Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
1
It’s years since I was last at a Harvester. I used to occasionally stop for lunch at one of their pub outlets somewhere just off the M40, when I was driving to/from London to do research at the National Archives. I remember I stopped going when there were stories in the press about poor food hygiene, at several locations. We hadn’t planned to have dinner here, either. We were going to the Lowry Theatre and planning to eat there but we found their restaurant was closed on Mondays, even though there was a show on. So, Harvester it was.
As often the case with these casual eateries, the menu is American-esque. Lots of burgers, tacos, grills, etc with other dishes being more classic British pub food. The sort where everyone in a family group, from the kids to granny, will find something to eat. The salad bar is still included in the price of a main course – my vague recollection is it was this that was one of the features of the hygiene issues but, in truth, it all looked very appetising so we took the chance (successfully) that this was now old history. That served as a light starter. For mains, one of us went with fish & chips. A nice enough fillet of haddock – the batter maybe a tad greasy – with chips, peas and tartare sauce. They also do a range of kebabs – in this case chicken. The skewer also has peppers and onion. A pitta bread and some coleslaw on the plate and you get a choice of sauce (satay) and a choice of side (chips, of course). It was really nice with a good chilli hit in the satay sauce, just as you hope there will be. A perfectly decent dinner and, certainly, a far cry from the previous experiences all those years back.
Sorry about the thread drift.
Well John, I never thought I’d see a review for a Harvester in Salford.
Bloody hell, I’m not disparaging the food or the brand but having grown up living at the Midland hotel for ten years as a youngster my brother and I played around the streets of Manchester and Salford. We’d leave the hotel in the morning after a nice hotel breakfast and then cycle around town. Our bicycles were stored in the porters offices, it was Manchester we still needed bike locks even in the hotel.
The only places we saw to eat in Salford were fish and chip shops or butty shops. My favourite being a shop that toasted very thick farmhouse white bread smothered in butter (real) then topped with loads of crumbly Lancashire cheese then toasted. Piccalilli to garnish, wow what a memory. Parents would eat in the French, we just wanted cheese on toast.
2 Likes
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
4
Lancashire really is the best for cheese on toast
It must have been a bit strange to live in the city centre in those days. They would have only been small numbers, I imagine - building caretakers and the like. Back in the early 70s, I worked at the College of Building, in what is now Spinningfields. The college had a resident caretaker with a flat on the top of the building. Technically, as the College Registrar, I was his boss but the man was a law unto himself. I recall he was a chain smoker. I always knew when he was after something - he’d offer me a cigarette. Such a change now with thousands living there.
