Loving Hut (Brighton)

This lunchtime @cherrivalentine and I decided to visit Loving Hut - The Supreme Master's cafe in Brighton. Unfortunately she wasn't in when we arrived, but luckily her devoted followers were cooking in her absence.

Loving Hut is an international chain of vegan cafes endorsed by Ching Hai; a nice lady who believes all sorts of nonsense, like the inner detail of life on Mars:

(whizz forward to 1:50 for the uber strange shit).

In her defense, she does give all this useless made-up info away for free - she doesn't charge for it like those money grabbing scientology folk.

Whilst not suggesting that people give up food and water altogether, she does sell reasonably tasty vegan food at reasonably good prices. They've a branch in Camden that I've not tried, but am led to believe has roughly the same menu - 60% thai/chinese, 40% western.

As it was a nice day we chose to sit outside, rather than indoors to the sound of Supreme Master TV. There's about 5 tables inside and 5 out. It's by a busy junction, but was still fairly pleasant.

We ordered a veggie platter (£4.80) that has a selection of things from the starter / light bite menu:

Service was quick and friendly. The balls were pretty tasteless, but wantons very good indeed. The rest was meh. I'd order wantons on their own next time.

My main was satay with noodles:

Which was fairly tasty. The fake meat wasn't very nice; I wasn't sure if it was tofu or wheat based. The sauce was good thou and it was decent value at less than five pounds.

Still a little disturbed by last night's meal at Aloka; Cherry opted for a good old faishoned burger.

which despite coming with feet cheese (tofutti slices) seemed pretty good. It wasn't frys, which is always a good sign (if you're happy paying someone to heat something up from a packet for you you should try VBites). Cherry concluded that as far as cults go, she definitely prefers this one.

Compared to the cake available in other Brighton eating establishments, Loving Hut's selection was a bit pants:

The first was a basic sponge topped with what I expect is Soyatoo whipping cream. The latter a lemon sponge with half a bottle of yellow colouring. They were OK for the price (about £2 a slice), but could have been better.

Summary? I'd certainly go again if I was in the area and fancied something quick and easy. I suggest that if you get a chance that you try it too. It's sensibly priced for what it is - just don't expect Veggie World quality. For once the Midlands may actually be better than the South vegan food wise!