Review: Riversway’s Mr. Cheesy van makes tasty but expensive scran

Mr. Cheesy Mr Spicy — The two-and-two-halves of jalapeño slices before fame tore them apart

Don’t worry, Prestonians. Mr. Cheesy is not an 80s blue comedian who’s escaped from headlining at Southport Pontins via a tunnel hidden behind a poster of Katie Hopkins.

It’s a mobile takeaway situated over 22 miles away from there, on the Bowker car park near the red boat in the Docks area, and it’s the next eatery to be reviewed in Blog Preston’s food van series.

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The two jolly servers in the van recommended the Mr. Spicy grilled cheese sandwich, containing Cheddar, tomato, onion and jalapeño. My daughter Ground Zero ordered a Mr. Cheesy filled with Cheddar, blue cheese and parmesan.

To accompany them we had a portion of nacho fries with cheese sauce, jalapeños, tomato and onion, and a portion of chilli and cheese fries with avocado, onion and sour cream.

Probably best to eat the Mr. Cheesy chilli fries where nobody can judge you

The fries were in recyclable cardboard boxes and the toasties were in paper bags, which gave Mr. Cheesy its first thumbs up. The second was for the addition of vegan loaded fries, with a cheesy looking sauce.

The toasties looked and smelled great but were smaller than I expected, and the fillings were a tad thin around the edges.

Despite being on the sparse side for the price (£4.95 each) the cheese flavours were strong so loading more into the toastie wouldn’t have added to the taste, just the calories.

The Mr. Spicy would have benefitted from more of the tomato, jalapeño and onion. I’d have liked the option to add chilli flakes as the only spice came from three mild, small slices of jalapeños huddled in the middle like an arrogant boy band in front of Simon Cowell. He’d tell them that only one member was talented enough to be called Mr. Spicy and the other three should call themselves Mr. Onion and Mr. Tomato and stop holding him back.

The Mr. Cheesy looked even skinnier because it only had melted cheese inside. Just like the Mr. Spicy it didn’t need more cheese due to the strength and quality of that which was used, but for £4.95 the overall size of the toastie was disappointing.

The Mr. Cheesy tasted better than it looked

The nacho fries were Ground Zero’s favourite. Enough topping to add flavour to all of the chips, but not so much that it turned into cheesy chip soup.

The sour cream, avocado and chilli con carne combo was punchy whilst being mild enough for those who don’t like hot or spicy food. I do, so again the option to add chilli flakes would have been welcome.

Mr. Cheesy nacho fries — A little box of cheesy happiness

The loaded fries were £3.95 each, bringing the total to £18.20; on the pricier side for a takeaway lunch for two. Perhaps we got the smaller end slices of the loaf, but although delicious the toastie alone wasn’t enough to feel like a meal. A portion of plain fries added to a toastie is an option at an extra £1.95, but still not cheap for those watching their pennies at a total of £6.90.

The quality and taste of the ingredients are top notch, but the van is competing with other nearby food vans like the Green Frog where you can get a basic cheese toastie with chips for £3. I assume that the cheese used in those is less fancy, but at £3.90 less than a Mr Cheesy with chips, it’s significantly cheaper.

Next time I will leave the toasties out and just have the more substantial “loaded fries,” which by themselves could be classed as a “Scotch egg level” substantial meal by anyone wanting to reopen that bizarre can of lockdown worms and wazz the contents around Preston.

Review: Visiting The Green Frog at Preston Docks for dinner and a show