The Laughing Loaf - A Tasteem Review
When I saw the ‘Local Dishes’ @tasteem contest I knew I had an appropriate restaurant.
What can be more local than Pie and Beans? It emanates ‘cheap food’ perfectly at least in deepest Lancashire.
@goblinknackers and I have been failing quite badly at trying to find decent eateries in the rundown working town of Rochdale, Lancashire and this an example of a ‘Local Dish’ from the downtrodden alleys we are condemned to traipse around in search of tasty lunchtime morsels.
The Laughing Loaf is situated within a tight alley full of pawn stores, gambling shops, broth.. er well you get the picture?
Here’s another view for you if the vision is still not perfectly clear.
What can you do if you are tired of visiting Greggs, Sayers and the Shawarma Kebab House where one may be escorted into the kitchen and possibly tortured for simply giving the owners a ‘funny look’.
£2.99 it says on the window for Pie and Beans. If you think that description sounds bad you would be quite correct.
One can get quite desperate in this town, and I was hoping the Pie would at least be made by Hollands, who despite having had rats tails found in their product in the past can be quite tasty. (The rat story is hearsay from many years ago).
We walked through the doors of The Laughing Loaf with deep apprehension and approached the counter.
There were a couple of dirty old blokes having something that looked like a dog's dinner but I dared ask the assistant about the Pie and duly ordered.
There are no menus at The Laughing Loaf, just these boards attached to the walls.
@goblinknackers ordered a Quiche with some salad which I would not consider a main course, but some kind of side.
He's trying to eat healthily and avoid sugar.
The place did have customers, and a few came and ordered while some took away while we waited.
Perhaps we would both survive this encounter after all. Hope is always a good thing to keep in your mind.
OK, so this is what arrived, now doesn’t that look tasty?
@goblinknackers food looked a little better, but he wasn’t going overboard after stabbing his cucumber with the fork provided that duly bent almost double under the strain.
So cutlery is not a strong point of ‘The Laughing Loaf’, but maybe the food is despite the dire looking appearance?
I needed oodles of Daddies sauce before attempting to consume this pile of beans. There wasn’t a lot left as you can see.
The pie was not Hollands, but very generic looking and obviously not homemade.
The beans were not Heinz, but not those cheap ‘Big Value’ ones you get at the local supermarket for 9p a tin either.
@goblinknackers was pulling faces a little while eating his though it didn’t look that bad.
He later mumbled something about there not being enough quiche on his plate.
We both ordered tea, which was surprisingly decent and received in mismatched cups.
I can't say the food was unholy dire but simply plain.
So far, I haven't developed any symptoms of food poisoning as yet, but there's still time.
At the time of writing some 3 hours later, I'm suffering from some acid reflux. Maybe I piled too much ‘Daddies' on to those beans.
Overall, The Laughing Loaf is a venue we would be unlikely to give a second chance but never say never.
Those cakes looked mighty fine as we were paying the bill but I resisted.
This was yet another venue that ‘doesn't give receipts'. While this may illegal, I didn't argue the point.
It cost us around £7 for both, and that's with the cup of tea, which neither of us finished due to lack of time.
If you are running on a budget, The Laughing Loaf could fill your gap but there are better places to eat.
Finding those ‘better places' in Rochdale can prove to be a challenge.
Restaurant Information
The Laughing Loaf
1B The Walk, Rochdale OL16 1EP, UK
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Local Dishes
The food did look kind of plain. I am actually surprised that their menu is so large given how small the kitchen and prep area seems to be. I am personally a fan of Bush's beans, but that is just me. Really what a lot of people over here do is they buy those stock beans and then they doctor them up with all kinds of other condiments. I have never heard of Daddies sauce before.
Your a lucky man, I haven't seen a bottle in years. Maybe that's how old that sauce is.
That sounds like an ... "interesting" place.
It was truly delightful to visit there. :)
Any salad with your salad cream, madam?
Did it arrive like that?!
LOL, yes it arrived like that, @goblinknackers did ask for Salad cream, and it makes it look more appealing if nothing else.
I do admire your courage, I wasn't going in there in the first place :)
The salad does look good, but the beans and cake....no thank you :)
Nice writing though :)
Desperation takes a man many places, I thought the cakes looked best personally ;)
A bit pale :) But all right !!
I am not a fan of how they have the front door propped open so every fly in town can buzz in. Eww.
Haha, it might have been hot that day.
I must say the salad looks great, I agree the quiche, looks very small and seems to be only a quarter quiche!! The beans looks like the same type we get in tins here in South Africa!!
The variety of choice seems to be quite good, if I look at all the lists of stuff on the boards!!
If you run out of money, I see you can just exchange your gold for cash across the road - that could come in handy, LOL,
There wasn't much great about the place, it had a hint of dirtiness to it as well as the plain food. Yes, there's lots of variety, I will give them that.
The quest goes on to find suitable places to eat during our lunch break without dying courtesy of the food establishments :)
All of the best
with your quest!!
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