Unit 91, North Tyne Industrial Estate

Mar 14 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

CHEFS and waiters don’t appear overnight like a gooseberry bush miracle. It takes years of training to make the transition from beans on toast for one to a roast dinner for many, which is where Barnardo’s comes in.

They have an amazing training scheme for young people, many who’ve already had a life filled with all sorts of difficulties. These unskilled fledgling chefs are trained up to be proficiently gliding swans. They achieve it through hard work, dedication and the committed support of Barnardo’s staff. You know how hard it is to get most 16-year-olds out of bed at 6.30am five days a week, but just imagine how hard it is for those same 16-year-olds to get themselves up and ready for work, without much help, and then you can see how great an effort these young people are making to achieve their goals.

The other by-product of this excellent scheme is the food. Barnardo’s doesn’t just expect the team to show up each day, they also have to deliver the goods from breakfast through to afternoon tea. The E@t restaurant on the North Tyne Industrial Estate in Palmersville has a rolling menu of honest-to-goodness dishes throughout each weekday, with their famous finale of Friday’s fish and chips.

Thursday’s menu offered other treats. We thought three courses might be a bit much for lunchtime and began with main courses of beef Madras for me and, for her, roast leg of pork with apple sauce, stuffing and a massive Yorkshire pudding, with lashings of savoury gravy. The soft folds of roast pork had a dome of herb stuffing and the gravy flowed around the sprouts and a scoop of some of the best creamy mashed potato I’ve had in a long while. Everything is served as you move along buffet-style, with a free serving of smiles from the teenage trainees.

The beef Madras was an equally good humoured curry, by which I mean it started off gently but, just when you thought you’d got to the end of the spice run, there was that cheeky chilli nudge. Generous amounts of juicy beef, swathed in the rich tomato-onion sauce, came with mounds of savoury rice. The band of busy young people were taking care of everything; guiding customers through their options, managing the till and cheerfully clearing away. There’s something deeply attractive about sociable teenagers. It challenges the monosyllabic churlishness of the Kevin stereotype, which many people have, and each one of these young trainees delivered that challenge in their own inimitable way. The puddings presented another challenge of how much could be eaten before seriously affecting the waistline. The bread and butter pudding was covered in irresistible custard and the apricot tart, with crunchy topping and crumbly pastry sandwiching the fruit, was far too hard to refuse. The good food here comes with the added value of seeing that if you give a young person enough support and encouragement, they can achieve anything. Good on you, Barnardo’s!

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Address: Unit 91, North Tyne Industrial Estate, Whitley Road, Palmersville, North Tyneside.

Tel: (0191) 270-1133.

Open: Monday-Friday: Breakfast 10am-10.30am; Lunch 12 noon-1.30pm; Snacks 1.30pm-3pm.

Where is it? Turn off Whitley Road at the roundabout opposite Asda. Follow the road as it bends to the left and take the first right. Barnardo’s is on the right.

First impressions: Passing by the bargains in the Barnardo’s shop, the restaurant presents as a kitchen to canteen-style arrangement.

Welcome: You feel very welcome.

Style, design and furnishings: Creamy mushroom with one dark chocolate wall. Good lighting with easy-wipe tables and comfy modern-design chairs.

Cuisine: Good home cooking with occasional exotic foray.

Wine: Non-licensed.

Service: An attractively friendly and relaxed style.

Value: You’ll struggle to find better value than the special lunch price of soup or pudding with a main course and drink all for £9.10 for two people.

Parking: Large car park.

Disabled facilities: Fully accessible.