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Nowhere Man is a cafe and a pancake spot extraordinaire in Brighton’s Upper North Street, just about 10-minute walk away from the main train station. It’s a small independent space filled with quirky and eclectic furniture from cosy sofas to different styles of tables and walls filled with colourful posters and artwork.
Being in the Nowhere Man cafe truly feels like being in someone’s living room – there are board games, the music is so good (think retro tunes sang by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Ray Charles) and you feel like you’re not in a rush to go anywhere. Also – and I should have probably said this first – their pancakes are phenomenal.
We visited Nowhere Man on a Saturday morning around 11 and it was already pretty busy, but luckily we managed to grab a table that had just emptied before we walked in – win!
We grabbed our menus from the counter and pondered what to order for a while, before heading back to order. There’s no table service in Nowhere Man which is more than fine to me (I’m too impatient and hate waiting for the bill anyway!) though it wasn’t quite clear at first which is my only complaint about our experience.
When we arrived we were left standing for a quite a while without being greeted in any way, which left us a bit confused about whether or not we were supposed to seat ourselves and order from the counter or not. The staff seemed a bit on edge the whole time we were there, but in their defence, it was pretty busy so all in all it’s not too much of a minus!
A few goodies on the counter! If I’m not mistaken, these donuts are from a vegan bakery called Glazed – I’ve tried the Biscoff one and it’s amazing!
Jim ordered a flat white with oat milk which he really enjoyed – doesn’t it look beautiful in the sunlight?!
For the savoury part of our brunch we ordered a vegetarian bagel each:
I went with the Mediterranean one with halloumi, falafel, sundried tomatoes, rocket and chilli jam and it was really lovely. I loved the different flavours – especially the chilli jam (though I wished there was a bit more of it!) and the halloumi. My only criticism is that it was maybe a bit dry at times, but that might just be me – I’m always smothering everything in way too much sauce!
Jim’s bagel was filled with avocado, tomato and mozzarella (it was aptly called the ATM!) and he really enjoyed it. There was a generous amount of each filling, especially the avocado, which can sometimes be served in such sparse portions!
For the main event we ordered a stack of blueberry pancakes with a maple butter sauce (hea-ven-ly!) and they were seriously so, SO amazing! I’d even go as far as to say that they were the best pancakes I’ve ever had – seriously!
The pancakes themselves were so sweet and SO fluffy, with the sweetness perfectly complimented with the tangy blueberries. The star of the show, however, was the amazing maple butter sauce which was just so ridiculously good. I’m not sure if there is much more I can say about them without completely going into gushing mode, but seriously, seriously, if you are in Brighton, go give them a go. You won’t be disappointed!
Oh, and Nowhere Man also does vegan pancakes, which I am most definitely trying next. Who’s coming with me?!
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