From an operator with some big-name experience behind him, a low-key fast-food chain-prototype, in Victoria, offering standards which – at least in the early days – are impressive.
Not a tweet, still less any reviews can we find: the opening of Scoffs seems to have been met with total media disinterest. Odd, really: until not so long ago, when this particular operator opened a new establishment, the food pages – and even the gossip pages – used to be filled with the news.
Who can it be? Ah yes, step forward Chris Hutcheson – Gordon Ramsay’s father-in-law, and a man who really seems only to be of interest to the Daily Mail nowadays (and then more on account of his family affairs than his culinary ones).
Perhaps the lack of more general interest in the establishment is all to to with the modesty of the its aim – this is clearly a ‘fast food’ joint, and in a dull (but improving) Victoria Street location. And the premises are pint-sized too – we assumed the staircase led down to a dining room, but no it’s ‘staff only’.
Quite busy staff, too, on the basis of our lunchtime visit. The fare here may be relatively simple, and mainly served in boxes and cartons but there’s a good range of fresh and interesting (and sometimes moderately intricate) dishes. We enjoyed our spicey chicken salad, and the bean ‘cassoulet’ was pretty good too. A banana loaf, seemingly made on the premises, also pleased, as did a generous Americano.
Prices – our meal came to around a tenner – are somewhere around the Pret level, and standards broadly comparable (which, in our book, is a compliment). For a proto-chain, though, this struck us as a labour-intensive exercise: it’s going to be a challenge to maintain standards when the no-doubt intended ‘roll-out’ ensues.
