The Age of Asparagus

Few people expect to enjoy the culinary peak experience of a lifetime in a vegetarian restaurant, but the light and lovely Terre à Terre in Brighton, England, takes the bean cake. Over three-quarters of the restaurant's clientele are simply flirting with a meat-free lifestyle, drawn by exquisite dishes dreamed up by chefs Amanda Powley and Philip Taylor. Both are practicing vegetarians, but neither wastes a heartbeat worrying about the ingredients they can't use — instead, they focus on producing a rich and varied spread using the huge variety of meat-free foodstuffs.

Located in the southern end of Brighton's...