Nut and Nettle review: Bridlington restaurant offering 'very good' vegan fare

I’ve written recently of the burgeoning gastronomic scene in the town, but this time I spotted (though it wasn’t easy) an A-board advertising the Nut and Nettle, a vegan café that I’d never heard of before. This is not a new eatery I’d discovered, however, as it’s been operating successfully for around six years now, but you may not have heard of it as – A-board and a Facebook page aside – the Nut and Nettle is cunningly disguised as the Queens Hotel. The family-run pub operates in the evening hours, but during the morning and early aft (for half the week) it transforms into the type of vegan paradise in which even a dedicated carnivore like me can find gastronomic solace.

Sisters Kate and Beth Christlow began the venture when Beth left her various chefing jobs in Europe to return to the family home when the first lockdown loomed. Then she and Kate started offering Covid-safe delicacies through the pub window to keep trade (and probably sanity) flowing until the all-clear was sounded. Efforts subsequently focused on running the Nut and Nettle on a larger scale, with Beth in charge of the kitchen and Kate handling the rest. And – along with a seemingly all-female staff – they do a thoroughly marvellous job of it. Some of the ingredients are foraged by Beth from the local vicinity, and as many of the others as possible arrive from the rest of Yorkshire. Some are even donated by grateful allotment-dwelling regulars. These are then turned into a short menu of ingenious, delicious and varied dishes, suitable for any degree of esurience.

As we were at the seaside, I visited the Nut and Nettle with my kids in tow. Not an experience I relish repeating, as I only have limited responses to questions like ‘But why can’t I just have a proper sausage?’ when they’re presented with a puff pastry and fennel seed ‘sausage’ roll. Generally, though, even my meat-centric offspring adapted well to a plant-based dining experience, which speaks to the level of Beth’s chefing skill.

While my daughter tucked merrily into a breakfast of house-spiced fruit and nut granola (featuring coconut yoghurt, almond butter and seasonal fruit), I went full tree-hugger with the smoked tofu poke bowl. I’ve had a chicken version of this Hawaiian delight before, but the tofu made for a decent substitute alongside an attractive mess of brown rice, cucumber, carrot, pickled cabbage, edamame, spring onion, seaweed and whatever else was green in the kitchen that tastes nice and will stay still long enough to be cut or diced into little bits. It made for an exciting and filling bowlful. But not so filling that I couldn’t find room for the rest of the ‘sausage’ roll that my lad had abandoned halfway through. Daughter wouldn’t let me near her breakfast. But the low rumble of approval emanating from her throughout suggested she approved.

On the specials board there was a spicy Italian ‘sausage’ and butter bean ragu, which I sampled on a subsequent visit. It was superb. Surprisingly deep in flavour, topped with hazelnut ‘parmesan’ and served with herby flatbread, it made a hearty meal and was proof positive that animals need not be sacrificed for great food to prosper.

Accompanying this, I had an 8-carrot gold fruit juice. Carrot, apple, turmeric, lemon, black pepper and ginger all zhuzhed-up to taste healthier than an Olympic decathlete.

Kate and Beth are particularly proud of their desserts, which generally come in cake and cookie form and have an entire countertop themselves. I didn’t ask what they use in place of eggs and dairy, as I was too busy shoving as many samples face-ward as possible before my kids filched them. You are recommended the fig leaf, ‘yoghurt’, and rose sponge cake; with leaves from Beth’s own fig tree and topped with pistachio and raspberries and whipped ‘mascarpone’, it’s an example of a petal-laden dish that actually tastes of the flower rather than just acting as decoration. Also very good and marvellously claggy is the peanut butter and dark chocolate brownie with whipped ganache. It shut both kids up for almost ten minutes, which is worth the price alone.

The Christlow sisters also hold regular supper clubs of an evening, where the breakfast options are cast aside in favour of grown-up evening dishes. They look like fine affairs, and I’ve made note to return without my kids at some point to sample the food with proper adult company.

Kate and Beth appear to be rattling along just fine. They’ve counted them all and claim there are only ten vegans currently living in Brid, so they have to rely on incomers to create sufficient trade. But these seem to appear. From Scarborough and Hull and even West Yorkshire, hungry vegans climb from their wind-powered penny-farthings to traipse on hand-sewn hemp sandals into the Nut and Nettle and seek sustenance enough to carry them home again.

Don’t let my clichéd and facetious nonsense put you off, though – you should join them. It doesn’t matter if the food is veggie, vegan or animal-based as long as it’s good, and the food hiding quietly in the old Queens Hotel is very good indeed.

We spent just over £40 on our vegan breakfast, with the dearest dish being my poke bowl at £13 and the cheapest – the ‘sausage’ roll – coming in at £4.75. Portions are generous, so a little clearly goes a long way at the N&N.

Ratings:

Welcome – 5/5

Food – 5/5

Atmosphere – 4/5

Prices – 5/5

The Nut and Nettle, Inside the Queens Hotel, 75 High Street, Bridlington, YO16 4PN