Village Café Bar in Brighton is a venue of two halves. In the morning and early afternoon, the in-house team churns out hot drinks and a tempting brunch menu, while come evening The Blue Man Kitchen moves in, serving its signature North African street food in a pop-up capacity.
The building itself was a pub for over a hundred years, having originally been called the Horse & Groom. In 2014 the owners decided to sell it, with the plan being to turn it into offices. Luckily, a local group campaigned to instead make the pub into an asset of community value, and so Village Café Bar was born. It’s now a space that’s open all day and night for both the community and visitors to the area to enjoy.
Brunch is served every day from opening until 4pm and covers a range of international favourites. The North African breakfast includes two eggs, merguez lamb sausages, grilled halloumi, chillies, spicy beans, tomatoes, a Mediterranean hash, harissa compote and flatbread. It’s safe to say, portions are large. Elsewhere there’s a cheesy Welsh rarebit made with Whitstable Bay organic ale and a vintage cheddar and an eggs Benedict with dressed shellfish in hollandaise on sourdough toast.
If you stop in later in the day, you’ll find Algerian street food with signature tagines in lamb, chicken, and vegetarian variations. For something smaller, or for more of a sharing concept, opt for the kemia, which is a sort of Algerian tapas. Here you’ll find delicious bites like spiced cauliflower kofta with pomegranate molasses or homemade falafel with mint, cucumber, and tahini dressing.
Should you fancy making an evening of it, it might be worth nothing that there’s a happy hour between 6-7pm every evening where wine, beer and spirts with mixers are all offered on a cut-price basis from £3.40.