10-19 The Royal Pavilion and a meal fit for royalty

The forecast today was for 90-100% chance of rain, so it seemed like a good day for an indoor activity. What better choice than the Brighton Pavilion? We had visited there four years ago when we visited Brighton for the day while staying in Tumbridge Wells and remembered it as being fantastic, in every sense of the word. It was and is. The Pavilion was built by King George IV when he was the Prince of Wales. When he first went to Brighton for health reasons, he rented a small place overlooking the sea, but he was royalty and a lover of fashion and frivolity, so he had the rented digs (now his) transformed into a modest pavilion with Chinese decoration and furniture. He later hired a prominent architect, John Nash, to enlarge and transform it into the ultimate pleasure palace. Nash did not disappoint; the place is almost unbelievably opulent. When we were here the first time, no photos were allowed. We were delighted to find the policy has changed. If you visit the pavilion, be sure to rent the audio guide. It provides so much information into the use of rooms, the history of the furnishings and accessories and the lifestyle of George IV. BTW, the photos don't do the Pavilion justice. you really must visit.

Amazingly, this is not a painting, but a mosaic:

When our tour was over we toured the fabulous gift shop, showing restraint, then stopped at the café for a coffee. We wandered the Lane a bit then headed to a restaurant I’ve been wanting to visit since I read about it in 2019. The day we were here, it was Bruce’s turn to choose the restaurant so we went to a seaside place for fish and chips. I wasn’t going to let another visit to Brighton pass without a visit to Terre a Terre, one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the world. We started with cocktails, of course, an orange and hibiscus

cosmopolitan for me, an Elderflower Collins for Bruce, with an order of lotus crisps which were addictive.

I could easily have forced down another 3 or 4 servings. We had considered doing the tapas plate which featured 7 or 8 little dishes, but decided to order three appetisers first, then see if we wanted a main or two. I don’t know if we missed anything by going that route, but what we ordered was wonderful.. There was a burrata dish called “You Pepper Believe It.”

With a name like that one would expect the emphasis would be on the pepper. It was not. It was lovely and mild, but a bit underwhelming. Happily, that was not the case with the other dishes we ordered. The first was Karekatsu Smoked Tofu:

Inari pockets crammed with mushroom, fresh ginger, ume plum and tamari hash; topped with black sesame sushi rice, pickled ginger, finished with crispy onion and Nori spring onion shichimi Togarash crumble. Served with a soused shitake mushroom and tahini, yuzu miso mange tout slaw This was heaven on a plate.

If anyone thinks that vegetarian food is boring, I challenge them to come away with that opinion after eating here.

We wandered down to the seafront and I was determined to find that ice cream stand from the other day. We walked and walked, seeing lots of seaside stands that were closed up tight. I feared I would be disappointed but hurrah!, we found it. "The World Famous Pump Room."

Bruce had a scoop of Devon Clotted Cream ice cream. I revisited that amazing honey and ginger ice cream. The temperatures had risen and though the wind was still whipping, the seafront was wonderful.

We caught the bus home and spent a quiet evening snacking on that fabulous cheese from the Lewes cheese shop and watching the telly.