Food you have to eat in Brighton before you die
There’s more to us than just fish and chips
From burgers to bagels, Brighton is the kind of city that caters to your every food whim in a really generous way. We’ve rounded together the best restaurants in our great city to spend all of your maintenance loan.
The cherry on top? All of these restaurants are available on Deliveroo, so you can enjoy this ridiculously good food without having to get off the sofa.
Bagelman, 7 Bond Street, Brighton Station, 16 Duke Street, and in Hove
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Most popular dish: Reuben (£4.65) – the American classic is filled with pastrami, swiss cheese, dill pickles, tomato and sweet American mustard.
Try before you die: The Lox Deluxe (£4.40) and any of the New York Tributes (£5.50-£650).
Student discount: Bagelman has a ‘Happy Days’ deal that offers a selected daily choice at a mere £2.50.
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Starting as a door-to-door delivery service to fund his uni course at Brighton Uni, Julian, the founder of Bagelman first opened a shop in 1996 at the Innovation Centre at the uni, followed by the bakery on Bond Street.
Now with four stores (the original store, as well as three more at Brighton train station, Duke Street and on Church Road in Hove), Bagelman is truly taking over Brighton, one bagel at a time.
Second year Charlotte Baker is a newfound fan, saying: “I tried Bagelman for the first time the other day and it changed my life – the Veggie Feast was the one that did it.”
Orange Buffalo, 2 Preston Road
Courtesy of Orange Buffalo
Most popular dish: The Original Buffalo wings (£8). Super crispy wings, smothered in hot sauce served with our delicious blue cheese dip – be warned, they’re highly addictive.
Try before you die: The Woof Woof wings (£8) or the Vincent Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (£8.50).
Student discount: A 15 percent off drinks card for students (just come into store and nab one), and Wings Wednesdays means 3-4-2 on those scrumptious wings. They also have a lunchtime deal Wednesday to Friday – wings, curly fries and a pint, all for a mere tenner.
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After storming the East London food truck world, Orange Buffalo decided to spread their delightfully sticky wings and fly on down to The Joker Pub.
On Orange Buffalo’s inception, Brighton bossman Tom said: “After travelling throughout the USA we stumbled across the phenomenon of buffalo wings. We instantly fell in love with the tangy pieces of heaven. We soon realised once back in the UK that nobody serves wings like they do in the States, so we set about bringing the magic here.”
Think you’ve got a pretty good spice tolerance? Well, you’d probably still end up in tears after taking on the Viper Challenge. Tom explains: “Ok, this stuff is really hot and not for the faint-hearted. A waiver has to be signed before you take on the challenge, which is: 8 Viper wings, no drinking, no mopping your face and a four-minute burn time.”
Spicy-lose-your-tastebuds-damn-that’s-hot-wings aside, if the wings at Orange Buffalo are good enough for Gary Lineker, Bradley Cooper and Tom Hardy, they are definitely good enough for us.
MEATliquor, 22-23 York Place
Courtesy of MEATliquor
Most popular dish: Their signature burger, the ‘Dead Hippie’ (£8.75).
Try before you die: The ‘Monkey Fingers’ are also a standout favourite. The dish is battered chicken strips doused in homemade buffalo sauce.
Student discount: No discount, but MEATliquor have a popular £10 midweek lunch deal. Antony Turner, the General Manager added: “We also encourage students to sign up to the MEATmailer. We never send junk or garbage, only deals and free s***.”
Meatliquor’s origin story began in London with MEATwagon in 2009. After the original wagon was vandalised and the second was then stolen, the founders decided it was time for a more permanent residence, opening up in a pub in London’s New Cross in 2011.
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Five years later, and the #MEATeasy dream has spread to ten restaurants, with six in the Big Smoke and others in Leeds, Bristol, Singapore and of course, Brighton.
Amy Seymour, a journalism first year said: “It’s like a secret, underground, neon nightclub. The food and cocktails are amazing, especially seeing as I’m a vegetarian – with ‘meat’ in the title I was rather sceptical at first. The halloumi mushroom burger has changed my life for the better.”
Of course, there is also a food challenge. Antony said: “Our Triple Chili Challenge is a big hit. You have to eat a Green Chili Cheeseburger, a Chili Dog and Chili Fries all in under ten minutes. Complete it and the whole thing’s free.”
Nuposto, 14 West Street
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Most popular dish: the Capri pizza (£10.50) with parma ham, rocket salad and parmesan shavings. The Carbonara (£10.50) is also a highlight.
Try before you die: On owner Pasquale’s recommendation, the Amalfi pizza (£10.50) with smoked mozzarella, Italian sausage and broccoli rabe.
Student discount: 10 percent off student discount and great location in the centre of town.
“I have lived in Brighton for a long time and I love it, but I could never find an authentic Neapolitan pizza around anywhere, like we have in Naples – and that’s how it all started.”
Pasquale Springardi, Owner of Nuposto, is a Naples native and passionate about food, all of which is represented in the fresh pasta and Neapolitan pizza served daily in the restaurant. With pizzas starting from £6.50 and pastas from £7.50, Nuposto is also extremely reasonable.
Pasquale said: “Our most popular dishes with students are the Pesto (£7.50) or Gorgonzola pasta (£8.50), or if they opt for the pizza they most go for the Ravello (£9.50), or obviously the Vesuvio (£10.50).”
Quality, authenticity and tasty – do you really need anything more?
Coggings & Co, 87-93 Dyke Road
Courtesy of Coggings & Co
Most popular dish: 6oz Beef Emmental Cheese Burger (£11.25) – it’s served with candied crispy bacon.
Try before you die: 6oz Beef Manchego Cheese Burger (£11.75) – hello chorizo jam and roasted garlic mayo.
Student discount: Not at the moment.
If you’re in the mood for a top quality burger, then look no further than Coggings & Co. Owner Andrew Coggings said: “I used to own two gastro pubs in Brighton and everybody seemed to love our burgers, so I knew that one day I would want to do a restaurant where we could really showcase our love of burgers – thus Coggings and Co was born.”
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Coggings & Co only sources their beef from two local Sussex farms and everything is ground fresh daily, so you know you are getting a quality burger, with prices starting from £10.95. Andrew added:“All of our burgers come with a choice of chips, but I always go for the chips cooked in beef drippings!”
When it comes to students, Andrew said: “We always have two vegetarian burgers on the menu with chips cooked in organic vegetable oil, so we are very popular with veggie students as well as meat eaters.”
They also do gluten-free burgers, so everyone can be happy – unless you’re a vegan of course.