Little Chef

[Cycleops]

Jubilee Pancakes

View attachment 727791

I wonder why they were called Jubilee? Perhaps they resembled something you might find on the platform of a Jubilee line station?

 

[Cycleops]

Agreed, there's a lot of retrospective snobbery. The ingredients were good quality and everything was cooked to order. The dining environment, not so good, mind!

Cooked to order? Well I guess it was when they'd unfrozen it. And the fruit was fresh before it got into the can.

 

[Gunk]

Agreed, there's a lot of retrospective snobbery. The ingredients were good quality and everything was cooked to order. The dining environment, not so good, mind!

I think there is far too much of the rose tinted specs,It may have been cooked from scratch, but I don’t remember organic eggs, outdoor reared bacon and homemade butchers sausages, it was all pretty shite.

 

[Electric_Andy]

There was one on the A38 in Buckfastleigh, my home town. We'd go there for a treat in the summer holidays to have pancakes with maple syrup and black cherry gunk. You'd get a free lollipop on the way out if you were lucky. They were vile but tasted good back then. It has since closed and was an Indian takeaway, then a craft shop/café.

Last time I went in one was near Exeter on the way to the airport for our honeymoon. I had a chicken salad which was vile. I invited the waitress over to watch as I squeezed the water out of the chicken, and they gave us a 10% discount. I'd rather eat the food out of a McDs bin than eat in a little chef again

 

[Rusty Nails]

If only Raymond Blanc would have opened a branch of Manoir aux Quat' Saisons alongside the A470 I would always have stopped there for a half-hour break for for my fish and chips for a few quid on the long journey home from North Wales, rather than having to slum it at a Little Chef.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I think there is far too much of the rose tinted specs,It may have been cooked from scratch, but I don’t remember organic eggs, outdoor reared bacon and homemade butchers sausages, it was all pretty shite.

My now wife ran one bitd, on Peartree as it happens. At the time nobody did organic anything, bacon was always kept out of the rain and nobody made sausages at home.

Despite these very obvious middle class crisis-type failings they managed to serve fresh eggs, sausages made of 100% pork and bits of cured pork cut into thin slices

 

[Gunk]

View: https://youtu.be/kmvVWmaNzRE?si=e9Jsu0O2mSvOanHK

 

[Alex321]

I think there is far too much of the rose tinted specs,It may have been cooked from scratch, but I don’t remember organic eggs, outdoor reared bacon and homemade butchers sausages, it was all pretty shite.

They didn't have any of those things, but nowhere except expensive restaurants was much better then.

And the nearest to similar places nowadays don't have any of those either.

They made no pretensions at being good, just reasonable, at a reasonable price.

 

[lazybloke]

It’s a bit sad when the best option in a motorway service station is a supermarket meal deal

The shop outlets have a fantastic choice of food at numerous price points..
Plus it's quick to buy & eat, and then get back in the car to continue the journey.

Far sadder to sit down for ages in a noisy/smelly/dirty service station expecting a restaurant experience.


5th April, Warwick services: I had a Watrose sashimi pot (salmon, rice, seaweed, avocado, etc, plus a soy dressing). Very nice.
If I'd wanted hot, I'd have gone for panini from Starbucks or Pret.

 

[gbb]

It’s a bit sad when the best option in a motorway service station is a supermarket meal deal

And in a way, that reiterates what I noted earlier...we don't really do good food in this country. If it ever was good (if), as the corporate side has a stranglehold on everything, cost drives everything and sadly....many seem to buy into what's on offer, making it even more attractive to businesses.

 

[dicko]

As new parents with our Baby and travelling to Bournemouth to visit my parents the Little Chef’s were very handy to warm the feeding bottle for our little one and the changing room too was usefull.

 

[Drago]

View: https://youtu.be/kmvVWmaNzRE?si=e9Jsu0O2mSvOanHK

The steak platter looks like a plasticine mock up of a real meal.

 

[Alex321]

And in a way, that reiterates what I noted earlier...we don't really do good food in this country. If it ever was good (if), as the corporate side has a stranglehold on everything, cost drives everything and sadly....many seem to buy into what's on offer, making it even more attractive to businesses.

There are plenty of places in the UK to get good food.

But the quick food for travellers places (Motorway services, transport Cafes, Little Chef & their ilk) aren't among them, and never have been. But even then, part of the reason Little Chef disappeared is that expectations have risen, while their quality didn't.

 

[Jody]

Too young to remeber all the Little Chefs we went to

The only thing I was interested in is whether they had the Orange lollies on the way out. Damn they were good

 

[Electric_Andy]

Too young to remeber all the Little Chefs we went to

The only thing I was interested in is whether they had the Orange lollies on the way out. Damn they were good

View attachment 727825

Really? To me they tasted like actual vomit