The Danish Kitchen, High Ousegate, York

8:59am Saturday 10th May 2008

A BANK Holiday should be a good test as to how well a café can cope when it is really busy. Much to our surprise, there was plenty of room in the Danish Kitchen when we called in.

This is a self-service venue. The front area has bench-type seating and fixed tables, with free-standing furniture towards the rear. Wheelchair access was good.

Foliage decoration helped to split the café into sections. Wall lights gave extra brightness to the seating area.

At the servery, sandwiches, baguettes, cakes and desserts were displayed. None appeared to be priced.

A cashier at the end of the servery was seated beside a wall board where prices or price ranges for food and drink were shown.

While Ann took a seat, I queued to make our selection. Soup of the day was tomato and basil or lentil with bacon. I chose the latter with a brown roll. Flora or butter was offered. The soup was thick and, sadly, not as hot as it could have been but had plenty of flavour. It cost £3.30.

For Ann, I ordered a toasted cheese sandwich in white bread. It was delivered to our table attractively garnished with shredded lettuce, rice, peas, carrots and cucumber. She was a satisfied customer, even at the price of £4. Ann continued with a curd tart (£1.30) and a latte (£1.65), both rated as good. We asked a member of staff if the foil case from the tart would be recycled. The answer was "no", so we brought it home to recycle.

I concluded with a mug of lemon tea (£1.25) and a very tasty slice of Dutch apple tart (£2.30).

Alternative fare included beef, ham, prawn or cottage cheese salads (all over £6) and jacket potatoes priced between £4.45 and £4.95.

After 3.30pm on Mondays to Fridays, any cake is half price if ordered with a drink. Throughout our visit, there was a steady flow of customers.

Table clearing was excellent with staff asking if used crockery could be removed as we progressed through our snack.

Toilets are upstairs and I regret not checking out facilities for the less able.

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