Mosey on up the London Road, past the influx of student accommodation and the pavement drinkers of Presuming Ed’s, and you’ll stumble across one of Brighton’s most exciting little restaurants: the delicious, delectable, plant-based gem that is Bonsai Plant Kitchen.
Marrying vegan creativity with mind-blowing Asian flavours, chefs Dom and Amy (who also doubles as general front-of-house legend) have taken what was originally the BangBao pop-up and turned it into one of Brighton’s best-kept culinary secrets. They opened their own dedicated floorspace during the pandemic, questionable lunacy for a hospitality brand, but their determination and instinct for a good thing has more than borne out, the sumptuous, sticky, inventive cooking of this blinding little kitchen attracting salivating Brighton foodies to its doorstep.
Having accidentally turned up on opening night, we have since enjoyed introducing vegans and non-vegans alike to Bonsai Plant Kitchen at every available opportunity, if only to satiate an entirely selfish desire to eat everything on the menu.
Cross their threshold and you’re immediately cosseted by the cosy atmosphere. Understated lighting and low-key neon signage reflect gently off shiny white tiles, while a dragon mural dancing to the far left gives you an indication of the flavours to come. Welcomed in by Amy, who always remembers us, we’re ushered by their outstanding service staff to our black wooden table, sitting with our backs to the cold, miserable, January night outside. Through a large hole in the back wall, the kitchen gleams, all manner of aromas flooding out.
The menu, as with all the best places, is small and perfectly formed. It’s split into small plates, bincho grill, bao buns, rice, and sides, with daily specials and desserts up on the board – pick up a pencil and mark off as many as you want. Dishes float out from the kitchen and land on our table, one replaced by another until our bellies are bursting against the seams of our jeans.
We try not to be a creature of habit, but every time we visit Bonsai Plant Kitchen our go-to dish is the tempura cauliflower with Korean hot sauce. Sticky on the outside, chewy and soft inside, rolled in sesame seeds and crunchy spring onion, they sit piled high on the plate like an orange cumulonimbus cloud, delivering just a hint of a kick to open proceedings. Gyoza come caramelized on the bottom, wobbly on the top, lapping up the sweet soy sauce.
Tangy, fermented, homemade kimchi wallops the mouth with spice; salty miso soup carrying glistening cubes of silken tofu kisses it better. Hanoi ‘pork’ rolls perform some sort of Derren Brown trick: what is it if it’s not pork? However they’ve done it, it’s bloody blissful, almost sausage roll consistency but topped with delightful tiny pops of apple and a creamy blob of mayo.
Scorched rice, given a once over with the blowtorch, and dirty rice, slick and light, a smattering of crispy onions, tonkatsu and a drizzle of Japanese mayo – pure filth in a bowl and thoroughly worth a face plant. The miso-glazed aubergine, unctuous, decadent, borderline obscene; the rich, thick duvet of miso glaze coats a perfectly grilled, generous slice of aubergine, so sweet it’s practically stepping on the toes of the dessert menu.
We ordered the sriracha ‘chicken’ bao bun, with coconut and pineapple slaw and smoked applewood ‘cheese’, and the 4oz grilled ‘beef’ patty bao bun, with Vietnamese slaw and tom yum mayo, but by the time these turned up, we couldn’t fit another thing in. It’s telling that devouring them the next day, they’re just as good as if we’d hammered them at the table.
There’s not really much room for improvement here, but if we had to be critical (which let’s face it, is sort of the point), the tofu and szechaun skewers could have done with a dipping sauce, and also could they please think about bringing back their legendary katsu fries, pretty please with a massive cherry on top? But those are very much minor quibbles, and the experience is so consistently good I feel almost churlish bringing them up.
In short, Bonsai Plant Kitchen is just the kind of restaurant Brightonians love to champion. Independent, rocking flavours, loyal clientele and spread via word of mouth. If you’re looking for a gem of a place to eat out in the city, Bonsai Plant Kitchen should definitely be your port of call.
Bonsai Plant Kitchen, Baker Street, Brighton, BN1 4JN
Open Tuesday – Friday 5-9pm, Saturdays 12-2pm & 5-9pm
www.bonsaiplantkitchen.co.uk
