Five places within ten minutes’ walk of platform one.
When Calder’s rebuilt central station opened in the spring, its glass roof and wide concourse drew most of the attention. Less noticed was the effect on the streets around it. The old station approach, once a strip of taxi ranks and closed-down shops, has filled with places to eat, many run by people who saw the footfall coming and took a gamble on long leases. We spent a week eating our way around the area, with a simple rule: every place had to be within ten minutes’ walk of platform one, timed with a stopwatch from the ticket barriers.
For a quick bite
The nearest is Platform Bakehouse, three minutes away under the arches on Signal Street. It opens at six for early commuters and sells the best sausage roll in the city: flaky pastry, coarse pork with fennel and a dab of apple chutney, for £3.80. The sourdough sandwiches are generous, and there is a short list of soups that changes daily. Seating is limited to a counter by the window, so most people take their food to the train.
Five minutes further, on the corner of Queen’s Row, Little Saigon Kitchen serves noodle soups, rice bowls and filled baguettes from a tiny shopfront with six stools. The owner, Thao Nguyen-Price, opened it after fifteen years cooking in other people’s restaurants, and the broth for her beef noodle soup simmers overnight. A large bowl costs £11 and arrives within five minutes of ordering, which matters if you have a train to catch.
“Half my customers are running for a train, and half have just missed one. Both groups want something hot and fast, and both groups come back.”
That was Thao Nguyen-Price again, ladling broth during a busy lunchtime. She said trade had roughly tripled since the station reopened, and that she now employs four staff where she once worked alone.
For a proper meal
If you have time to sit down, The Goods Yard is the obvious choice. It occupies a former parcels depot seven minutes from the barriers, with exposed brick, long tables and an open kitchen built around a wood-fired grill. The menu leans towards regional produce: valley lamb, smoked mackerel from Port Selwyn, beetroot from the hill farms. Main courses are between £16 and £24, and the two-course lunch at £19 is excellent value. Book ahead for Friday evenings, when the bar fills with commuters who have decided not to go home just yet.
For something calmer, walk eight minutes to Ostra, a small seafood restaurant run by a husband-and-wife team on Chapel Lane. The room seats only 28, and the menu is short and dictated by what has landed that morning. On our visit, it included grilled sardines with charred bread, a whole lemon sole with brown butter and capers, and a bowl of mussels in cider that we would happily have eaten twice. Expect to spend about £45 a head with wine.
Finally, a little under ten minutes away and just inside the old town, Rosa’s Trattoria has been serving pasta to Calder since long before the station was rebuilt. Its owners, the Albertini family, have seen the neighbourhood change around them, and the dining room, with its checked tablecloths and framed photographs of the founders, has stayed exactly the same. The ragù is made to the same recipe as forty years ago, and the tiramisu is generous enough to share, though few people do.
Getting there and timing
All five places are reachable on foot without crossing a main road except at signalled crossings. Platform Bakehouse and Little Saigon Kitchen are the best bets for anyone with less than half an hour to spare. The Goods Yard, Ostra and Rosa’s are better suited to a relaxed meal before an evening train, and all three will bring the bill quickly if you warn them you are travelling. Note that Ostra is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Little Saigon Kitchen closes at four on Sundays.
