Medlock Canteen

Medlock Canteen is an informal all-day place but despite its casual name, it’s a quality food spot. The menu is simple. Bistro classics aren’t faffed about with, they’re just done brilliantly. Jay Rayner is a big fan.

The plates, with their branded Medlock Canteen logo, have a definite 1970s motorway services vibe but the food that comes on them is exemplary, from the eggs royale or full English on a morning, to their full rotisserie chickens sitting on a puddle of meaty jus that come later in the day.

There’s nothing fancy or mysterious about the menu. Typical dishes like battered hake with whitebait and tartare sauce, or desserts such as granny smith and frangipane tart are what they say they are.

Even the jambon beurre is what it says it is (in French); the classic continental baguette filled with butter, ham and cornichons for added pop. There’s even a chip butty for God’s sake and it hasn’t been disappointingly deconstructed. (Little is more soul-crushing than a pompous ‘take’ on an everyday classic.)

You can go in the morning for bottomless batch brew coffee and beans on toast, call in for drinks, have lunch, enjoy evening dates or just have pud on your way home from a meal at somewhere less nifty with the old deep fried rhubarb pie and custard. Yes, it looks like a pop tart but who cares?