Olive & Pickle

25A Lake Bank, Littleborough

Hollingworth Lake holds a special place in my heart. As a child, I spent many happy hours walking round the lake, feeding the ducks and tucking into fish and chips in Mr Thomas’ chippy. Back then, there wasn’t an overwhelming choice when it came to dining, so fish and chips were obligatory.

On a recent day off, we went back up to the Rochdale hang-out for old-time’s sake and discovered a little gem in the Olive & Pickle, an independent café just next door to the famous Mr Thomas’. This quaint café serves breakfasts, sandwiches, snacks and a selection of delicious homemade cakes.

I had a Med Wrap: sweet potato falafel, smoked harissa houmous, lettuce, tomato and sweet chilli sauce inside a tortilla wrap, served on a rustic wooden board with lettuce leaves and homemade coleslaw. The wrap was delicious, with plenty of filling. I’ve never tried falafel before, but I adore sweet potato. 

Med Wrap

Falafel is a popular vegetarian alternative to meat, often found on restaurant menus in burgers, salads and hanging kebabs. Made from ground chickpeas and beans, it has quite a dry texture and the sweet chilli and tomato relish was definitely needed to add a bit of moisture to the wrap, otherwise it would have been quite hard to digest.

The homemade coleslaw, made with red cabbage to create an appealing purple-coloured coleslaw, was crunch and not too sloppy, exactly how I like it. However, why do all establishments insist on calling it ‘slaw’? What is so offensive about the first four letters that it’s been deemed necessary to drop the half the word? It’s ‘coleslaw’.

The salad was a bit limp, literally just a heap of lettuce leaves, and could have been a little better dressed.

One of my companions had a burger with chilli con carne, cheese and jalapeños. Served with fries, it looked delicious and was excellent value for money. 

Chilli Burger

The service was quick and the staff were attentive, our food arriving within ten minutes of ordering.

I took a couple of slices of cake home with me. One was Bounty: a moist chocolate sponge with coconut cream cheese frosting and topped with a piece of my favourite chocolate bar. The other was Peanut Butter & Honeycomb: a vanilla sponge layered and covered with a sweet and sticky peanut butter frosting and topped with pieces of honeycomb. They were both very tasty and not sickly sweet. At £3.75 a slice to takeaway, they’re a little overpriced.

Friendly staff, freshly prepared food and a vast and varied menu make this little gem the perfect place for a lakeside pit stop, be it for breakfast, lunch or just a coffee and cake.

Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/Oliveandpickle/.