This week I have my first week off in a long time, so we thought we'd do something fun with it. We'll be spending a few days in Southampton, but first we decided to spend a night in Brighton after falling in love with it the last time.
We were hoping that it was going to be a bit warmer, but hey, snow was fine too... We searched for a long time to find a hotel with parking, which by the way doesn't really exist in the center. Then we stumbled upon Motel Schmotel which said it had it's very own parking, hurrah! They'll get their own post but I will say that the place was lovely, a few fun quirks, great location and we managed to get parked right outside which was a major bonus.
So after arriving we of course headed straight to The Lanes, stopping in a tea room on the way for a quick drink, 'That Little Tea Shop In The Lanes', it was quaint and quite tightly packed but cute with miss-matched crockery. After fueling up we kept going. I can imagine if you live in Brighton then trawling around these shops doesn't seem that special, but for us it's still a bit special and very quirky so of course we loved it. I'm a bit poor this month so I held back from buying too much, we did however find a great fabric shop where we picked up some cherry print fabric perfect for a rockabilly dress and top - will keep you updated on that one! Speaking of which I did find Dollydagger, I was a little disappointed as it was very small, you couldn't really move around and felt like you were being watched like shoplifters, I hate that.
As we were in Brighton it would have been rude to not visit Choccywoccydoodah, I love that the Easter display was still up and of course wanted to put the whole display in my house. I always think their window displays are amazing and the Easter bunny theme didn't disappoint. I was hoping that maybe the Easter eggs would be reduced so I could snap one up but alas, it was not to be. £30 for an egg is just too much for me, even if they were beautiful....which they were. I did however take lots of pictures of the cakes, who doesn't?
On the recommendation of my friend and her lovely blog we headed to JB's American Diner. You could imagine that this would be my Mecca. With Elvis blasting out the doors I instantly knew that me and my victory rolls would love it. We didn't have a full meal, especially after reading the review, but did opt for a sharing starter to keep us going and a mammoth milkshake. I won't lie, I basically went for the peanutbutter milkshake after hearing how amazing it was. And I'm glad I did. If you think all you get it what's in the glass then my friend, you are MISTAKEN. You also get a massive jug filled with all the goodness that didn't fit in to the glass, and I'm not exaggerating when I say this, but it was enough for three milkshakes....THREE! I've honestly never have a better milkshake, full of ice cream, peanutbutter, actual whole peanuts....I know....I know. With whipped cream, sprinkles and even a cherry, it couldn't have been more 50s if it was served by someone called Peggy Sue...which I actually wish it was. I will however leave you to read Tora's blog on the milkshake as I could bang on forever about it - but hers is so spot on I shall leave you in her capable hands.
Some people go away to shop, to sight-see, but as you can clearly see, we go to eat - I won't pretend otherwise.
We also had an amazing dinner at a vegetarian restaurant Terre à Terre. I can't stress this enough, if you are in Brighton.. GO TO THIS PLACE, GO NOW! This was actually in the welcome pack at Motel Schmotel, their review of it made us book straight away. Again this will also get it's on post so look out for that, I've never been to a vegetarian restaurant before and I'm extremely fussy - and I loved it, I wish I was eating there right now to be honest. We had the tapas, if you can't decide what you want then get the tapas it was such a great idea and really was amazing. We even had dessert, I rarely bother but they sounded to lush I couldn't resist.
The next day after check out we headed back into town and couldn't resist going to Peter Andre's New York Coffee Club, we tried to go last time but it hadn't opened yet. I'm not actually a coffee fan but my family loves him and they all love coffee, all I can say is that my mum really liked it, and she hates coffee in most places so they did well. We actually didn't stay too long before heading to Southampton as it started to snow and shopping no longer had the same pull so we cut our losses and headed back to the car.
I think I'll have to go back to Brighton in the summer and do all of the tacky summery bits then, maybe take Elvis, I did actually see three Figaros which was nice but made me wish I had mine with me. I also want to go on another peanutbutter milkshake and veggie restaurant feeding frenzy.
