Brighton's Best Vegetarian Restaurants
Where to eat meat-free in Brighton, from fine dining pioneers to plant-based street food
Brighton has been flying the flag for vegetarian dining since long before it was fashionable. With more meat-free restaurants per capita than almost anywhere in the UK, this city takes plant-based food seriously. Whether you are after a white-tablecloth tasting menu or a quick vegan doner on the go, you will find it here. These are the spots we keep coming back to.
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Terre a Terre
The restaurant that put Brighton's vegetarian scene on the map. Terre a Terre has been serving inventive, globally-inspired dishes on East Street since 1993, and the quality has never dipped. AA Gill once called it "most probably the best vegetarian restaurant in Britain," and we would not argue. Expect bold flavours, clever techniques, and plates that make even the most committed carnivore forget about meat entirely. Book ahead, especially at weekends.
Food for Friends
Another Brighton institution, tucked away on Prince Albert Street in the heart of the Lanes. Food for Friends has been championing local and seasonal produce for years, with a menu that changes regularly to reflect what is freshest. The small plates format is ideal for sampling several dishes in one sitting. Think smokey charred cabbage topped with house-made cashew cheese, and sweet summer peas sauteed in confit garlic. A reliable favourite that never disappoints.
Purezza Brighton
If you think vegan pizza sounds like a compromise, Purezza will change your mind. This Kemptown favourite on St James's Street is one of the highest-rated restaurants in the city. The sourdough bases are perfectly crisp, the house-made vegan mozzarella is genuinely impressive, and the dessert menu is worth saving room for. We have taken plenty of meat-eating friends here and every single one has been converted.
Happy Maki
Vegan sushi might sound like it is missing the point, but Happy Maki on Gardner Street in the North Laine proves otherwise. Born from the owner's passion for ocean conservation, every roll here is completely fish-free, gluten-free, and mostly raw. The creativity in the fillings is remarkable, and the presentation is beautiful. This little spot has built a seriously loyal following. If you have never tried plant-based sushi, start here.
Pink Moon
Part coffee shop, part bar, part record store, part dim sum kitchen. Pink Moon on Ship Street in the Lanes is one of those places that defies easy categorisation, and that is exactly why we love it. By day it is a laid-back spot for speciality coffee and vegan bakery treats; by evening it transforms into a bar with craft beers and an impeccable sound system. The homemade dim sum is the real star, though. Order the duck bao and the spicy roots, and do not leave without browsing the secondhand vinyl. Brighton at its most creative.
Oowee Vegan
Sometimes you just want a serious burger and a pile of loaded fries without any of the guilt. Oowee Vegan on Market Street delivers exactly that, with a fully plant-based menu that nails the junk-food-done-right formula. The burgers are thick, juicy, and seriously satisfying. The crispy chick'n is another winner, and the build-your-meal option lets you customise your order to your heart's content. It is quick, it is loud, and it is a lot of fun. Perfect for when you are craving comfort food with a clear conscience.
The Roundhill Pub
A genuine Brighton local that happens to be entirely vegan. The Roundhill on Ditchling Road has built a devoted following for its plant-based take on traditional pub grub, and the Sunday roast is the main event. We are talking crispy roast potatoes, seasonal veg, Yorkshire puddings, and all the trimmings, with not a scrap of meat in sight. The atmosphere is warm and community-minded, the kind of pub where everyone seems to know each other. If you want to see how Brighton does a vegan Sunday lunch, this is the place.
Planet India
Planet India has been flying the flag for Gujarati home cooking just off London Road for years, and the regulars who fill the place every night will tell you why. The menu reads like a warm tour of the sub-continent, with chickpea dahls, thali plates and bhel poori chaats that don't treat vegetarianism as a compromise but as the point. Service is warm and unfussy, prices are gentle, and portions are the sort that make you glad you walked there. Book ahead on weekends; the dining room is small and word has well and truly got around. One of our go-to recommendations for anyone who wants a serious Indian dinner without a meat dish in sight.
