Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover

Canteens at attractions have always been a bit of a high-risk option for obtaining food in my world. They are usually expensive and serve food of dubious quality. If it’s not a sweaty (salad infested) sandwich then it is a hot meal of limited flavour. Not to mention the “home baking” which has seen better decades never mind days!

That’s what I thought until last weekend when I visited Eden camp in Yorkshire. Due to a lack of time, our hands were forced and we were left with a choice of the canteen or the canteen if we wanted any chance of having some lunch and seeing the attraction. With that in mind, I resigned myself to picking at something I wasn’t particularly keen on and trying to force down as much as possible before finally giving in with some remaining pangs of hunger.

 Things got a little better when we got in the canteen (laid out like it would have been when it was an operational PoW camp) and I saw they at least had some decent ale to take the edge off whatever I was eating. However the emphasis still seemed to be on novelty rather than quality. Every dish had a war-themed name.

In the end I was completely, utterly and spectacularly wrong. The Churchill steak pie was one of the best bits of steak pie, that hasn’t been made by my mum, which I have had in years. The pastry was golden and beautifully hungry (a shortcrust rather than a puff). Meanwhile the meat was succulent, tender and beautifully flavoured. A generous helping of Heinz’s best effort helped the whole lot slide down.

If I had one complaint it would be that the potatoes were under seasoned and over cooked but it was a hot summer afternoon. I really didn’t feel like massive amounts of carbohydrate, certainly no more than was provided by the pastry, so it was no great loss. Ultimately, I can forgive the spuds given the quality of the pie.

It just goes to prove that wonderful food can be found in the most unexpected of places.

TFB