Restaurant review: Cafe’s comforts of home-made food
Ollie's Restaurant Review
FOR a quick, home-made and well priced lunch or early Saturday supper, Ollie’s cafe in Wellingborough is spot on.
Its convenient setting – connected to the town’s historic Hind Hotel on Sheep Street, made it an easy place to stop mid-shop, but the food was a real treat.
The menu is simple and straightforward and included a real range of favourites, which according to the waitress, changes through the year. In the winter there is a selection of sausages served with potatoes and in the summer months a range of lighter lunches.
I went there with my parents, who are fussy at the best of times, but the staff were very easy going: it was no trouble to bring an extra vat of hot water for mum’s tea and extra sachets of condiments for the food.
We chose a home-made lasagne, which came with a mixed salad, the pie of the day (chicken and mushroom) and a jacket potato which came with home-made coleslaw.
Mum really enjoyed the lasagne – it was a generous portion, well cooked and served with home cut chips and a little salad.
Dad’s chicken and mushroom pie was apparently delicious – there wasn’t a scrap left at the end. The meat was well cooked and sauce not too creamy.
It was served in a side pot with a crisp pastry topping with a decent sized side of mashed potato.
His only criticism was that it wasn’t served with peas – but I’m sure had we realised that before ordering they could have been added.
My jacket potato was tasty, filled with cheddar and served with a fist-sized portion of home-made coleslaw and salad. Being a vegetarian I am used to big potatoes with next to no filling, so this was a treat. The coleslaw was fresh, with chunks of carrot and celery and the cheese was nice and strong.
This was good quality pub type food in a friendly atmosphere with cafe prices.
With two pots of tea and a Coke our bill came to £16.25 – a very good deal and just what we wanted.
And though we were on a main road it was quiet inside – the tables laid out with enough space so that you can have your own conversation without feeling involved in everyone else’s.
The toilets are situated through an inside door and in the main hotel part of the building so visitors get to see the low beams and impressive structure of the Hind.
The cafe Ollie’s is named after Oliver Cromwell who allegedly slept a night at the hotel. If he did I am sure he wouldn’t have been disappointed. The Grade II listed hotel is a world away from the modern town centre.
We went into the cafe at around 2pm and we were still slurping tea at 3.15pm.
It wasn’t until we left that we realised it was due to close at 3pm, and the staff hadn’t said anything or moved us on. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been quite the same in a big chain.
Although we were tempted, we were too full for the scones on offer – but looking at the list I will be back for tea and cakes on my next shopping visit to Wellingborough.
Ollie’s is open from 10am to 3pm on Monday to Friday and 10am-5pm on Saturdays.
By Elinor Cross
.
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
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C&E
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 08:53 AMWrong on both counts I'm afraid Fullingdale - the review is from Friday's Guide supplement - which has had a weekly food review for years. Apologies for incorrect image.
Fullingdale
Monday, July 18, 2011 at 04:18 PMNice to see the picture swapped over to the correct one. Is the "cafe review" a new feature of the Chron or a one-off "filler" for the paper?
Fullingdale
Monday, July 18, 2011 at 11:37 AM@BigHead - would you expect different from the Chronic? They're only about 15 miles apart, which is pretty accurate against their usual standards, lol
bighead
Monday, July 18, 2011 at 11:02 AMWhy picture of tollymash pub, which is nothing to do with the story.
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