M&S Kitchen, the Fitch-designed standalone café-restaurant concept from Marks & Spencer, has now opened at Whitefriars, Canterbury. I must confess that Coverpoint also had a small part to play in this, but that aside, Mrs D and I approached the visit with completely open minds.

Standing next to the main store but with its own frontage, this unit offers an all-day range of quality food and beverage in keeping with the M&S brand. I started my new year resolutions early with porridge and fresh fruit topped with a little honey while Mrs D stuck to old favourites including a fresh croissant and a double-shot latte. My fresh fruit smoothie was excellent, as were all the products, but I think the team were slightly overwhelmed by the level of business and constant customer demand! A nice problem to have and at £8 all in, a reasonable spend for the business.

The interior design has some nice quirky features including a wall of information on products, local activities and other titbits which makes a welcome change from the 'standard' finish of many of today's offers. Look out also for the cup set in the wall and fabulous 'sharing' table. Really nice touches.

You could not fault the number of staff that were present to man the main counter and the faster service 'Express' counter nearer the door. Coffee production was probably slower than we would have liked, but the end result was worth waiting for.

In summary, the concept is a refreshing addition to the high street foodservice mix. If the press releases and general market 'chat' are to be believed, M&S have foodservice firmly in their sights for 2007.

The service snags, which can be expected with a new opening and are easily remedied, were minor when taking the great product quality and enormous customer acceptance into account. We say, watch out for M&S in 2007. This is not just any old Kitchen, this is M&S Kitchen!

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