City Screen Bar-Café, 13-17 Coney Street, York

11:48am Saturday 28th June 2008

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Maxine Gordon enjoys lunch with a view at City Screen in York.

CONSIDERING one of York’s best assets is its central river artery, there are few places to eat and drink on the city’s bank-side.

So a table on the outdoors balcony overlooking the Ouse at the City Screen cinema complex just off Coney Street is a spot to covet.

We were lucky when I popped in with my friend, Jo, for lunch on a sunny Friday and bagged an outside table.

I’ve eaten at City Screen many times, so can pass on two key observations about the café: the food is delicious and freshly prepared to order, but can take a bit of time to arrive.

Conscious that I had to return to the office after lunch, I pressed the menu under Jo’s nose on arrival and instructed her to make up her mind.

The menu is split into five sections, covering brunch (served from 11am to 2pm), small plates such as paté and soup, sandwiches, salads and sides including the not-to-be-missed chips with aioli (garlic mayo).

Highlights from the summer menu include prawn and avocado salad, baked aubergine with halloumi cheese salad, and a meze plate with hummus, olives, tzatziki, feta cheese and pitta breads.

For something a bit more filling, there are burgers (and veggie burgers too) as well as a good selection of hot and cold sandwiches on a choice of breads including granary and ciabatta.

With a fine range of soft and alcoholic drinks as well as tea and coffee, it’s the ideal spot for a leisurely lunch or a pre-movie fill-up.

Jo and I were hungry, so picked sandwiches: hummus with Mediterranean vegetables on granary bread (£5.80) for Jo and mozzarella, pesto and Mediterranean veggies for me (£5.60).

We also ordered the chips and aioli – which is very possibly the best £2.95 you could ever spend. Since it opened in January 2000, City Screen’s chips have been a York institution. Without exaggeration, they are the holy grail of the French fry – undeniably the best chips in town. As thick as a woodsman’s finger, they are deep fried to a nutty-brown, creating that perfect combination of a crisp outside and a soft, squidgy filling. They are the chips that dreams are made of. They are served with a small tub of garlicky mayo, which should come with a health warning: this product can seriously damage your breath.

The portion is plentiful and you would have to display feats of super-human willpower to resist pinching some from the bowl.

For drinks, I had a ginger beer (£2.10) and Jo had a cappuccino (£2.40).

The system at City Screen is that you order and pay at the bar, which is one reason why you shouldn’t plan to rush a visit. Depending on how busy the café is, you may have to wait a while to place your order, then bide your time until it is delivered to your table.

Busy times are lunchtime at weekends and the period just before and after a movie, when cinema-goers.

Jo and I enjoyed our drinks, savouring our enviable position overlooking the Ouse on a sunny summer’s day, and caught up on news. Within 15 minutes or so, our order arrived. Silence descended (quite a feat when Jo and I get together, I assure you) as we attacked our sarnies. Jo’s hummus on granary was a humdinger of a sandwich. The bread was doorstep-thick, as was the filling, making every mouthful a mammoth effort. It was tasty, assured Jo, but just too much of a chomp challenge.

I had no trouble conquering my choice. The warm Italian bread formed the perfect foundation for a decent wedge of milky mozzarella and the caramel-sweet roasted vegetables. Delicious.

Our stomachs had run out of room and our watches out of time to try a City Screen dessert – a small selection of delicious-looking cakes.

Heading back to the office, I stopped to stock up on some fresh-breath mints, but reckoned that garlicky breath was a small price to pay for the absolute joy of having City Screen chips for lunch.

City Screen Bar-Café, 13-17 Coney Street, York.

Maxine visited on Friday, June 20.

Food: fab chips.

Service: good if slow.

Value: decent.

Ambience: relaxing.

Disabled toilets: Yes