\n The brunch trend is everywhere in Brighton right now, merging breakfast and lunch, which is no bad thing as I do love a good banger and eggs once my constitution has settled down, but definitely not at the crack of dawn.\n<\/p>\n
\n On a sunny day at the start of the month, I had a slow meander from deepest, darkest Hove towards Palmeira Square to meet my old mucker \u2013 The Queen \u2013 for a catch-up about all things Brighton. The Queen, founder of Connected Brighton, is not only one of the most networked individuals I\u2019ve ever met, but also one of the hardest working. It\u2019s always fun to compare notes, and have a little gossip on the side.\n<\/p>\n
\n Every time I do this walk, I make a mental note of which restaurants are open. It never fails to amaze me \u2013 despite their incessant moaning \u2013 how many independents aren\u2019t open for midweek lunch. I understand the pressures on businesses right now, but if that door isn\u2019t open \u2013 even for a limited menu \u2013 then not only will you not make money, but also it just looks off-putting to potential guests.\n<\/p>\n
\n Anyway, a door that was most definitely open was Jo & Co who recently won Best Brunch at Brighton\u2019s BRAVO awards. Founded in 2019, it took over the premises that were previously occupied by Azaro Indian restaurant on Church Road, a hop, skip and jump away from Hove Town Hall.\n<\/p>\n
\n The facade and sunny terrace are unassuming, and belie the scale of the interior space. As this was one of the first warm days of the Easter break, there wasn\u2019t a seat to be had outside, clearly demonstrating the popularity of the venue with locals.\n<\/p>\n
\n Whilst I waited for The Queen, I settled down at a table in the rear of the restaurant. A glorious dual height space with mezzanine and plenty of natural light flooding in through the ceiling belvedere and the odd camp twist to the d\u00e9cor, including swooping sparkly parrots. Espresso martini in hand, I dived into the menu and \u2013 behold \u2013 they had a complete stand-alone gluten-free menu so I was in my element with endless choice.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is very much a caf\u00e9, but there is plenty to choose from with 13 breakfast-y dishes, eight sweet brunch dishes including waffles and pancakes and then also salads, sandwiches and main courses that are available from noon until close at 3pm.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Queen arrived and joined me for a cocktail \u2013 a fruity little number \u2013 then we ordered. She went for marinated chicken flatbread with hummus, courgette, kimchi and mint yoghurt, priced at \u00a318. I thought the kimchi might have been a bit jarring as a flavour \u2013 after all, the dish did read as something you\u2019d order in Greece \u2013 but it sat very well with the hummus in particular.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cPerfectly balanced, tasty and nourishing. Like a hug in a bowl\u201d, reported The Queen. Sounds like it had it all.\n<\/p>\n
\n I couldn\u2019t pass on \u2018Jo\u2019s Full\u2019 \u2013 their signature and most popular dish at \u00a316. I\u2019m guessing the only difference with the gluten free option is the bread, and if I\u2019m honest it was really good brown bread topped with perfectly poached eggs. Accompanied by crispy hash browns, a mushroom, tomato slice and two thick slices of back bacon, it was a hearty dish.\n<\/p>\n
\n The highlight was the banger \u2013 a solidly meaty pork sausage from the Brighton Sausage Co. I must pop by their butcher\u2019s shop on Gloucester Road next time I\u2019m in North Laine, as sausages don\u2019t typically come as memorable as this.\n<\/p>\n
\n One tiny criticism was the pot of baked beans. Hats off for putting them in a ramekin \u2013 I know many people don\u2019t like the tomato juices to touch other elements on their plates \u2013 however, it looked a bit lacking to me as I couldn\u2019t actually see any beans. It was undoubtedly more sauce than bean which was strange as one of the cheapest elements of the dish. Perhaps they\u2019d had a run in the kitchen.\n<\/p>\n
\n Although I didn\u2019t finish my breakfast plate \u2013 I had another review to do that afternoon \u2013 I did thoroughly enjoy it. There is nothing too complex on the menu, but it\u2019s clearly made with love and a genuine passion for quality ingredients. The service is also supremely friendly and the buzz of guests \u2013 that included, thankfully, very well-behaved children enjoying the kids menu with dishes around \u00a36-7 \u2013 was really uplifting without the noise taking over the space. I noted that well-behaved dogs are also welcome.\n<\/p>\n
\n With happy tums, The Queen and I wandered back towards the city centre via the new Tipsy Mares wine bar before cracking on with our days. Having reviewed numerous brunches this year, I can heartily recommend Jo & Co. It\u2019s undoubtedly one of the best in the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jo & Co, 115 Church Road, Hove BN3 2AF\n<\/p>\n
\n 01273 934 400 \u2022 www.joandcorestaurants.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brunch trend is everywhere in Brighton right now, merging breakfast and lunch, which is no bad thing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[103,61,60,446],"class_list":{"0":"post-414851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}