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FOOD<br />
Riverside Café<br />
Fresh-water croque<br />
Apart from Tesco, I can’t really think of a company<br />
that makes the most of its Ouse-side location. Unless<br />
you count the aptly-named Riverside, of course.<br />
There are a few tables inside the building in both<br />
the Brasserie upstairs, and the Riverside Café<br />
downstairs, which offer a river view out the window.<br />
Outside the latter, if you sit with your back to Cliffe<br />
High Street on the wooden bench at the furthest<br />
table, you get an al fresco perspective of the water.<br />
It’s barely mid-February so despite the sunniness<br />
of the day I’m grateful for the blankets they’ve left<br />
out there, and the outdoor heater. I order some hot<br />
food – an arancini [sic] and a croque monsieur, and<br />
wait with a flat white, wondering if using a knife<br />
and fork with gloves on will be a first.<br />
The food arrives on two separate wooden boards,<br />
each with a little pile of dressed salad, so I eat it like<br />
two courses, thinking what a wasted opportunity<br />
the Argos car-park is (can we have a John Harvey<br />
Tavern beer garden, please!).<br />
The arancino serves to fill me up enough so I don’t<br />
dispose of the main act in two bites. Croque monsieurs<br />
are the most devilish French invention since<br />
the guillotine: this one is nicely browned on the top,<br />
and is in turns crunchy, chewy and soft.<br />
Am I transported momentarily to a bistro on the<br />
Rive Gauche? Well, not really, but it’s the nearest<br />
we have to it: when spring hits you may have to<br />
fight for the spot. Alex Leith<br />
Photo by Alex Leith<br />
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