Plate and Pickle

Plate and Pickle is a brunch and lunch restaurant in Reigate, working in a modern British idiom and leaning on Surrey produce. The billing is contemporary rather than traditional: dishes are plated with care, and the kitchen's reputation rests on things like avocado toast and shakshuka rather than a roast and a pint. Coffee is single-origin, which tells you something about how the place sees itself.

The ££ band is the useful signal here. It puts Plate and Pickle above a high-street café but well short of an occasion restaurant. In practice that means you can eat here without much planning — a mid-morning stop, a lunch between other errands — and expect the bill to reflect proper ingredients and kitchen work rather than white tablecloths. For a reader weighing up where to go, it is the sort of price point that rewards a casual visit more than a saved-up one.

Who it suits: anyone who wants a substantial breakfast or lunch that is not fried. The listing flags healthy eating alongside brunch, and that combination is fairly specific in a town centre. It should work for a weekend morning with a friend, a solo lunch with something to read, or a light meeting where you want good coffee and a table you are not being rushed from. It is less obviously an evening destination — brunch and lunch are what it is known for, and there is nothing in what we know to suggest a dinner service.

Before you go, two practical points. We do not have confirmed opening hours, so check directly, particularly if you are planning an early start or a late lunch — brunch-led kitchens often stop serving earlier than people expect. We also do not have a booking policy on record. Places of this kind frequently run on walk-ins, which can mean a wait at weekends; a call ahead is sensible if you are a group or travelling in specially. The address we hold is simply Reigate, Surrey, so look it up before setting off rather than driving into town and hoping.

Menus at restaurants working with local produce tend to move with the seasons. Avocado toast and shakshuka are what the place is known for, but treat anything beyond that as worth checking on the day.

Reigate has a reasonable spread of eating places for a town of its size, and the gap Plate and Pickle fills is a clear one: daytime food that has been thought about, priced so you can go more than once. If you want a fry-up, look elsewhere. If you want a properly made brunch and a decent cup of coffee without a trip into London, this is the kind of address worth having.