Review: Smorls, Brighton

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all well and had a great New Year’s Eve.

Mine was spent with a headache so I couldn’t really down as much alcohol as I normally would… what a terrible, terrible shame.  Although, the said headache was hangover-induced, so I’ve only got myself to blame for that one. Note to self: if you want to enjoy NYE to the max, don’t stay up until 3am the night before guzzling Sauvingon Blanc like it’s water. Lesson learned.

Anyway, because I love to be a walking cliche RE New Year’s Resolutions, I enjoy a healthy eating, detox kick and getting fit (or pretending to) in January. So, today’s blog post has come at a fantastic time for those of you who are just like me in the new year, guilt-ridden after heavily overindulging in prosecco and chocolate at Christmas time, or even anyone who’s partaking in Veganuary.

If you live in Brighton, you’ll probably have come across The Open Market before. It’s one of those spots I feel is a little overlooked sometimes, however, this is no longer an issue for me because I am now aware of the absolute gem inside it, that is Smorls.

I’d heard of Smorls before, of course, but it’s just one of those places that I kept ‘forgetting’ to try, ya know? So, when I was recently invited in to sample some of the grub, I couldn’t scoot there fast enough.

It’s an all-vegan deli bar, famous for their homemade houmous – in fact, I believe it’s become somewhat of a cult in Brighton.

I have a love/hate relationship with houmous – I’m not a huge fan of the shop-bought stuff, but luckily Smorls couldn’t be any further away from it. The menu was extensive with salad boxes, pittas, soup… even really creative dishes like Falafel Bolognese, which I thought sounded deeeeelish.

The owner Sarah made us feel so welcome and took great pride in telling us all about the history of her business and how it all began. It’s clear she’s very, very passionate in what she does: making incredible houmous and vegan eats for Brighton! She was also very pleased to tell us that all the ingredients are natural, fresh and nutritious – something I think is worth shouting about.

We left it to her to decide what food to scoff – everything looked amazing and I didn’t know where to start!

We kicked off the feast with this massive plate of all the salads they had on offer, houmous, tahini and falafels. It’s safe to say we were absolutely stuffed after this (like, unbutton your jeans and unbuckle your belt stuffed.)

We were also given some pitta chips to go with it, which were absolutely unreal and added a welcome bit of crunch to the meal. When I say crunch, I mean proper crunchy – lightly seasoned and crispy, these are the perfect addition to any salad, houmous… actually, anything dip-worthy or edible at all.

Everything tasted so fresh, healthy and delicious – it’s the perfect spot to grab a bit of lunch and not feel guilty about it, either.

One thing on the menu which really grabbed me was the Sambhar Dahl – a spicy soup with coconut chutney and a rice dumpling.

If you like a bit of a kick, this is one for you! It’s an amazing, warming winter dish and packed with all the good stuff. If you find yourself anywhere near London Road, make sure you grab a portion of this in the Open Market – you won’t regret it!

After such a delicious meal and noticing all these pots of heaven in the fridge, it wouldn’t be quite complete without a little spot of shopping, would it?

I grabbed myself some of their ‘Thunder Garlic‘ houmous – in case you didn’t realise, this means literally knock-your-socks-off garlic level. I personally love strong garlic so I thought it was amazing, however if lingering garlic breath isn’t your favourite thang then they have ‘Original’, ‘Chilli‘ and ‘Extra Garlic’ flavours too, for those of you who can’t quite hack it.

All in all, I found Smorls to be a brilliant little establishment and Brighton should be proud to home them. They love to support other small businesses too, and have an array of snacks, sweet treats and drinks to try in addition to all their amazing food.

Basically, when you find you’re in need of a proper houmous fix, this is the place you want to be headed to! What’s more, they’re really supportive of zero-waste and will give you a 10% discount if you bring back your clean pots. Fabby stuff.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post, guys – let me know if you end up heading to Smorls and sampling the delicacies! Speak soon.

Love, Dayna x

*Our meal at Smorls was very kindly complimentary in exchange for a review, however all opinions are completely my own.

Love foodie-based content? Check out some of my other posts below!

• 5 Healthy Vegan Meal Recipes
• Review: VV Wednesday at Moshimo, Brighton
• What I Eat in A Day #3