IN TERMS of decorum it made a chimps’ tea party seem like Glyndebourne.
But, fortunately, Bark n Brunch at the recently opened No.4 cafe in Brighton Square isn’t a test of dining etiquette.
It is a fab little venue which is offering a comfortable bite in town WITH your favourite furry friends.
Chef Carlie Selling, has 20 plus years of experience in the city’s food scene and has decided a dog-friendly cafe is long overdue.
Although dog-’friendly’ is a hefty understatement. In addition to specially-prepared doggie meals and doggie day-beds, Carlie is a genuine dog-lover (she has five of her own adopted and rescued from all over the globe) and forgives the little tinkers for all their high-spirited larks.
This was put to the test with the two ‘lively’ larrakins we bought along on the day - Louie, a ball-obsessed near two-year-old Cockapoo (the patchy black and white one with trusting but slightly dozy eyes) and Albi, a frisky and also almost two-year-old miniature poodle (the little ginger).
Brighton city centre doesn’t usually see as much fighting (poodle-punching apparently) and dry humping until a few more drinks are quaffed in West Street, but these two decided that was the way they’d initially like to roll (literally on the floor with jaws round each other’s throats).
But Carlie was an absolute treasure, happily putting up with the little yobs, who luckily calmed down as soon the food arrived...
It seems she’s forgotten more about nutrition than most people will ever know and the lucky canines enjoyed dishes cooked from scratch which are free from anything that won’t do their stomachs any favours (wine, garlic, onion, lactose-heavy cheese). The Shep-paws Pie was a lovingly-made bowl of goodness with a meaty lamb bone broth and a generous sprinkling of lactose-free cheese, and the Dog-barkfast featured fat slices of bacon, a burger, and spinach (plenty of aniti-oxidants and iron)) and the surprisingly popular blueberries (which helps to prevent dementia in dogs).
While the curly creatures ate we were able to kick back and enjoy our brunches. The full English was a good ‘un. With the aforementioned thick bacon I’d coveted on the dog’s plate, two plump farmhouse bangers and a chunky triangle of black pudding. All of which came from Steyning Butchers and were a world away from the drearier, inferior supermarket alternatives. The eggs were the colour of heatwave-hued Hove sunset and it’s always good to have the option of fried bread instead of toast. My fellow co-bark and bruncher crunched her way through a nice bright goat’s cheese salad, with a slightly less saintly strawberry milkshake.
The best of the lot was one of Carlie’s specials, a berry cheesecake French toast.
As rich as they come, not nearly as sweet as you think it’ll be, and bursting with the zingy flavour of a sauce made from Carlie’s dark fruit compote. This super-indulgent dish was on the on the breakfast menu but we decided to share it as post-brunch pud, although strictly speaking do you usually have a pudding after brunch?
Back in rowdy designer dog-world, the beasts were becalmed. They’d mostly happily shared both plates (with the exception of a brief flare up over the burger) and were mercifully in a post-brunch slumber.
They polished off all the meat and blueberries but had shown some salad-dodging tendencies with the spinach and carrots. But they are both relatively tiddly dogs and I’m sure larger breeds would scoff down the lot.
No.4 is in it’s infancy as a venue and awaiting a full drinks licence, but in the evenings bring a bottle and there’s zero corkage charge. Opening hours are currently from 9-5 Sunday to Thursday, and Friday and Saturday evenings (dogs welcome at all times. Carlie is full of ideas for the place, so fairly soon you can expect bottomless brunches, “Pawsecoo parties”, doggie pizzas, picnic baskets and dog-friendly burgers with her recently created homemade gluten-free buns).
Get yourself down there, with a pooch or without, there’s lots going on and even more in the pipeline...
Visit no4brighton.com - Review by Steve Holloway
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