Little Chef, Popham

We spent last week in Devon and, on the way there, made a small detour to the Little Chef in Popham. I can’t remember if I’ve ever eaten at a Little Chef before, when I was small we always used to go to the Happy Eater (which I loved for it’s badges and lollipops) if we were on the way to somewhere but, having watched the Heston Blummenthal programme last year in which he attempted to re-brand the ailing chain, we thought we’d give it a go.

It wasn’t too bad actually. My scampi was a huge portion but well cooked without too much batter and fresh, crunchy fries. Stephen’s beef suet pudding had lots of meat in it which he said had a decent flavour but he wasn’t a fan of the mushy pea gravy which looked pretty unpleasant to me. The salad that accompanied my scampi (the only sign of anything remotely healthy on the entire menu) was limp and old and the mashed potatoes were tasteless and over-processed. We definitely ordered better than the table next to us though who had opted for the hamburgers which were of the rubbery, hockey-puck variety.

Just like on the TV show, the service was comically bad with lots of sour faces and people shuffling around miserably just like on the TV show. The restaurant itself was really showing the signs of wear and tear and was in desperate need of cleaning but it didn’t look like anyone was particularly inclined to do so. I don’t think I’d bother to go back but it was better than the McDonald’s or Burger King you usually find at a service station.