Brighton finds: A review of Iydea and Boho Gelato

I love going to Brighton – it's full of quirky shops, nice pubs, it's by the sea, and there's a fair few vegan eateries there.

And let's not pretend, that's swings it for me – if I'm travelling for an hour on the train, I need to know there's a good feed at the end of it.

One place I've walked past a million times but never been in to for a proper meal is Iydea. There are two of them in Brighton – a takeaway type place with a few seats, and a larger one spread over two floors with plenty of tables and sunny yellow decor (that's it above!)

Not everything they sell is vegan, but most of it is, and the vegan options are imaginative and well done. Lovely!

Here's how it works: you pick your main, you pick two sides, then you get a couple of toppings, and it's all one price. When we went there a few weeks back, about half the main options were vegan, but it was the lasagne that was calling out to me. I love lasagne, but I'm far too lazy to make it often at home. Handily, Iydea was there for me with an excellent example of the species! I salute you, Iydea, for a bang up lasagne job.

Ditto coleslaw – I just can never make a good fist of it, so at home, I don't bother. Luckily for me, Iydea does. For my other side, some new potatoes, and for toppings, some salsa and (I think) hummus.

You can't keep a good sugar fiend down, so a couple of hours later, I was ready for that dessert.

Thanks to Vegan In Brighton, there was only one place I wanted to go: Boho Gelato.

Again, Boho Gelato isn't all vegan, but it makes a good fist of catering to the plant-based eater.

It's an ice cream place with a huge amount of flavours – when I popped in, six were vegan although sadly they weren't obviously marked as such, though the server was happy to talk me through them.

I chose one scoop of Violet Chocolate and one of peanut Peanut Butter Sea Salt Caramel Sorbet.

The first was like eating particularly floral and dark turkish delight, and the peanut butter was the creamy wonder you'd hope. It was some of the best ice cream I've had in my life, and I can't wait to go back and try the rest of the vegan flavours!

Iydea 
105 Western Road
Brighton
BN1 2AA
01273 965904
http://www.iydea.co.uk

Boho Gelato
6 Pool Valley
Brighton
BN1 1NJ
01273 727205
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boho-Gelato-Italian-Ice-Cream/131479596873352