Brunch & breakfastKensington Gardens
Kenny’s Rock and Soul Cafe
Legendary fry-ups, no Instagram nonsense, proper old Brighton
8.9/10
Local score
No. 11 of 141 cafés on r/brighton, from 26 locals across 29 threads.
97% would send a mate. Still recommended in 2026.
Consistently rated Brighton's best full English, praised for massive portions for around a tenner, veggie and vegan options, and a quirky 'old school Brighton' atmosphere without the Instagram gloss. Caveats: seating is limited (hard to get in with more than two people), and one reviewer found it 'gimmicky' and not worth the hype despite the food being fine.
- Go for
- A big cheap fry-up with old-school Brighton character
- Heads up
- Seating is tight - hard to get a table for groups
What locals say
Kenny’s Rock and Soul cafe - £2 and a cool place to hang out. If you wanna go really cheap I think it’s £1 in Gerogies Cafe in Hove but not a cool place but sort of interesting in an “Eastenders” kind of way and it’s £3 for a BLT/£6 for a fry up so can’t…
For breakfast it’s 100% Kenny’s Rock and Soul cafe on Kensington gardens. No gentrified instagram guff, just a massive high quality fryup for around a tenner. Cafe is really nice too, feels like quirky old school Brighton still.
Kenny’s Rock & Soul Café down Kensington Gardens (FKA Balcony Café). Veggie + Vegan options available and fuckin’ mahoosive portions.
Not *the worst* but I was really disappointed by Kenny’s Rock & Soul cafe, it was perfectly acceptable food for a perfectly reasonable price but overall I felt like I was in a gimmicky cafe that wasn’t worth the hype. Lemongrass is also quite shrug-worthy in my opinion. I wouldn’t say Brighton actually has any *bad* restaurants, I think as the cost-of-living…
Ranked from 21,200 r/brighton comments. Summaries are written by AI from what locals said; quotes are word for word. Not affiliated with Reddit. Back to the guide