Offbeet Southsea — Restaurant in Portsmouth

This place is a true gem in Portsmouth. At the moment the only fully vegan restaurant in town. The particularity about it is that it offers freshly made seasonal food with a menu that changes. The food is absolutely delicious. I had the aubergine with beans on a toast dish (not sure this was the exact name as per the menu) to eat in and had macaroons and kale chips for takeaway. I loved everything, the food is very tasty and feels really healthy. The place looks cute and is very tastefully decorated. It has several levels and lots of space to choose from, whether inside at ground level, or at the terrace. I really liked the terrace space, it is great for sunny, hot weather. It was my first time in this place, so I wasn't aware of how the service works and perhaps that is my only minor issue about the experience. So the place was very busy, I queued as there was no one to consult with at that point, and when it was almost my turn I spotted the server and asked whether I should take a sit or order first. So, I discovered that the way it works is you first need to pick your table as you need to know your table number when you order, which you do yourself at the cashier/front of house. So then I left my spot in the queue to go upstairs, picked a table and then came back down to order. Only there was another, longer queue. I asked if I could order and was told I needed to queue, again. Thankfully, the other customers were understanding, otherwise I would have had to wait again, so a whole ordeal around ordering food. So that's the only thing that sort of surprised me, but it's just minor and now I know how it works for next time; and hopefully this will help orient others who would be visiting for the first time like me. Other than that, it's a fantastic place and I cannot wait to come back and try...

Disappointing. As a long-time fan of Offbeet, from visiting it's Wickham restaurant, recommending it often, and attending its cooking classes, I was very excited to have it come to Southsea, just around the corner to where I live, I even recommended the Southsea restaurant before it opened.

When I finally managed to find the time to go for lunch I was sadly very disappointed, there was absolutely nothing I could eat given my food intolerances (I can't eat onion and garlic, as well as wheat which obviously isn't an issue) and dislike for imitation meat and fish.

The Offbeet Southsea menu seems to be focussed on trying to recreate meat/fish dishes in a vegan way, the use of liquid smoke abundant. As a life-long vegetarian I have zero desire to eat fake meat, and have zero taste for smoke. Of the two things that didn't feature fake meat the chef was unable to amend to contain no onion or garlic.

Not wanting to disappoint friends who had come especially to go to Offbeat, and needing to feed my baby, we stayed, I ordered cake - again disappointing!

So if you are an ex-meat eater and craving a vegan version, this is probably your place, though perhaps not if you have any food intolerances other than wheat. If you are like me and like to eat vegetables as their beautiful recognisable selves then you might want to...

Tremendous. Tip top Magoo. This place puts the "based" into "plant based".

Beautiful environs on Albert Rd street corner, with many huge windows across multiple floors so the sunlight pours in like honey (but it's a vegan version of honey, so I dunno, agave syrup?)

The Mushroom French toast is heaven, I didn't think I could like mushrooms in any situation, let alone on a dessert dish. How wrong and stupid I was.

Fantastic food all round. Great coffee too, espresso had lovely fruity notes. So much care and thought has gone into every little detail in this place, from the ingredients in each dish, to the tiny décor flourishes, the delicate eucalyptus leaves in the tabletop bottles, all the way to the book selection in the reading room upstairs.

I haven't even mentioned the garden and rooftop areas which need to be seen to be believed: small perfect zen garden pools in the chaos of the city. Offbeet Southsea is going to be the next big thing on the entire South coast. You heard it here first. You're gonna go far kid. Everything is in order. A real panty-dropper of an...