EDitorial ± 20-May-2022

Ipswich Lunches: Honey & Harvey

Blimey. There existed a time when we'd be alighting for lunch every Poets Day. Then a key member of the team decided that work had had enough of him and, well, things changed. Which goes some way to explaining why the last eatery edged off the list was Tim Hortons back in February. Must do better.

Warm and wet today, and the Strada's locked to those trusty Princes Street metal shafts, the same Sheffield bars from which my Boardman was nicked back in 2017. My first time inside the schmancy Honey & Harvey that finally opened in March 2022, its transformation from the derelict Mambo Bar & Grill much delayed by them thar Covids. Big, innit, reaching alphabetically from Princes Street to Queen Street (opposite Central Canteen), and buzzin', too. Wot no free tables largely thanks to singletons occupying the four-seaters; dearth of smaller areas, though. Takes quite a bit of mooching around to finally land a very messy table. Smiling waitress, clearing up a lorra lorra stuff, observed that "they've had some fun here."

I'm scanning the QR code on the rear of the table number to pull up a menu from the future when Mr and Mrs C. fetch up, him fresh from a 3am Stansted trip. Welcome, I say, and waddya make of these prices on the All-Day Menu?

  • full English -- £14.50
  • spicy Moroccan brunch -- £13.95
  • H+H beef burger -- £18.50
  • beef steak & eggs -- £18.50

Handily, Andy offers to buy me a belated birthday lunch. Rather than bankrupt him with one of the above, mine's the avocado & fried egg bap for £6.95, which turns out to be mighty tasty if not the easiest to eat. Sneakily he takes the Scotch egg and his better half the sausage roll, going off-menu for a glass counter option wot I knew nothing of. Good service and appreciate the food being delivered to our table.

Post-savoury, he has the chai latte, her the tea, and I'm back for a jolting cortado alongside a splendid almond croissant. Can't believe it's been over ten years since we ticked off their original branch at Woodbridge. Having them here in The 'Swich is a vg thing though best to wait until you've had a small lottery win or significant tax rebate.

If it was a car -- Tesla Model S
If they were passing by -- Harvey Guillen.