Review: The Plant Room, Brighton
I work in coffee. I love coffee. Everything about it. The smell, the taste, the art of the grind. It’s the one constant in my life, and I live for it. Back home, I would frequent my local 2-3 times a day. They knew my name; they knew my order. They didn’t have loyalty cards, but every now and then, I got my coffee for free.
Back home, I was a filter coffee in the morning, I would hit the café 1 hour later and I would become a small almond flat white (Milk Lab Almond. My café sadly didn’t have oat milk).
Here? Bring me filter coffee. Exclusively. Back home, I would search high and low for All Press coffee. I didn’t have to try too hard as they took over the scene quite rapidly, but there’s a reason for that. All Press do coffee well. When I found out, there was a café in Brighton that use All Press beans, I made solid plans.
I finished work relatively early on a Wednesday afternoon so a friend and I went and had lunch at The Plant Room (TPR). Low and behold! All Press coffee. All Press FILTER coffee!
Being called “The Plant Room”, you would hope there are plants in the venue. There are. They’re bright and fresh, lush and green. It’s a happy vibe in “TPR”, with light walls and spotlights, plenty of space for people to yarn about their day, space to collaborate and sit with like-minded people on the communal table.
Let’s not forget to mention the music. We walked in and they were playing The Tesky Brothers, an ultimate favourite of mine. Located in Brighton Square, and surrounded by restaurant venues, you can’t miss the venue, and you shouldn’t.
As a gluten free vegan, it’s not difficult to come by a decent meal here in Brighton, and one of my favourite pastimes is to find and taste test all Brighton has to offer. I’m a sucker for any joint that serves me avocado on toast. And this was no exception. The downside? They didn’t have vegan gluten free bread. It was either vegan, or gluten free. I took the hit, and had the sourdough (and my body will be back to normal in no time!).
Accompanying my meal, a chickpea tofu scramble, avocado (of course), and roast mushrooms. Wow. What a meal! I have had better. Don’t get me wrong, there’s better brunch out there, but what a meal it was! The flavours were all there, it was presented well, and it was delivered with kindness from the staff (which is always a bonus!).
The downside was the bread, it was somewhat too dry for my liking. But you know what? It was still a decent meal. Three pieces of bread, and decent portions of each of the elements.
Chickpea tofu scramble on sourdough, with a side of roast mushrooms and avocado.
The hero though, was the filter coffee. That’s what we’re here for. TPR know what they’re doing when it comes to coffee, they have a knack for it, and you know they care. That’s what you need when you’re looking for a decent cup of coffee. We all need some All Press in our lives, and we all need some Minor Figures oat milk. And some filter coffee. If you haven’t yet, give it a go.
I wasn’t disappointed, so I hope you won’t be either. TPR serve brunch every day until 3pm, so you can get your brunch and coffee hit Monday-Sunday.
Filter batch brew – single origin.