The Prince George
Brighton's original vegetarian pub has been doing the unthinkable for decades: serving classic pub food in a traditional old-school boozer, with not a sausage roll or scotch egg on the menu. You'll find it down Trafalgar Street in the North Laine, packed most evenings with a mix of students, locals and the veggie-curious tucking into pies, burgers, nachos and roasts (more than half of which come vegan by default). The Sunday roast is the main event, drawing loyal crowds who book weeks ahead for piles of nut roast, yorkshires and cauliflower cheese. Expect a beer garden, well-kept cask ales and the sort of comfortable hum you get in a pub that's stayed true to what it does. If someone tells you a vegetarian pub can't feel like a real one, send them here.
Bonsai Plant Kitchen
Bonsai has won Brighton's Best Vegan at the BRAVO awards three years running, and one evening on Baker Street explains why. Pan-Asian small plates come off the binchotan grill with serious technique and real flavour, designed to share across the table with a date or a group of friends. The cocktail list is just as ambitious; order a Choco Raspberry Espresso Martini, a Kaffir Rum Punch or an Apple Cider Margarita and you'll see why the bar team keep cleaning up in the BRAVO drinks categories too. It sits a few minutes from London Road station, lively in the evenings without being loud, and welcoming to plant-based and non-plant-based diners alike. We send anyone curious about modern vegan cooking here first.
Tofu Vegan
Tofu Vegan brought its acclaimed London-born take on vegan Chinese to The Lanes in 2025, and Brighton's plant-based scene is the richer for it. The kitchen is run by chefs from Sichuan, Cantonese and Dongbei traditions, which means regional cooking you rarely see outside London: wontons in the house special sauce, twice-cooked "fish", gong bao oyster mushrooms and a mapo tofu with a confident numbing kick. The room on Meeting House Lane is small and warm, service is genuinely helpful with recommendations, and the bill lands lower than you would expect for the craft. Order more than you think you need and share across the table. One of the most exciting vegan openings the city has had in years.
Iydea Vegetarian Canteen
Iydea is the North Laine's long-running counter-service lunch spot, where you pick a hot main and then load your plate with whatever you want from the cold salad counter beside it. Mains rotate daily and lean into the kind of cooking that actually fills you up: squash and chickpea curries, aubergine moussaka, homity pie, puy lentil stews, glossy dahls. The deal is simple: a main plus unlimited salads, two dips and a sprinkle of seeds for under a tenner, ready in seconds. It's consistently rammed at lunchtime with students, office workers and anyone who's sick of sad sandwiches, so grab a tray and join the queue. For a genuine lunch that doesn't hurt the wallet, this is the Brighton veggie institution.
Beelzebab
Beelzebab has been turning out vegan doner kebabs from the kitchen at The Hope & Ruin for over a decade, and they took home Best Vegan Kebab at the British Kebab Awards in 2023 to settle any remaining arguments. The seitan "meat" comes carved hot off the spit, wrapped in a warm pitta with salad, homemade tzatziki and a smoky chilli sauce that holds its own against any 3am kebab you can remember. Round it out with loaded fries, a Krautwerk hot dog or a portion of chilli cheese, and pair it with whatever the Hope's taps are pouring that evening. It's a short walk from Brighton Station, so it makes for the first or last stop of a gig night.
The No Catch Co
The No Catch Co is the UK's first 100% vegan fish and chip shop, sitting on the Kings Road seafront with the pier in view. The menu is laid out like a classic British chippy but swaps the fish for the team's award-winning "tofish", a battered tofu fillet that regularly converts sceptics on the first bite. You can order it as a plate with chips, tucked into a buttered bap as a tofish burger, or go off-piste with the smoked "haddock" or tempura "prawns". Queues form along the pavement in summer, which tells you everything, and there's almost always a mix of vegans, curious tourists and locals grabbing a post-swim dinner. Proof that a chippy by the sea doesn't need to come from the sea.
