Terre a Terre, Brighton

Kids Mains From £2.50

Tabs: “Mmm! I love the smell in here!”

An encouraging reaction from my daughter, as we walked from the dark and wet street into Terre à Terre. It was 5pm: I’d come straight from a long day in front of a computer screen at work; my husband had picked up Tabs, aged 5, from school, and ferried her through the puddles to our dinner date.

At a time when we’re more likely to be found watching a bit of CBeebies and starting the wind-down before bath, it felt rather decadent to be entering a dimly-lit restaurant with a somewhat grown-up ambience.
Brighton is a city renowned for its tolerance of liberal lifestyles, and there are a thousand eateries catering for the associated diets – but even against this background, Terre à Terre is an exceptional vegetarian restaurant. We’re talking Michelin plaudits, AA rosettes and an Observer Food award.

So how would a restaurant best known for its daring combinations of foods many of us may never have heard of, let alone feel confident pronouncing, do when it came to catering for kids? While an adventurous ten-year-old may well enjoy the novelty, we all know that when you are five, anything but the usual staples is going to get short shrift.
Terre à Terre seems sensibly aware of this conundrum. The kids’ menu has familiar foods like poached egg on toast (£3.50) and pasta (with a choice of pesto, tomato or cheese sauce - £3.85), but also offers smoky fried tamari tofu (£2.00) and batter-fried haloumi (£4.00), plus chips sprinkled with ‘bang bang spice dust’ (£2.75) for those audacious kids who want to emulate their adult companions.
Meanwhile, the adults also have the choice of the comfortingly familiar (rosti with poached egg and spinach, £13.95) and the daring dishes the restaurant is best known for. Consider, for example, the Saltimbocca (£13.95): “mushroom duxelles-encased parmesan polenta sausages, wrapped in
tomato paper, seared and served with British brassica, fennel butter, roast parsley barley water and big red sauce”.

The lights were low, a full wine list was available, and the place was making its nightly transition from daytime eatery to evening restaurant. And yet, we felt completely comfortable dining with a young child who, to be completely honest, was not displaying the most impeccable table manners.
This was eased by the sparky waiters, who addressed Tabs direct to ask what she would like, and enthusiastically chatted to her about Toy Story. Giving her chips “10 out of 10″, she almost bust a gut laughing when the waiter suggested “11 out of 10″ instead.

With a ground-floor changing room/loo, wide aisles for prams, and a free pack of ‘wikky sticks’ (a kind of bendy, sticky pipecleaner) for young diners, Terre à Terre sealed the deal: I’m convinced they can boast of being ‘family friendly’ while still adhering to all the sophisticated extras that make them a top-class adult destination too.

Tabs’ Mummy x