Saltaire Canteen

One of my favourite things to do is to go on little jaunts, I love hopping in the car and drive to anywhere that takes my fancy. Whether it’s an impromptu day trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park or a bit further afield, once I phoned my husband up at 9am, he asked me where I was because he could hear traffic, I replied the Angel of the North! I remember that being a lovely day out, a nosey around the Baltic Museum and a gorgeous lunch in their rooftop restaurant, then on the way back down a stop at Fountains Abbey.

Yesterday I thought I’d spend a few hours in Saltaire, wander around Salts Mill, Roberts Park and visit Saltaire Canteen, the latter somewhere I’ve been meaning to visit for a while. Monday was a lovely day for the most part, apart from there being a slight gust of wind it was fairly pleasant on the whole. Salts Mill ticks a lot of boxes for me, it’s a grand piece of architecture with lots of history attached to it, an obvious draw is David Hockney’s works and I just find it a dead relaxing place where I can flick through all the really tempting books on photography and art.

Located just up on the road from Salts Mill, is Saltaire Canteen, a pay as you feel cafe, just opposite on Victoria Road were some lunch options with busy queues I’d tried in the past, so I stepped into Saltaire Canteen for a change. Their focus is to use food that’s been intercepted before going to landfill, it’s a fantastic way of using up food that would’ve ended up being completely wasted. The space itself isn’t massive, but has enough room for some large tables and has extra space upstairs too. Being on the corner of the street, the place benefits from light coming in from large window on two sides, and it was also decorated in neutral tones.

The only things on the menu which are priced are drinks, being a pay as you feel cafe the price paid for food is completely up to the diner. It’s done in a very discreet way; they give you a little brown envelope to pop your money in at the end of your meal. Nice and simple!

The menu all depends on the produce they have in, as this changes regularly I can imagine their chefs have to be versatile and inventive to make the most of their ingredients. I wouldn’t be surprised if the menu changes daily.

From the menu I went for the bacon and onion quiche with pasta salad, with it being brought over not long after. Any stigma which may’ve been attached to my lunch, the fact it was made from food past its best before date did cross my mind just before I started to eat it, I have to admit, but after the first mouthful that quickly disappeared because it tasted lovely! A nice fresh pasta salad with loads of grated carrot and raisins, the quiche was light, with plenty of bacon and cheese. I enjoyed it.