Sometimes, you don’t want a delicately presented lunch served on a slate, accompanied by various foams, gels and garnishes. You just want a proper lunch in a good old-fashioned caff – and that’s exactly what you’ll find at The Suffolk Carver in Bury St Edmunds.
Tucked away in one of my home town’s beautiful old buildings, The Suffolk Carver feels steeped in history, but with no pretentiousness whatsoever. The building itself is gorgeous, with slightly uneven floors and wooden beams – and while a little dark inside, it’s warm and welcoming, with seating both upstairs and down (and a few tables outside, if the weather’s nice).
The menu is as you’d expect from a proper British caff: breakfasts, sandwiches, salads, omelettes, jacket potatoes and more. Prices are very reasonable indeed – especially for somewhere so central – and the portion sizes will definitely make you feel like you’ve got your money’s worth.
After our recent lunch at The Suffolk Carver, I’d definitely recommend trying their hot meat baguettes. I went for the roast pork baguette (£8.50), and I didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day! The baguettes were baked in-house that morning, and mine was perfectly soft in the middle, lovely and crisp on the outside. Inside, a mountain of tender roast pork, juicy and full of flavour. Along one side, a generous smear of sweet apple sauce; along the other, soft, savoury stuffing that tied it all together.
As if that wasn’t enough, the baguette also came with a vast amount of salad: tomato, cucumber, lettuce, red cabbage, grated carrot and an enormous pile of coleslaw. And that’s not all: they’d artfully arranged a few pieces of crispy pork crackling on top. A seriously hearty meal – and an impressive one for the price point.
Across the table, the Super Full English (£9.95) was a serious plate (well, two plates) of food. Three sausages, three rashers of bacon, two eggs, two hash browns and what can only be described as a bucket of baked beans jostled for space on the plate, the two slices of buttered toast served on a plate of their own. Everything was cooked well, served hot and presented without any faff.
The Suffolk Carver isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It’s honest, it’s hearty and somewhere where the portion sizes will definitely leave you feeling satisfied! It’s not a gourmet restaurant, but if you’re after great value, big portions and proper cafe food in Bury St Edmunds, give The Suffolk Carver a go.