1 week Ago By [email protected] (Ellis Whitehouse)
In my childhood, there were few things I looked forward to more than a trip out for dinner—specifically, making the almost hour-long drive to our nearest TGI Friday's restaurant. I grew up loving American-style food: meat on the bones, barbeque sauces, chips galore, and all the burgers one can muster. It was a thrill to walk into the extravagant red-and-white striped establishment, which featured photo frames of food generations past across the road, bright neon lighting, platters full of food, and steins full of soft drink while lively music played.
Cut to today, and I still very much enjoy a trip to TGI Friday's, but it never hits the same as when I was but seven years old. However, my visit to Back Inn Time this month brought that wonderful, nostalgic rush of trying an American diner-style eatery for the first time. Read more: The award-winning Essex restaurant where people travel from ‘all over the county’ to dine Read more: The seaside Essex cafe right on the beachfront where the best thing about it is its staff I've lived in Chelmsford for nearly a decade now, and to my shame, I have never visited Back Inn Time until now, despite it being one of the longest-established theme restaurants in the city.
Many passing by will have seen the backwards-moving analogue clock, the warm red glow of the neon signs and the site of picnic-basket tablecloths inside. Walking into the restaurant, it is currently adorned with Christmas boubles and decorations hung around the already dazzling array of coloured lights and tables, with a minature train steaming on its own track around the edges of the ceiling. On a Saturday night, this restaurant is absolutely jampacked, with multiple families, hen parties and big groups letting off steam whilst gathered around enormous plates of food.
The menu has everything you'd expect from an American concept restaurant - big steaks, towering burgers, stacks of chicken and ribs and a bit of salad to keep your mother happy. By the time we'd sat down and enjoy a beer, some wine and a cocktail or two, I was fully back to my first childhood visit to TGI Friday's, but perhaps better. I didn't want to skimp on the occasion, so I went for my desert island dish - a huge full wrack of barbeque ribs, "the big rib off" which is the restaurant's house speciality with their "world-famous" hickory smoked BBQ sauce.
Before this, we also indulged in some starters, having some incredibly cheesey and molten loaded nachos and buffalo chicken wings that gave a good kick. All of the savoury food was a delight - the starters were packed with flavour and a good portion, three of us shared two with no complaints. The ribs themselves took me right back to the first time I ever tried spare ribs; juicy meat that wasn't too tough, falling away from the bone easily and slathered in a generous helping of barbeque sauce, leaving no part of the rack dry.
My mouth was exploding with flavour by the end of the meal, with the rack filling me nicely but not to the point that I felt totally bloated. I even had room for a spot of dessert, trying the day's special of chocolate orange pudding. This proved to be a rich, moist piece of cake topped with a helping of sauce and a partially melted chocolate orange slice, complimented by ice cream.
It all went down a treat. I'm not going to pretend that Back Inn Time fed me anything I've not had before or that the food itself was cooked in a revolutionary way. Sure, if you want pristine quality and elegantly presented dishes, an American diner may not fit your tastes.
But everything we ate was just done so well. Rich, filling, good portions exploding with flavour, eaten within an atmosphere of buzzing joy. My only annoyance coming out of Back Inn Time was that it had taken me so long to have a meal there.
But from the moment I walked in, I was back to being seven years old eating my first spare rib. I cannot wait to go there again. This article is part of EssexLive's series Essex Eats where a member of our team reviews an independent food business in the county.
We don't tell the business we're coming and we don't tell them who we are while we're there. Every meal for EssexEats is paid for by us and not gifted. Check back every Thursday and Saturday for our top pick that week of a great food spot in Essex.
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