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Eat My Words: We try Café Lodge, in Selco Builders Warehouse, Medway City Estate, Christmas dinner

By: Alex Langridge alangridge@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 05:00, 15 December 2022

I was starting to feel quite festive this week.

It had been snowing, I had almost finished all of my Christmas shopping and the decorations had been put up over the weekend at home and I wanted to keep the festivities going.

Alex Langridge tries to find a cheap and quick Christmas meal

And what better way to do so by finding a cheap Christmas dinner on my lunch break.

I had heard rumours that Selco in the Medway City Estate was offering a festive menu for only a fiver and not knowing of any other places serving similar nearby I headed on down.

The warehouse in Anthony's Way, Strood, is part of the M2CityLink development and is the first branch in the county which opened last year.

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It is open to builders and trades or registered companies such as hospitals, schools or landlords and shoppers need a registered trade card with Selco – unless visiting its adjoining restaurant like I was.

Café Lodge opened inside the building recently and runs throughout the week from 6.30am to 3pm and on Saturday's from 7am to 2pm.

Café Lodge is upstairs in Selco Builders Warehouse
You can look out onto the warehouse while eating

It is up a small set of stairs and has a seating area overlooking the warehouse which reminded me of a spectator gallery at a swimming pool.

The menu was up on the wall boasting a wide selection from breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, omelettes, jacket potatoes and chicken kebabs. It also offers delivery.

As I approached the counter I saw its Christmas menu of two items and the rumours of a whole dinner for £5 were quickly squashed as I realised this was for their wrap.

The lunch was actually £8.50 and came with turkey, roast potatoes, vegetables, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing and gravy.

I sat down with a cup of tea in a Selco branded mug in one of the only spare seats and took a look around.

The Christmas menu included a whole roast or wrap
The menu includes breakfast, sandwiches, omelettes and more

The café was simple in décor, tinsel had been put up to make it look festive, there were remnants of England flags still up from the World Cup and Loose Women was on the TV.

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After around 20 minutes my food was brought out and it was a lot bigger and looked a lot nicer than I was expecting.

There was a generous helping of gravy over the meat and potatoes although it was slightly lumpy where the granules had not all mixed in but that didn't bother me.

The turkey was nice and not dry thanks to the amount of sauce and the stuffing, vegetables and Yorkshire pudding were good.

I was a little disappointed in the potatoes as they were quite bland and not at all crispy.

The Christmas dinner for £8.50

The pigs in blankets were equally as disappointing and were actually two sausages laid on top of a slice of bacon and were just not the same as if they were wrapped.

But for a cheap, festive meal on my lunch break it hit the spot and left me feeling full for the rest of the afternoon.

It does not beat my mum's Christmas dinner on the big day but for a quick bite to eat it did the job.

I would not go back for a roast but I would for a sandwich or breakfast which I saw most people tucking into and looked delicious.

The café opened recently and is open until 3pm on weekdays

Ratings out of five:

Food: The dinner was nice, not amazing but hit the spot. ***

Staff: There were two members of staff working who were cheery, welcoming and very chatty to all their customers. *****

Drink: I had a decent cup of tea but there was also a wide selection of cold and hot drinks including milkshakes. ****

Decor: It was quite simple and plain but fit in with the vibe of the building. ***

Price: £8.50 for a whole roast dinner is a bargain if you ask me. The rest of the menu was reasonable too. *****

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