Where could you get a dinner of braised lamb shank with roast potatoes and peas, cooked by a chef who has worked with Paul Rankin of Gourmet Ireland fame, for €6.99? The answer is at the Spar Express shop in the Corrib Filling Station at the Hill in Loughrea. I called in there recently and decided to browse the deli counter. I was surprised to see a selection of main courses just removed from the oven. They had roast breast of turkey cut in very thick juicy slices, roast of beef, lamb shanks, and pork pieces in a barbecue sauce.
They looked so good I chatted to the chef, Brian, who told me that it was his aim to produce restaurant quality food in a filling station kitchen, with full main courses costing only €5.99 or €6.99. He has 13 years’ experience in restaurant chefing, and with experience like working for Paul Rankin he knows what he is about. I tasted the pork pieces and they were way ahead of my expectations, very tasty and melt in the mouth. The lamb shank had been cooked for 2.5 hours and fell of the bone. He also does bacon and cabbage and emphasised that he uses collar bacon for flavour. The potatoes are perfectly roasted in the oven and not deep fried as is often the case in filling stations.
These dinners are available from 12 noon seven days a week, and lately Brian is cooking them again for the evening trade when people are on their way home from work. You can call in and pick up a good wholesome dinner for less than the price of a fast food meal. Could this be the start of a new wave of food at filling station delis? Surely people are sick and tired of burgers and chips and food that can be reheated by people with no cooking experience. Two roast beef dinners and a good bottle of red wine for about €23, now that’s good value.
In France every supermarket will have a hot food counter where people can buy seriously well made dishes to have for dinner — beef bourguignon, Chicken á la king, coq au vin, etc — and I believe there is a market here for that type of well cooked, high quality take away meals.
Another filling stations that impresses me is the one at Tom Hogan Motors in Ballybrit. The first thing I notice when I am there is the cleanliness; it is absolutely spotless behind the deli counter. Their focus is on salads, wraps, sandwiches, and a very big selection of freshly prepared fruit salads. The salad bar is a cut above your normal as it contains offerings like couscous, cold chicken noodle salad, and roast courgette and red onion salad. They also make their own mayonnaise from scratch and their own stuffing. If you are making up a sandwich it costs €3.50 for one meat and any three salads, or you can have an onion bhajee for €1.39 or even a vegetable samosa for €1.29. Their bestseller at lunchtime is a steak roll made from thick cut slices or roast round steak garnished with fried onions, and for €4.50 this is excellent value.
So, my challenge to the filling stations is to hire well qualified chefs (who would be delighted to work in an environment that allows them to go home at 5pm ) and lay down the challenge of producing top class food to go. People have less time, less money, and an increasing awareness of good food; consequently any establishment that can produce tasty, interesting, attractively priced hot meals will have a winning combination.
