I had been looking forward to a recent trip to Brighton with my family for ages, partly because I was meeting up with friends that I had not seen in a long time. In addition to that, something new and exciting had happened in Brighton since I was last there - a totally raw food cafe called Manna. It is located on the outskirts of Brighton and I am sure if it was in the centre there would be queues out of the door, yet even in that location there were obviously regular customers.

On arrival I was greeted by the friendly Andreas, a joint owner of Manna with Kyle who I met later at the Funky Raw Festival. When I told him I wanted to try everything he suggested a Manna platter which I shared with my husband and 2 children. When my 5 year old asked if it was vegan, which he always does when we are eating outside home, he assured us that it was apart from some raw goats cheese on one dish and that there was some raw honey in some recipes as well.

Our platter included a large heap of mixed salad, 2 different types of nori wrap, a Manna Burger and pizza. Convincing me to eat salad is not hard, but this one was an ecstatic mix of crunch and flavours with delicate herbs and light dressings bringing the whole together harmoniously. The Manna burger was my 5 year old’s favourite and the nori wraps an inspiration to my own food creations, particularly the one filled with a cauliflower/seed blend made to resemble sticky rice and a salad mixture enhanced by the sweetness of fresh mango. The pizza was crisp and fresh with peppers and tomatoes, presumably softened in a dehydrator and topped with some raw vegan ‘cheeze’

Dessert offerings were so sumptious I did not know where to start but my 5 year old helped me choose just four. We were given a platter with a big scoop or Booja Booja raw ice cream in the centre topped with a huge chunk of raw chocolate. Surrounding this were our 4 dessert selections. The chocolate orange cake with a firm chocolaty base and a softer orange truffle topping would convince any omnivorous chocolate lover that raw and dairy free is the way to go. I adored the goji berry cake with a nut and date crust with a chocolate truffle filling and a goji berry and cacao nib topping. My ‘not totally convinced by raw but eats it mostly’ husband appreciated the raspberry cake, a light raspberry mousse on a crisp, sweet crust. The cherry cake had a clafoutis like appearance, with another date/nut type crust filled with a chocolate custard like mousse surrounding sweet, dark, pitted cherries. Having carefully divided each portion into four to ensure each family member tasted them all, mouths were full and our table void of of conversation as we indulged ourselves.

We also had smoothies - the childrens were the dark berry variety and mine was green with spirulina. With the bill after that lot only coming to £44 I added a couple of chocolate brownies and some raw buckwheat bread to take away with us for later. Both were delicious - the brownies tasted just like the real thing and the bread was the best raw bread I have ever tasted. For fifty quid you could not do better in Brighton - at least I couldn’t - I think you should try it to make your decision yourself.