Hello and welcome to Dough Lover Diner.
What are we?
We are a cafe/restaurant, bakery and bar.
What do we offer?
We are passionate about coffee, breakfast, brunch, lunch,
great wine, cakes, bread, afternoon tea
and elegant cocktails.
Why are we different from every other cafe/restaurant?
There are several reasons,
We make our own organic nut milk on our milk making
machine. We do this because we feel that almond milk and coffee are a bad marriage bringing out the worst flavours in both. We use organic cashews and tiger nuts to create a smooth harmonious blend that works well with all our coffee
and all of our hot drinks. Our Lewis has called the machine Gertrude.
Our food is simple. We believe that there's no shame in bringing out the best in well sourced fresh
ingredients. Lots of our ingredients are organic. Everything is gluten free even our sourdough
bread which is has a minimum of 24 hours fermenting time before its baked. Our food costs us
more to produce as some of our ingredients are several times more expensive than their
conventional counterparts. We believe its worth it.
We only fry use coconut oil and butter for frying and cold pressed extra virgin olive oil for
dressing. We never use margarine or fake, junk fats.
Lots of our dishes just happen to be dairy free/vegan.
We use a fraction of the sugar to make all our cakes, biscuits and cookies. Some of our cakes
have no sugar added at all. One of our cakes is sweetened using sweet potatoes and uses
Valrhona chocolate.
We have at least three dairy free/vegan sweet treats seven days a week. Sometimes its a hot
cake. These are all approved by Mitch, our beautiful resident vegan.
We make our own soda.
We are the proud owners of a centrifuge machine. We use this machine to make our sodas and
soft drinks. It uses centrifugal force to separate clear, glowing juice from delicious pulp.
Our sodas
have around a tenth of the sugar of conventional sodas and are made using our house soda
water.
All our water is filtered through a highly specialized filtration system.
Our tea is unique.
Our tea is supplied by Postcard Teas. They are the first tea company in the world to sell tea
exclusively from small farms. The farms, which measure no more than 15 acres across produce
special teas of the highest quality. We are a part of a very exclusive group of businesses fortunate enough to have this product and the only ones in Brighton to serve it.
Our tea service.
We use glass chemex jugs to make our tea.
After lots and lots of searching we decided that Chemex was the best option.
Why?
Because traditional teapots have what we refer to as ‘flavour memory’. This means that they have
a residual amount of the flavor left over from the previously brewed teas in them. Yes, of course
they can be washed, but a certain amount is remains trapped in the spout of the teapot. This
creates a tainted taste, especially for the finer green teas distorting their flavour. Chemex is made
from high grade glass which has no hidden hidden places for scale or dirt, making the tea taste
perfect and clean every time. Tasting is believing!
We have a temperature controlled tap exclusively for tea.
Tea like all things is temperature sensitive. Green teas like Sencha are easily burnt and should
never see boiling water. We have a special tap using filtered water heated to three pre
programmed temperatures. Each tea is made to its correct temperature and has a recipe per
gram and a brew time. The difference is immense as the tea is presented in the exact way the
producer intends.
Now the coffee. Oh dear! Where to begin?
Some people think that it not possible to have amazing coffee, tea and food under one roof. We
set out to disprove this.
We have a ‘White Eagle’ coffee machine. Some are bewildered by the fact that it is clad by an
incredible piece of art made by Jon Hammond.
Well, apart from it being stunning beautiful, we believe its not about the machine its about the
coffee in the cup. We don't have our cooking equipment on display either. We're more concerned
with the food on the plate. Some think its crazy. Maybe it is.
We use Taylor Street Baristas for our house blend. They carefully source from around 30 origins
from some of the best estates and co-operatives around the world. We also have some beautiful
guest coffees. Please take a peek.
We have incredibly dedicated team of coffee obsessives.
They worked earnestly and tireless in our coffee lab months before we opened. We tasted
milks and coffees. Experimented with recipes. Did cupping sessions. Studied flavour profiles
and chose the very best decaffinated coffee which we vacuum pack into individual portions
to preserve its freshness. All this with some help from the amazing Ben Szobody.
We firmly believe that we have the best coffee in Brighton. Our entire team are upset by the
fact that coffee and tea everywhere else, (including our own homes) now pales into
insignificance.
Now, the secret of what really makes us unique.
Our team.
This group of incredible individuals are dedicated to hospitality and it starts before any customers enter the shop. The DLF (Dough Lover Family) are kind, professional, funny, silly and believe in caring for each other which then becomes a natural care for our guests regardless of who they are.
Last and (we think) least,
A lot of fuss has been made about our no laptops/tablets policy. It's nothing personal.
It's not a publicity stunt either. (we still cannot believe that anyone cares so much!)
We simply prefer to put our focus firmly on our carefully crafted food and drinks.
We passionately believe that they are better enjoyed in a social setting. Between us
all the DLF have more than 100 years worth of experience in the hospitality industry.
We prefer to use it looking after those who are here to engage with and hopefully
enjoy what we offer in what we think are beautiful surroundings. Many of our
100+ coffee shop neighbours welcome workers and look after them beautifully.
We are just one little business who would like to do things a little differently.
