The Orangery

The Orangery is a very pleasant wine bar in leafy Heaton Moor with a big stained-glass roof over the back-section of the restaurant and little terraces to front and rear for sunny days and smokers. The decor feels nice and light, the coffee and cakes are wonderful. And the food while often a little slow to come (it says so on the menu too) makes up for itself by being unfailingly very good.

I've been here loads either bringing friends and relations for a nice bite or in less happy moments used to use it as a bit of a bolt-hole, going in there for a coffee after seeing the doctor in Heaton Moor while waiting for the pharmacy to sort out my citalopram hydrobromide - that kind of thing. Glad I'm not on that stuff any more, it was giving me lock-jaw.

Today the menu seemed pretty different from how it had been back in the summer. I had the seafood pancakes which came served rather like canellonni - in a creamy bachemael and the thing was f**king gorgeous. Goopy, fishy, cheesy, yum. After a very unpleasant morning it was exactly what I needed and made me feel able to brave the rain and the train ride back to the flat.

The service was very pleasant and I felt like they were attending to me well considering it was reasonably busy. There was one time that the girl serving us didn't know what Prosecco was, but hey this is Stockport...

The Sun Cafe, Lancaster

Now it was a week or so ago I went here and I did promise a review at the time but, well, I've had other stuff on my mind. Story goes that I went here with a mate after a bit of searching round town and ended up at the Sun Cafe - and I'm very glad we got this far. Lancaster has historically been quite low on good eateries outside of the pizza-pasta-curry-chinese territory and it was very pleasing to see something a bit more in the zone.

To start off with they brought us some bread and olive oil and OOOH look there's mushrooms in it! How intriguing! And very pleasant little mushrooms they were all covered in oil and vinegar. A good omen...

We definitely had some starters - mine was probably something involving liver and bacon and I remember being pretty good, perhaps a little salty but that's bacon for you. The beers must have been kicking in at this point because I really can't remember much else about it.

And for mains I had asked for their lamb which came to my specification, pleasingly twitching with some top-notch (juniper-berry?) gravy and vegetables. It was in fact very nice meat and incredibly tender. They did put the veg in an odd little basket thing but as this was also edible I didn't complain. My companion's Salmon came with a swirl of red raspberry stuff around it with lovely delicately tweaked heart shaped white bits in it - they're certainly putting in the presentation work. He said it was "good". Did we have dessert? No, I think just coffees.

We gassed about work and music and stuff and then went out for more round the corner at the John O Gaunt. All in all I found the Sun Cafe a very good experience. I will certainly go back and I would certainly recommend it.

Simple

A long day at work - getting out around six I ended up on a Victoria train again. Wandering through meant that my impulsiveness got the better of me and I headed into Simple as I had thought it looked nice from the outside a few times. I sat down, asked for a beer and swiftly realised that the musky smell that had been following me around for the latter part of the day was my own BO. I stink. But after some kerfuffle with an out-of-date menu (no leffe, no crabcakes) I've committed to soup and a rare burger. I feel like I've got a green mist around me... Where is my emergency Mitchum when I need it?

Simple is a cafe bar type afair - with big floral wallpaper and huge chunky ornate mirrors, the odd cheap-looking crystal chandelier and some bits of modernity (stripes) to balance it all out. It's about 60% tables 40% sofas.

The tomato and basil soup was fine. It contained vegetables but was nothing too amazing. Came with some ciabatta bread. Nothing to report, bit of a boring choice/option really. Then again the place is supposed to be "simple". Perhaps that is the point....

One good thing about it - they have very easy wireless access, just connect to the one called "NETGEAR". I'm writing this live for a change. Simple. But keeping their SSID (and presumably the router's password) on the default is slightly more clueless than simple to be honest.

Then comes the main. A rare burger with blue cheese. It came in a bun with a bit of salad and some not-too-fat potato wedges. It was certainly rare enough and actually a very tasty thing. In fact I think I've got it now. It's just simply a burger and quite a nice one. Simple init. I'd better get out of here before I start driving the other customers away.

The Northern Quarter (TNQ)

This was the day that I left my partner. I dragged my bag and pan into the office, phoned my mum, agreed to go stay with her for the night and went out for some dinner while I waited for her to get home from a prior engagement. I rolled into Victoria station and meandered around looking for a suitable spot. I was almost tempted by Nosh but then thought I'd had enough Chinese lately and that I would carry on walking a little. Soon I found myself at The Northern Quarter or TNQ - as you might have guessed it is named so because it is in the Northern Quarter. Go figure. It has very big windows and seemed busy despite it being a little early. I walked in, worked out where to sit and got a glass of wine while I perused the menu.

Being a little bit skint at the moment I thought I shouldn't be too naughty (who am I being naughty at anyway? erm it's up to me for goodness sake) and went for the two courses for 9.99 early bird menu. I had squids and noodles again as a starter and a burger for the main. Both were very well presented - the squid peppery and tender, the burger chunky and satisfying. BUT had I not been so preoccupied with my domestic situation I probably should have asked for the burger to be done rare. Having been brought up on french steak hache dripping with blood, it always feels rather disappointing when burgers - particularly good quality ones - are totally cooked. Hey, there is always next time. The chips were almost certainly pre-prepared frozen chips - which I thought they could have done themselves, but hey what do I expect on the cheap menu. Next time I'm going to have the a-la-carte menu and ask for my food still twitching.

There are no pictures on the walls in the main body of the restaurant however by the entrance to the toilets there is a large picture of Luke Skywalker. Is he inviting constipated patrons to use the force? Perhaps. The staff took a few moments to look blankly as I said this before coming out with peels of laughter and whispering among themselves.

Soup Kitchen

Tucked away in the Northern Quarter (behind Oldham Street and just across the road from the infamous Koffee Pot) is the Soup Kitchen. I have had my eye on it for a couple of weeks and leapt at the excuse to go there. This morning it was totally dead. Admittedly I was in there at a bit of a funny time, too late for breakfast and too early for lunch but it did seem a bit silly being the only soul in there apart from the staff. Still there has to be someone first through the door.



The staff were still working on the day's soup preparations but had got four varieties ready. I chose mushroom, some bread and butter and a cup of coffee and sat down. Now first things first, it was tasty soup and nice bread and good coffee. The soup was clearly packed with herbs, thyme and coriander and I suspect quite a bit of salt and pepper. Texture wise it dunked well, and drank well though the exuberance with thyme meant there were a few woody sprigs involved, one of which I nearly choked on. The bloke behind the counter looked at me worriedly to make sure everything was all right and then peered closely at his soup pot.



The place reeks of cool - down to the big red curtains and trendy antique magazines on the bookcases - but still it remains quite good value and they clearly care about what they are doing. My soup, bread and coffee came in at under a fiver. I'd like to come back when the place has some more people in it.