Review of Redroaster @ Brighton Dome’s brunch
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
I have to say I’ve been a long-time fan of Redroaster over the years, writes Nick Mosley.
The original café in St James Street has long been a staple for coffee lovers and casual munchers, with their newer restaurant at the Dome being a shining example of hospitality’s revitalisation of New Road. Both venues have consistently been Brighton casual dining at its best: a quick coffee and pastry, a light bite or sandwich for lunch, or a full meal later in the day, Redroaster is always a reliable choice for quality cooking, ambiance, great service and – importantly – deliver time and time again.
As anyone who knows me well will attest, although I can be quite happily be beavering away at my desk from 8am, I’ve never been a morning eater and I rarely drink coffee anymore. By the age of ten, I think my mother had already given up on getting anything other a mug of Yorkshire tea into me. I guess toast and cereal never really worked for me, whereas I can gobble down a poached lobster quicker than Monty Python’s Mr Creosote.
So a visit to Redroaster at the Dome for breakfast – or brunch – or whatever you want to call it nowadays – was a bit of new one for me. And who better to join me than Little Miss Greedy Guts as she’s a very late diner too. In fact, I was somewhat surprised that she arrived before I did. That’s genuine dedication for ya.
The restaurant was already pretty much full, although it was 10am on a Saturday so I guess that’s typically their busiest morning for brunch. The clientele were very mixed. Couples, multigenerational families… to my left were two students discussing a level of cleverness that was a universe from my abilities of understanding and to my right on a large table were some rather raucous young children with their iPads blaring out cartoons. I have no problem with kids in restaurants but I really wish that some parents were a bit more considerate to other diners; after all dining is a civilising experience that young minds need to learn not a chimps tea party. I was in a Sussex pub in early February and a kid was walking on a table with his dirty wellingtons on, much to the amusement of his family and horror of everyone else. Anyway, I digress…
The Redroaster brunch menu is polished – breakfast classics are all there but also some more creative dishes including sweet potato waffle, fried chicken and waffles, and a fried egg tuna melt which I’ll definitely be ordering on my next visit. This is not specifically a breakfast card but also one that covers lunch you can also order steak frites or a fish pie if you have the constitution pre-midday. The more breakfast-y dishes sit around £15 with the more lunch-y dishes ranging from £16-25 and a separate evening menu that runs until late.
After a bit of umming-and-erring, Greedy Guts and I both decided on the Full Roaster, working on the basis that a full English is the benchmark for any morning dining. Whilst waiting for our plates to arrive, Greedy Guts had a cuppa and I thoroughly enjoyed a perfectly spiced bloody mary that could’ve been a meal in itself; really fantastic quality tomato juice with just the right amount of ‘gloop’ and packed with garnish including salty samphire. A very jolly morning pick-me-up.
The Full Roaster is definitely a good looking dish. I did eye enviously at Greedy Guts’ toasted sourdough but I have to say my gluten free toast was a lot better than most. There was everything you’d expect on the plate with the exception of baked beans which I love with a cooked breakfast; weirdly their apparent replacement was wilted kale – I know getting your greens in is important but its not really for me at 10am.
I think the most notable thing about this breakfast is the quality of the ingredients. The bacon and tomato were mind-blowingly flavoursome, tasting what they should actually taste like rather than pale imitations. The crispy potato cake was a nicely elevated twist on a hash brown, and undoubtably made on-site. The organic locally-sourced eggs were poached to perfection with firm whites and sunshine gold runny yolks, just the way I like them.
Greedy Guts’ dislike of chicken thighs apparently now also extends to eggs. For someone who eats a significant amount of chicken, she’s very picky about the anatomy of this small bird. Her poached eggs were swapped out for avocado. I get the impression they are pretty flexible on simple exchanges but you can also pay to add more eggs or bacon.
As ever, I’ve always got my eye on dietaries so there are oodles of vegetarian and vegan options plus the kitchen are very allergen aware.
In the interests of research, I’ll be back at Redroaster next week to sample their new ‘Tofaux’ vegan egg – a new collaboration with Compassion in World Farming – so stay tuned for my verdict.
Brighton is increasingly awash with brunch options, yet Redroaster remains what it has always been: a Brighton stalwart that has earned its place at the top table.
Redroaster at Brighton Dome, 29a New Road, Brighton BN1 1UG
01273 621 991 • www.redroaster.co.uk/brighton-dome/
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