Upmarket Greasy Spoon (Little Chef)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Little Chef
Date:	02/01/08 (293 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, reasonable food, easy parking.

Disadvantages: Not a very varied menu. No coffee top-ups

I seem to recall that at one time the UK was inundated with Little Chef restaurants.
Maybe that's just my memory playing tricks on me, as it's now nigh on 30 years since I actually lived in the UK. But certainly they seemed to be located on lots of motorway service stations.
When I lived and worked in the Home Counties of England in the early to mid-1970's I used to frequent these establishments a lot when I made my almost weekly weekend pilgrimage up and down the MI motorway to Scotland.

Recently they have made an appearance here in Ireland. The two outlets that I have personally used are located in my home city of Dublin, beside two Travelodge hotels/motels based in Blanchardstown and Swords.

Occasionally when I'm out and about driving my taxi the urge to have a wee bite to eat hits me. I work the Dublin airport rank a lot, and the Little Chef in Swords is located only about a mile or so away, so is very handy for me. Parking is also free and very easy, which can be a problem if I stop somewhere in the city centre itself, where you can never be sure your car is safe and where you have to pay an arm and a leg for the privilige.

What I like about Little Chef is that you can almost guarantee good service, reasonable quality of food, and that the toilets, cooking area, tables, etc will be clean. In fact, the grill area in the Swords restaurant is "open plan", and located right behind the serving counter, so is in plain site of the public.

The menu is fairly basic. Let's face it, if its gourmet cooking you want then you don't go to a Little Chef! But they do an excellent fry up (big breakfast) for only Euro 10.50, consisting of a couple of large rashers (bacon), 2 fat, plump sausages, a fried egg, mushrooms, a hash brown, fried tomato, and lashings of baked beans. Top this off with a couple of slices of toast and butter, and a decent cup of coffee and you have a very tasty, filling and inexpensive meal.
One small complaint I *WOULD* have is that you have to pay for an extra coffee if you want a top-up, as I invariably do before I've finished the meal. In my opinion this is a wee bit on the mean side, and we could learn from the USA where top-ups are almost always free. (It's starting to catch on here in Ireland as well, but too slowly!)

The rest of the menu consists of the usual fast food fare. Chicken, quick fried steak, scampi, fried fish, etc, and chips with everything. I seem to recall they also have a basic menu for kids which are far cheaper than the main menu. (But smaller portions presumably)

I don't usually use the Little Chef for anything other than a breakfast or a coffee break, but we used the outlet in Dumbarton in Scotland a couple of years back when over on a holiday. On that occasion I had a Spanish Omelette, and seem to recall it had about as much flavour as a stick and the consistency of rubber. My wife and daughter had some sort of chicken dish, and neither of them was too impressed either. So perhaps the quality depends on the individual outlet.

I would still recommend Little Chef restaurants over a tatty and unhygienic greasy spoon, and way more than the likes of McDonalds or Burger King.

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© KenJ January 2008

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Summary: Reasonably priced. Family friendly. Clean and hygenic. Half decent nosh.