Mollie’s Motel & Diner on the A420 is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a soft, sweet burger bun. Why has Soho House opened a Happy Eater-meets-Crossroads motel 16 miles from Swindon, between Littleworth and Kingston Bagpuize? Are the beautiful people secretly drawn there? Are they lured by limestone, the only interesting thing that’s occurred in this postcode since the late Jurassic epoch? And what terrifying debt of honour did Declan Donnelly owe owner Nick Jones that he made the trip to Mollie’s for the opening party?
These questions and more have been on my lips since this attractive, 1950s Americana-themed building opened its doors in February, offering a short, fuss-free menu of burgers, loaded nachos, crinkle-cut fries and trays of rotisserie chicken. At breakfast, there are bacon baps and hash browns. There are fancy ketchups on the tables, Cowshed products in the bathrooms, a DJ playing quietly of a Saturday night and, like most things Jones chucks his weight behind, there is clearly a method in this madness.
The biggest customer gripe I noted on the weekend I spent there was that it’s so popular, it is almost impossible to get in. So many families and groups of friends from Oxford, Swindon and all over the Cotswolds had met there, hoping for a little Soho House aspiration sprinkled on their fries, that the no-reservations system was swamped. At Mollie’s, £22 will buy you a rotisserie chicken for two with corn on the cob, crinkle-cut fries and refillable sodas. Miraculously, a trained, actually capable bartender will make you a very good old fashioned or even an espresso martini. The menu is thoughtful, modern and slightly glamorous, and the food decent. There’s the “Dirty Burger” – patty, cheddar, mustard, mayo – from Jones’s chain of London shops, as well as that menu’s butter lettuce and avocado salad with mustard dressing. There is the Pure F!lth vegan burger by Gizzi Erskine and a veggie hotdog with crisp onions. There’s even a grain bowl with quinoa and buckwheat, if you’re feeling saintly. To stun kids temporarily, there’s an Oreo milkshake and a mini-menu with cod goujons and mac’n’cheese.
For around 70 quid, you can stay overnight in a sparse but tasteful room, a kind of Scandic minimalist retreat room overlooking nothing, with a comfy bed, an aggressively good shower, a TV and very little more. If you wish to sink a few Mollie’s margaritas, you can park up, have dinner and drink, kip and eat waffles, bacon and maple syrup for breakfast the following morning.
Yes, it’s all a bit weird. There is literally nothing else to do aside from eat at the diner or walk to the Marks & Spencer’s food outlet in the nearby BP garage, or lie on your bed feeling like Alan Partridge. But still, Mollie’s feels perfectly pitched to succeed. There may be nothing here to wow those folk who spend £400-plus a night hiring cabins at Soho Farmhouse in Great Tew, 25 miles down the road, but let them keep their splendid isolation. Mollie’s is a cool blast of fresh air for anyone who has eaten through gritted teeth at a Brewers Fayre merely because it’s a family-friendly option and close to a Premier Inn. Jones wants to pilfer this market, plus any passing Instagram-content junkies; dating couples who fancy a burger, a cocktail and a shag; and business travellers who are pig sick of tired menus and begrudging breakfast buffets.
We hung out three times at Mollie’s Diner, using it as a base for other eating around the Cotswolds. Quite simply: I’d stay again. At lunchtime, a buttermilk chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo, ketchup and iceberg lettuce was hot, fresh and alluring. Sweet potato fries were pleasantly ever-so slightly overdone and satisfyingly smothered in Mollie’s barbecue sauce. A cod burger, featuring a clonking chunk of actual breadcrumbed fish, was how the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish was possibly supposed to taste at one point in time. We drank excellent cocktails that evening from 9-10pm, perched in the bizarre “bar” area that is actually an entrance lobby, but after a few martinis, you won’t be fussy.
The next morning, the kitchen at Mollie’s was broken, which meant, in the cold light of day, I was on holiday at a BP garage on the A420. Eventually, they came up with an ultra-limited menu of thick waffles that turned out to be the sweetest, crispest and freshest I have ever tasted, all loaded with berries and fresh cream. Nothing makes sense about Mollie’s. We’re on a road to nowhere. Come on inside.
Mollie’s Motel & Diner Shrivenham Road, Buckland, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, 01367 707777. Open all week, 7am-10pm. About £20 a head, plus drinks and service.
Food 8/10
Atmosphere 7/10
Service 8/10
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