If you’re planning a weekend in Brighton, England, having a great cafe recommendation up your sleeve to head for is essential when the need for a pitstop mid-seaside adventure kicks in.
Thankfully, there is no shortage of cafes in Brighton where you can easily spend an hour catching your breath, reading your book, checking the internet for stuff, and resting in between shopping sprees.
But because there are so many, it can be hard to work out which ones are good or not. To help make sure you have the best trip, I’m sharing details of the four most unique and unusual cafes in Brighton I recommend most for their ambience. The coffee and food sold in each one is incredible, too.
Unique and unusual cafes in Brighton
Cafe Marmalade, KempTown
On the eastern edge of Kemptown, Brighton’s most vibrant neighbourhood, closest to Brighton Marina and my secret Brighton beach club, is the city’s best-dressed cafe, IMO. Cafe Marmalade is the kind of cafe in Brighton you didn’t think would exist here, a city of giant spray-paint murals, hipsters, and students.
With such sophisticated styling, despite its out-of-town-centre location, people make an effort to travel here. This means it’s always busy, but somehow, even on the busiest and most rainy of days, you always get a seat.
When it first opened, I could never help gushing over the decor – ‘derelict-chic’ I like to call it – see above: peeling plaster, cracked tiles revealed hidden for years beneath layers of paint, torn magazine pages for decoration on the walls. Jars of marmalade and sweets on windowsills, collections of bottles on shelves… piles of newspapers, and stacks of cookbooks… just stuff around the place. All highly instagrammable.
During the Pandemic, it was redecorated and turned into a French-style restaurant, but it is now a cafe once again. Despite the new look, the feel of the place is still the same. As before, the counter is a focal point; a feast for the eyes, filled with homemade cakes, pastries, plump pies, quiches, and stacks of hearty sandwiches and heaped salads come lunchtime.
Local tip: You can also bring your own wine – we came here for brunch on our wedding anniversary and drank champagne!
Find Cafe Marmalade at 237 Eastern Road, Brighton BN2 5JJ.
Cafe and Salvage, Hove
Out of all the thrift-filled cafes in Brighton, this one is the most charming, hands down, because it’s run by a local couple with a genuine love of good coffee and salvage, not ‘cliched’ Brighton cafe decor and accolades. You’ll find it a little way out of the centre of Brighton on Western Road towards Hove, so you have to make an effort to deliberately escape from the crowds.
What’s also intriguing is that no two visits here are the same, the owners Meg and Tazz filling the cafe with their regular antique and flea market finds. So, order a nice pot of tea – there are 100s to choose from in glass jars on the counter – a coffee, a hearty breakfast of pancakes, perhaps, maybe a toasted bagel for lunch, settle in and let your eyes wander around all the curios.
It’s the perfect environment for relaxing and letting go, coming up with your next idea for life, jazz music and a little chatter from the locals at the bar filling the air.
Everything’s for sale here, from the wall art to the table and chairs. Just ask the owner behind the counter if something takes your fancy. Piano, trumpet, internal door for your house, anyone?
PS. Did I mention that Cafe and Salvage is dangerously close to another Ellie & Co Brighton treasure – Audrey’s, Brighton’s time-capsule chocolate shop, tucked at the end of a breezy Hove street? So when you’re feeling reinvigorated after your pitstop, it’s just a hop, skip and jump to nostalgic chocolate heaven.
Find Cafe and Salvage at 84 Western Road, Hove BN3 1JB.
CAFE RUST, Preston Park
You’ve had a little mooch around Preston Park, discovered the wildflower meadow and rose garden, and now you’re ready for a coffee. But where to go?
The Rotunda cafe at the edge of the park could be amazing, but it’s not. Walk five minutes, however, towards Brighton on London Road, you’ll discover this pretty cafe oozing charm.
Hiding behind the imposing big black front door is what looks like the inside of a big French country house. It’s the kind of place you didn’t expect to find on this scruffy row of shops on a main road.
It’s filled with lush details – perfectly worn wood floors, peeling plastery-painted walls, rustic chairs and tables, pretty flowers in vases, fairy lights scattered about…
The food is just as charming as the surroundings, not to mention delicious. Who knew cheese on sourdough toast with tomatoes could look so enchanting? Stop by for breakfast, brunch or lunch. Or how about your morning coffee out on the secret terrace?
Find Cafe Rust at 50 Preston Road, Brighton BN1 4QF.
Oeuf Cafe, Hove
If you love Wes Anderson’s style and have yet to visit his café bar in Milan, Oeuf in Hove should be on your hit list. This pastel-coloured haven, a breeze from the seafront along one of the neighbourhood’s grand avenues – owner Amber’s dream location – has a similar aesthetic.
Walk through the arched mint-green doorway, settle into your dark green velvet seat, against powder pink walls and beneath a frescoed ceiling, you’ll feel like an extra in one of his films.
Breakfast and brunch are the mainstay dishes. Play it safe with a full English, the Oeuf Benedict, or go wild and order a mimosa and the hot honey chicken waffles: buttermilk fried chicken thigh, homemade waffles, hot honey sriracha, kewpie mayo, topped with a fried egg. Oh, and did I mention it’s also the spiritual home of the Frumpet™, a stack of three French toast-battered crumpets?
Find Oeuf at 8 Third Avenue, Hove BN3 2PX
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed reading this post, would you consider buying me a coffee?
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