Location: 14 East Street, Brighton, BN1 1HP
Overview: “Considering the food at Aloka is raw vegan, it delivers a cosmic, kaleidoscopic journey of flavours which is amazing considering the food doesn’t ever reach temperatures above 48°c.
“Whilst the ambiance and décor are a little clinical, Aloka is bound to excite Brighton’s vegan and veggie massive, though I’m not sure its ‘Botanical living cuisine’ ethos will resonate with the mainstream audience.”
Aloka (which means light, of the inner variety) isn’t a restaurant, it’s a ‘well being centre’ comprising of spa treatment rooms, yoga studio, crystal shop and self-service café and restaurant serving vegan botanical living cuisine.
Botanical living cuisine is a concept which is definitely catering towards a very particular niche audience. Not familiar? Well the concept behind botanical living cuisine is simple; cooking food ‘kills’ it in terms of any nutritional value, ergo raw food keeps it alive and therefore much better for you.
If a raw food, vegan restaurant is going to work anywhere in this country then Brighton’s the place, and Aloka certainly has a lot going for it.
First off, Aloka recently won the award for the "Best Eating Out - Best of the Rest" category at the 2010 Vegetarian Society Awards which speaks volumes, and when we were invited to come and experience the food we couldn’t resist.
Then there’s its technically brilliant German Head Chef, Felix Schoener, who has served apprenticeships at Michelin-stared restaurants across the world as well as embarking on extensive travel to hone his raw food skills. Felix is the real deal and I’d imagine there are few, if any chefs in Sussex, which have dedicated so much of their lives to culinary perfection. Many dishes on the menu are painstakingly prepared over days, which is the only way some of the elements can be achieved.
The first floor restaurant has mainly white décor throughout, presenting quite a clinical look and although there were some nice touches and splashes of colour here and there overall it did feel rather austere. Whether or not this was intended to go with the ‘pure’ ethos of the place I’m not sure, but personally I prefer to eat in softer, warmer surroundings.
Our waitress was friendly, well-informed about the food, efficient and unobtrusive. We were given a carafe of filtered water containing a hand-blown glass water stick with its own equilibrium bottle inside to positively charge the water which did, however, taste uncannily like, well, water really.
We ordered two large glasses of white Rioja and perused the menu. As a chef myself, the menu instantly prompted questions which ate away at my knowledge of cookery methods, making me feel really anxious and what would come out of the kitchen.
Many of the dishes seem inconceivable, considering that no real heat is used in the preparation, plus the food is vegan which cuts out a lot of tasty options. Pouring over the menu, I spent the next ten minutes questioning ‘how?’ about a dozen times ...this was going to be very interesting.
We decided to order the dishes that perplexed us the most, receiving a bowl of ‘Cheesy Chips’ (£3.90) to enjoy whilst we eagerly awaited our starters. The ‘Cheesy Chips’ were described on the menu as cashew cheese coated kale chips, created by placing single kale leaves into the chef’s favourite gadget – a dehydrater, so they were more like crisps than chips. We crunched our way through one or two each and I have to say I wasn’t really a fan of them, which only served to increase my anxiety further.
Next, our starters of Beetroot Caponata and Macadamia Hummus Tart (£6.90) and Romanesco and Pistachio Dolmas (£6.90). Both dishes delivered masses of flavour and were very cleverly constructed with my tart crust being made of blitzed almonds, instead of pastry. My dining partner’s Dolmas, rather than being stuffed with the traditional rice, were again cleverly put together with finely shredded cauliflower as the filling accompanied by a very fresh tasting dill ‘yoghurt’ sauce with a drizzle of harissa oil just to add a bit of a heat and to tickle the palate.
These starters most definitely settled us down and really impressed us with the multiple layers of flavour, we eagerly awaited our main courses of ‘Bangers and Mash’ (£13.60) and Butternut Squash ‘Lasagna’ Terrine (£12.90).
I couldn’t wait to see how the root vegetable mash would turn out considering the raw food ethos, but once again we were suitably impressed with the creations placed in front of us. My root vegetable mash was light, fluffy, creamy and deliciously sweet, the only main difference to a regular root veg mash was the temperature, obviously with the 48°c maximum rule in place here it was just tepid. My ‘bangers’ were in fact made with blitzed Portobello mushrooms, shaped into a sausage and wrapped in what appeared to be nori seaweed, again packed full of rich mushroom flavour and the caramelised onion ‘gravy’ appeared as more of a sauce drizzled around the plate.
My only criticism of the dish would be that it was overall a little dry, but certainly not lacking in flavour. The ‘Lasagna’ terrine contained no pasta, rather mandolin-sliced courgette used to wrap and hold the entire colourfully layered slice of terrine together, again cleverly executed. The layers included a spinach pate, olive and walnut tapenade and various autumnal vegetables, each one packing a different flavour punch, my dining partner describing it as “a domino effect of flavours.”
For dessert I opted for the Ginger Spiced Warm Apple Crumble (£5.60) which the waitress informed us takes thirty minutes to prepare and therefore had to give the chef notice. My companion plumped for the Triple Layer Chocolate Terrine (£5.90).
Great flavours were again delivered the desserts – the cinnamon whipped cream/ice cream accompanying my crumble was outstanding. However, despite an incredible amount of work going into preparing the crumble topping I felt that the end result was more chewy than crunchy, this was my only criticism.
Summary
Aloka delivers an incredibly niche and conceptual restaurant experience which will appeal to the vegetarian/vegan population looking for a Brighton fine dining experience. Even as an omnivore I thoroughly enjoyed Aloka, which really pushes the boundaries of conventional culinary wisdom. However, the question is would I return?
If you are a regular at Terre à Terre, I urge you to try Aloka, as this restaurant is certainly a welcome addition to the wholefood/healthfood/vegetarian market. The passion, ability and effort put in by the chef is second to none ...I just hope that Brighton is ready for it.