I visited the Telford restaurant where the sheer humanity of the people who run it is what sets it apart

The first impression of The Vineyard Cantonese Restaurant is perhaps a shrug of the shoulders. At least it is when you’re on the car park.

Because on the outskirts of Wellington, on a unprepossessing slice of tarmacadam, there’s a restaurant that looks a little bit like a bungalow with a bunch of fairy lights or plastic vines – I was paying attention to the road, rather than the fittings – draped outside.

It was slightly underwhelming. Not much to write home about. Unlikely to win an award for being the prettiest restaurant in the prettiest town. You know the drill. A shrug of the shoulders. That.

And yet. When I called an hour ahead to book a table, the guy on the other end of the phone couldn’t have been more polite.

And when I stepped across the workaday threshold, the same guy was thoroughly welcoming, thoroughly polite. Extending a welcoming arm, he offered seats and tables, either amid the hustle and bustle of early evening diners, or in a quiet corner, alone with my thoughts.

I opted for the latter, though it was alone with a smartphone and the day’s sports’ results, rather than plain old billy-no-mates.

And that’s where the staff showed themselves to be deliciously human and more than a little kind. They’d sensibly decided to heat one side of the dining room – the one where all the others were sitting.

And, with costs for energy spiralling ever higher, they’d left the other half at ambient temperature… Until I sat down. At which point, another member of the team came over to turn the radiator up to full. She returned a few minutes, then again, to make sure that I was warm like toast.

Here’s the thing. Vineyard isn’t a fancy dan restaurant. It’s not somewhere that people would necessarily use for a special occasion.

It’s a regular restaurant, nothing fancy. And the sheer humanity of the people who run it are what sets it apart.

It might not have a corn fed chicken on the menu, or sensational ingredients that are hard to find, but it makes up for that by being, well, really, really nice.