

Pomegranate beads and molasses were scattered on the charred aubergine, tahini, and coriander Zhuganoosh dip, and an awesome bubbly Lavash deep-fried crisp bread was dusted in an insanely moreish combination of Aleppo and Ras El Hanout pepper and Sumac salt, which my, by now energised, dining chum came close to licking off the plate.

We shared a couple of starters, Karekatsu Smoked Tofu and Arepas Mojo.

The latter, crispy corn and polenta cakes, rolled in chemoula, with chilli and tamarillo salsa; with lime and oregano mojo, was a good dish with a bit of zing, but was outshone by the former, superbly handled tofu which had been fried and basted in a teriyaki bark, resulting in something which had the texture and taste of the most perfectly baked mature cheddar cheese flan.

Being Terre à Terre the flavours and ingredients didn’t stop there, with a miid sweet potato katsu playing well with a savoury and salty burst from crispy seaweed, tempered by a sesame ginger dressed salad with a lively wasabi cashew yuzu pesto.

The restaurant’s menu describes the Terre à Terre style as being built on culinary globetrotting ‘with magpie gathering tendencies’.

That pan-everywhere ethos was evident being we’d sampled Middle Eastern, Japanese, and Mediterranean dishes before we had come to our mains, and also a tasty Teutonic tipple of Riesling.

The German wine always pairs well with spicy foods and was recommended with my main course in mind – the rather spiffing and brilliantly named Fancy Nancy.

We perhaps should have asked how it had earned his name ahead of other dishes, because virtually every plate in Terre à Terre could quite reasonably described as fancy (in the nicest possible way).

A significant amount of culinary mental globe-trotting had gone into it’s creation, with ingredients from all over China and South-East Asia, including a laska oil, a Penang pickle and pickled lotus root.

Coconut cardamom fried rice, topped with egg fu yung, and chillies achieved a dizzying flavour profile with the above ingredients, a super-fresh salad of coriander, mint and lychee, and an umami blast from an oyster mushroom kebab. A memorable and pretty darn impressive dish.

It was time to sound the nostalgia klaxon for a second time with my chum’s main of Rosti Revisited, which I may have gently encouraged him to chose.

The Terre à Terre rosti’s were always wonderful things, perhaps a little stodgier than its other creations but I remember lovely thick crispy-fried potato cakes with creamed spinach and a fried/poached egg (I can’t quite remember which).

The 2023 variant is a tad more refined and had certainly lifted its game in terms of presentation, but was still close enough to that unmistakeably buttery indulgent dish of bygone lunches.

After the Asian firecrackers of Fancy Nancy, there was time for one more treat with the pudding.

But, as is too rarely the case in life, one treat rapidly became a platter of treats when I spotted the option of the sweet sharing plate.

There followed a brief sham of a discussion where I coyly pretended to suggest that it might perhaps be a little too much, but as a man from Duluth might have said: you didn’t need a weatherman to see which way that particular wind was blowing.

And so, with all guilt, temperance and middle-age caution banished until the morning, the sweet platter was presented to two greedy but visibly excited men.

As a parent it’s wrong to have favourites, but as pudding-platter pundit, it’s ok to note that the churros were the best ever to pass these chubby lips, and were served with a salt caramel dipping pot and vodka cherries (why wouldn’t they be?).

But that’s not to say i didn’t swoon a bit as I guzzled the Crème de Caco Brandy Alexander milkshake, or made all manner of positive grunting noises while eating the cocoa-heavy Snap, Crackle & Choc, a rich mousse atop a hazelnut praline and chocolate shortbread.

And the final blast of food nostalgia came in the unexpected form of the creamy, jammy, polenta orange olive oil cakes, which triggered even sweeter memories of my nan’s syrupy English Madeleines.

After clearing every carefully constructed crumb and cream from the platter, we concurred on the brilliance that had gone before.

It’s worth noting the service helped to contribute to the experience. The staff who looked after us were attentive and engaging, and as seems to be the case in all the best restaurants, justifiably proud to be part of proceedings.

Terre à Terre is something special. It’s a restaurant that we should all be pleased was born, bred and thriving in Brighton.

To book or find out more visit https://terreaterre.co.uk/

See also: https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/lifestyle/food-and-drink/brighton-curry-is-a-great-new-indian-restaurant-for-curry-fans-old-and-new-4203993