Brighton Breakfast Club's comforting Christmas creations

And after a week of Arctic temperatures that would have made Captain Scott wish he’d put on a few more pairs of thermals in his trunk, they were genuine winter treats.

The always welcoming Market Street venue is currently offering some fun seasonal creations in the run up to Crimbo.

There are two cracking mains available and two and three-courses if you book in advance.

We rocked up on a busy Saturday lunchtimes and opted for the former.

As a carnivore and veggie dining partnership we duly gave the nod to the Turkey Waffle Dinner and Christmas Camemburger.

Unashamedly gunning for a traditional Christmas vibe, the turkey dish was a cracker (not literally obviously).

Your reviewer has always liked the idea of trying some American-style fried turkey, especially after hearing the crazy cats sometimes even deep-fry the whole bird.

This wasn’t quite as bonkers as that, but nonetheless the big breast of buttermilk-brined battered turkey on a hefty waffle wasn’t a combination that found on many a Brit’s Christmas dinner plate.

More familiar were the traditional accoutrements. And by gum what marvellous accoutrements.

Lashings of lovely gravy, which conveniently pooled in the lattice of the waffle, roasted Brussel sprouts (obvs) and pecans, and some peerless piggies in blankets – big juicy ‘erby bangers and bacon and a topping of crispy maple bacon atop the hearty edifice.

Similarly, my meat-dodging lunch partner was quite taken with the festive flavours of her mighty Christmas Camemburger.

The deep-fried creamy cheese packed sourdough ciabatta screamed December 25th through a combination of pickled cabbage, parsnip and Brussel sprout crisps, with spinach and cranberry mayo.

Marvellous stuff. The only thing missing was a televised message from the nation’s regent and a death-laden episode of Eastenders.

If we had planned ahead, the extra Christmas courses included starters of Cornflake Chicken Wings, crispy cornflake coated chicken wings in a buffalo sauce with celery pico de gallo, pickles and blue cheese dip, or crispy panko-coated cauliflower wings (veg or vegan), and additional main course option of Vegan Pigs In Blankets with a sweet potato mash, pickled red cabbage, roasted sprouts and vegan gravy.

The Christmas desert options looked fairly lively too – Quality Treat, pancakes, cherry compote, chocolate and cherry marbled vanilla cream with a lucky dip Quality Street topping, Bad Santa’s Boozy Balls, deep-fried pancake balls in a warm chocolate ganache with a Baileys cream, or Vegan Pancakes & Berries.

Instead we shared a plate of moreish Chocolicious Pancake Balls, mini doughnut-style fried pancake balls, dusted in vanilla sugar served with a warm dark chocolate ganache. The only problem being our poor doughnut to choc-dip management, which almost resulted in the worst-case scenario of zero doughnut to leftover ganache.

After a Coke Zero and a nicely mixed Breakfast Mai Tai, which tasted like a refreshing glug of fruit juice rather than a double-rum and triple sec infused glass of grog, we were off into the Brighton afternoon, with at least one of us wistfully thinking about a Quality Street-topped pudding…

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