Altrincham Duck

Oxford Road Café.

It was a Thursday lunch time, and after receiving a visit from a family member (my mother), and also one of my good friends; I decided that I couldn't be bothered cooking, so I took, mother, husband, friend and child out for lunch.

It was a rainy and blustery day in Altrincham, and although there's plenty of choice for places to eat in the town, we decided to head to Oxford Road Café for some comfort food.

We’ve been to the café a few times and it’s always been busy, which in our eyes it’s a good sign! They also do outside catering and takeaway, so it seems busy pretty much all the time. They do not take reservations, they operate on a first come first served basis, so be prepared to wait for a table at busy times.

You can view and download the menu here. http://www.oxfordroadcafe.com/

Located on Ashley Road/Peter St, you can access the café from both sides, the front one on Ashley Road, and a side entrance on Peter St. They have also done something which in our eyes is very clever; given that the current business rates around some places in Altrincham are so high, they reached an agreement with the current owners of their premises (which happens to be Oriental Fire, a Japanese and Korean restaurant, of which this duck will talk to you about soon enough!!) whereby, Oxford Road Café will have use of the premises during the day and Oriental Fire will use them during the night, halving therefore the rent and business rates for both businesses; pretty savvy if you ask this duck!!

We were greeted by the staff quite quickly once we entered the café, and we could see that the café was very busy; by the looks of it, half of Altrincham had the same idea as us! Our waiter was very young and polite. It was great to see someone that young taking such pride in taking us to our sits and helping us settle down; coats, pram and wet umbrellas were quickly dealt with by this young lad.

Once we were seated, the drinks menu was brought to us; as they do not serve alcohol, the choice of drinks was quite easy, plenty of juices and other soft drinks plus the usual array of coffees and teas. We ordered 2 coffees and 2 apple juices, whilst my friend ordered some green tea. The food menu and children’s menu were also left at the table for us to have a look while they brought our drinks.

Once the drinks were at the table, we were once more pleasantly surprised by our young server, he brought a wad of paper and coloured pencils to keep the little one entertained! Very nice gesture, the little duckling was very impressed!

We proceeded to order after this, for the little one we ordered the fish fingers with chips and beans from the children’s menu. My husband and my friend ordered the “Jo Special” Aka Low Carb Full English, my mother the 1/2 Roast chicken and I went for the Baby-Back Ribs. We were warned then that the food may take a little bit longer than usual due to the fact that they were so busy; as drinks were on the table and the little one was entertained we had no problem at all with this.

Once the food started arriving we were pleasantly surprised, The “Jo Special” - Low Carb Full English, as it said on the menu, consisted of two butcher’s pork sausages, two rashers of lightly smoked bacon, two free range eggs, sautéed mushrooms, wilted spinach, two grilled tomatoes and a slice of black pudding. I immediately stole some morsels from my husband’s plate to taste and it did not disappoint!

The fish fingers with chips and beans for the little one did not disappoint either, the portion of both, fish fingers and chips, was quite big, with the baked beans in a separate pot, which as we all know when you have a little one, makes things so much easier as you can control how much goes on the plate! No messy little ducks here!

My mother’s 1/2 Roast chicken did look good also, she opted for a large salad as an accompaniment instead of chips or sweet potato fries. The 1/2 Roast chicken arrived on a large plate, with the salad neatly place on a bowl on the side, the dressing was also placed on the side for her to dress her salad as she saw fit, which I thought it was quite a nice touch, so often in many places the salads come drenched in dressing or vinegars and oils that you can’t barely taste it!

As I said before, I went for the Baby-Back Ribs, and wow, I was impressed when it arrived. I opted for the half rack of ribs (you have a choice of a full rack or a half rack of ribs) in a barbecue glaze, with a side of French fries. Presentation on this one was superb, it arrived on a large wooden board, placed on top of grease proof paper; on one corner of the board a little bucket full of fries was placed and on the other side a bowl with warm water and lemons was placed, for me to wash my fingers after eating the ribs! Nice touch!

The only problem we had whilst we were eating was that, as my mother cut into the chicken and was getting close to the bone on the thigh it seemed to be pretty pink, which is quite off-putting when you’re eating and also dangerous! We called our server, who immediately retired the chicken, apologised profusely and took it away. We carried on eating at my mother’s insistence that the rest of our food did not go cold; 10 minutes later the chicken returned after having been put in the oven a little bit longer, and this time round mother duck thoroughly enjoyed it.

The way we see it Oxford Road Café serves excellent food, and is well worth a visit; even our minor hiccup with the chicken (which like I said before was dealt with in an impressive and efficient manner) did not put us off visiting again soon.

So this duck family shall return without a shadow of a doubt!! 

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