Soup-urb, Brighton

Soup-urb - it's a terrible pun, which loses the place points; it is also a really good cafe, which wins them back more or less instantly. Unsurprisingly, it specializes in soup, and the soup is good.Soup-urb Brighton (there are two branches) used to be Nia, an equally good artsy/hip all-day breakfast type joint with genuinely special hash browns. I don't know if it's the same people cooking, but the standard is still high.We went there on Sunday, and the chowder knocked my socks off.Ambience wise, it treads the edge of self-consciously cool. The bare concrete floor and eclectic furniture would tip over into absurd were there a few rusty period lamps about the place, or an even passingly austere feel. I can't complain - the previous incarnation, Nia, had the same decor, with slightly more muted colours. It's actually rather warm, and the staff were lovely.I opted for smoked haddock, bacon, and spinach chowder. Kit had a slow-roast pork sandwich with apple sauce. It was probably bigger than he is, and the pork, bread, and sauce were quality produce. Apple sauce is always going to be too sweet for my personal tastes, so there's no criticism there, and the pork was neither overly greasy nor dry.The chowder was bloody splendid. Creamy, well-balanced, and with the bacon staying in the background to enhance rather than dominate. To venture a small criticism, it could easily have handled more spinach, and I'd have liked that. It was also a generous portion for basically no money. Decent coffee, too.So yes, go and eat at Soup-urb - it's not overselling itself with the pun.