the Old Bakery, Chatteris: 20 Dec 08

Last Saturday saw me heading north ‘into the Fens’. We Cambridge people, and if you live in Histon like I do you really are a Cambridge person when it comes to thinking about the rest of the county, tend to think of the Fens like others think of a foreign land. Cambridge is flat but as soon as you get north of Cottenham (a so called Fen-edge village) you get to understand what flat really means. And we rarely go there (although I was up in Parson Drove, which is practically Lincolnshire, earlier in the month).

As long as it isn’t raining it’s not such a hardship driving into the Fens and there’s a number of very pleasant market towns including March, Chatteris, Whittelsey, Ramsey and, of course, Wisbech. I’d been to Chatteris twice before and most recently had enjoyed fish and chips from the famous Petrou Brothers shop which was rated best in the UK a couple of years ago. This time though I was in for a different culinary delight.

I was meeting colleagues Martin and Chris for some boring reason but come 1230 it was time for lunch. My request for fish and chips again was ignored for some dietary reason. Instead we went to the Old Bakery.

The Old Bakery is a tea shop. It’s the sort of place which we used to find in most towns and was a place to go with your auntie and enjoy a cream tea, eat scones and drink pop. And at lunch time you could get simple fare, an omelette, maybe a simple fry-up, probably breaded plaice and various salads with English dressing (water). But never lasagne and certainly not chicken tikka marsala. Oh and by the way: no alcohol.

The Old Bakery seats about 20 and has a menu which is part traditional (omlettes, bread and butter pudding and pots of tea) but also dreadfully nouveau (wraps for goodness sake but no lasagne). The three of us feasted for £12.89. I enjoyed a baked potato and banana split. Martin, he who complained about the calories in fish and chips, had an omelette and bread and butter pudding. Chris had one of those nouveau wraps.

Service was slow but pleasant. The food could not be faulted. Clearly the clientele like the place, there were even tables reserved and we had to wait for a table to be cleared. I’d like to say that I was the youngest in the place but that honour probably goes to Martin. Would I go again? Tough choice given the proximity of the Petros Brothers shop but it is a pity there isn’t a similar place in Histon. Maybe there’s a franchising opportunity or am I 50 years too late?