We feasted at Ipswich’s new 24 hour diner VQ, in the Buttermarket Shopping Centre, and this is what we thought

We decided to have a taste of Ipswich’s new ‘24 hour’ diner to see if a chain’s first restaurant outside London was all it was cracked up to be.

VQ – short for vingt-quatre, or 24 in French – is a new ‘24-hour’ diner that recently opened in the Buttermarket Shopping Centre.

On offer is a bevy of classic diner dishes, ranging from all-day breakfasts, milkshakes, burgers, steaks, pasta and more.

We popped in during its opening week to sample some of the tucker on the menu.

The restaurant has a very ‘London feel’, with street art, neon and colourful decorations.

VQ’s main selling point is its weekend opening hours. From May 9, it will welcome weekend diners from Friday morning right through to Sunday night, so if you get the munchies when Revolution kicks out at 3am, you are in luck.

However, it is worth noting the restaurant was relatively empty when we visited, despite it being 7pm on a Friday –although this could be due to the fact it has only ‘soft launched’.

There were no complaints about service, however, especially given it is a relatively new team.

Our starters, halloumi fries (£7.95), crispy calamari (£7.95) and spicy chicken wings (£14.50 for a sharer portion) arrived within minutes of ordering.

Now, halloumi is halloumi, when you’ve had it once you’ve had it all – it was nice but nothing special.

Calamari, however, is very easy to get wrong. I’m pleased to report VQ’s is decent, but do make sure you squeeze lemon on it first as it lacks a little something without it.

Now, the wings. These had a kick to them even without the hot sauce, so if you’re preparing to have them, I’d heed this warning (unless you love spicy food). The chicken fell off the bone. Good stuff.

Up next were the mains. I ordered a rib-eye steak (£26.95) and I probably got it a bit rarer than I should have, but it did melt in my mouth and was well seasoned, although it didn’t have as much colour on the outside as I’d have expected.

The steak came with peppercorn sauce and skin-on fries.

My Dad ordered a full English breakfast (£10.50 regular, £16.50 large) which came with many of the usual accompaniments – hash browns, bacon, mushrooms, eggs, beans, an English muffin and more.

He said he was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food, portion sizes and the price – although he felt drinks were expensive.

He also praised the location of the diner, its decor and staff service.

My sister tucked into a chicken burger (£12.95) with skin-on fries, which she enjoyed.

Having already eaten earlier that evening, my girlfriend ordered the VQ salad (£12.95), which she described as ‘refreshing, colourful and bursting with flavour’.

When it comes to desserts, there is a choice of churros, apple crumble, Eton mess, a brownie, cheesecake and four flavours of ice cream.

Between us we had a (very large) Eton Mess (£7.50), salted caramel ice cream (£2.75 per scoop) and a brownie (£7.95).

All four of us were surprised by the size of the Eton Mess, but the three desserts equally went down a treat.

Overall, the food is better than you’d get in any run-of-the-mill diner.

The prices of some items might be a contentious point, but I think VQ is worth a try if you’re in the area. As to whether it’s worth a trip into Ipswich, I’ll leave that to your discretion.