EDitorial ± 30-Sep-2015

Ipswich Lunches: Artizan

Last day of the ninth month and the gang's not all quite here. Kev's out, then he's in before he flips again. Much like those Con Club poker games of a Friday evening, he's out before the action's really started. Undeterred, Andy's at the wheel of fleet vehicle 001, his planet-bothering VW. Cough-cough, let's head off.

Handy half-hour slot outside the Star offices, then a sunny stroll along Turret Lane and through the bus station. To our left, It's A, It's A, It's A Sin. To our right, the Buttermarket behemoth. Quiet now, 'cos we're stepping softly down Silent Street in search of Artizan, one of a select bunch of eateries (along with Fishface and one or two others still to do) that have recently come to our attention. Quality frontage, that. To give a mathematical view of the blackboard resting outside, they offer:

Handmade (cakes and savouries and chocolates and chocolate slabs and bread)

Excellent first impressions (posh loaves, comfy seats) though I'm on the backfoot straight away when the guy in charge (Noel, I later find out) gives me a very enthusiastic hi! Don't remember me, do you? Oops. Noel used to run a bakery near me on Norwich Road, it emerges, but has been chef-ing while waiting for the right premises to become available. And here we are. From the savoury display, we go for a sage tartlet and an Italian pasty. Reheating duties for Noel, seating for us out back in the small suntrap of a garden. Sure beats being in the office, this, as we soak up the summer's last rays, sip a fresh orange and lemonade and tuck in to our tasty pastry.

As top-notch as those savouries are, the best is yet to come for the sweet selection is a thing of rare beauty. For once, it seems wrong to talk of mere cake. We are through the looking glass into the lush land of patisserie. What's good? Everything, clearly, from the strudel to the eclairs. Tough call, but we'll go for a slab of ginger hummingbird and a tropical bakewell. There follows ten more sublime minutes in the sun. Go, Noel!

If it was a car -- Citroen DS23.
If they were passing by -- Michel Roux.