Cafe Motu

Under relatively new ownership. I don’t think as good as previous tenants but it’s still a great little place.
Was mainly for used for breakfast, but now open all day for lunch and dinner. Breakfasts are well presented and use local sourced meat. Not the biggest breakfast for the price range but great quality.
Other non fry up breakfasts are good too. Not tried lunch or dinner at present

Well the food is nice. I had a club sandwich (£4.50) and can surely say that everything was fresh and crisp. Had to squash it a little so it would fit in my mouth, which is always a good sign. Very tasty. Didn’t try the coffee so can’t attest to that. Took a little while for the food to arrive after ordering but it was pretty busy for such a small place so can’t knock it for that.
Perfect if you’re having a lazy day and want something to fill you up. Not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive either. Décor is nice and simple, white wood and large 60’s & 70’s band photos. The music is easy going too. Overall a recommended bite to eat.

Café Motu is, in many ways, a typical greasy spoon, serving cooked breakfasts, sandwiches and coffee for under a fiver. However, combine that with a little North-​Laine Brighton charm, and you end up with Motu’s charming, friendly aesthetic, mixed in with tasty fry-​ups. Not my fry-​up joint of choice (a little out of the way for me), but a nice place nonetheless: well worth a meal, if you happen to be passing.
Where most greasy spoons suffer a bit aesthetically, Café Motu has the balance right between breakfast and wooden tables, blackboards and smiling service. The air isn’t laden with grease, the food isn’t dripping with oil, and vegetarian options are available: a must-​have in most Brighton establishments these days. All in all, what’s on offer is a set-​up from the typical greasy-​spoon, and that’s only a good thing.
My only issue with Motu is that it’s often closed, and right across the road from one of Brighton’s best breakfast joints. I suppose I’m not often up and about first thing in the morning, but Motu rarely if ever seems to be open when I’m walking past. The times I’ve been, it’s been relatively early in the morning, which is clearly the best time for a place like this: it just isn’t quite what I need from a greasy spoon (there’s nothing like a fry-​up at 3 in the afternoon). Add on top of that that Motu is next door to Nia, one of my favourite breakfast/​brunch places, and you can see why I rarely go.
Still, when I have gone, I’ve enjoyed Motu… it just isn’t special enough or good enough to draw me from too far away. If I was walking past, I might consider it… as it is, I’d probably go to Nia over Motu, but that’s just me.

Café Motu is a no frill establishment that is everything you would expect of a café. Hearty breakfasts and generous sandwiches
The staff are a big feature of the café and are very friendly and happy to make changes to any of the meals on the menu, should you have an aversion to eggs or beans etc.
I have gone for their veggie breakfasts a number of times when I have been catching a train to Haywards Heath. The portions are generous and the food doesn’t come with that grease layer that some café’s are guilty of. Basically, it’s always been worth getting up that little bit earlier to catch a bite before my train leaves.
I haven’t bought the sandwiches, but they look pretty tasty and generously filled. You can pick up a plate of food and drink for a fiver and the meal will keep you going until lunchtime. There are more aesthetic eateries in the area, but at Motu all the effort is on the plate, which is no bad thing. Recommended.

This is a sweet little café on Trafalgar Street, serving amazing breakfasts, among other things.
It’s full of chunky wood and the menus are on blackboards, giving it a nice old-​school feel without being too much of a tacky greasy spoon, so it attracts both the traditional caff crowd and the more boho types.
As well as breakfasts, there’s a good range of reasonably priced sandwiches available, and everything is well cooked by friendly staff.
I personally prefer this place to Nia Café over the road for breakfast — it’s not as swish but for value it can’t be beaten.