Perhaps I'm being a bit of a snob, but a large red double-decker bus converted into a restaurant doesn't necessarily fill me with confidence when it comes to quality grub.

My fear is it's all a bit of a gimmick - a case of expecting you to enjoy the experience of, ahem, eating on public transport while not actually achieving its originally-designed aim, namely getting you from the proverbial A to B.

But then you know what they say about judging a book by its cover.

Margate is clearly greedy when it comes to the world of transforming buses into eateries. There's one plonked just inside the door of the Old Kent Market and there is another parked just off the Royal Crescent Promenade at the other end of the seafront stretch.

And it is the latter we rock up at on a bright, but slightly chilly, Saturday lunchtime.

The crowds in Margate are a little subdued today...the national rail strike has denied the town its normal flow of tourists from the station just over the road. What better day, then, to take the bus.

The Bus Café is parked just below the Nayland Rock Hotel (a seafront venue which prompts me to think "If only someone with deep pockets did this place up it could be sensational" every time I walk past its tired old exterior).

The bus, by way of contrast, is a flash of colour and modernity.

It has been joined by a string of enticing looking food and drink outlets along the sea wall in an area called The Sun Deck.

They have sprung up over recent years, all decked out in colourful timber cladding. And - here's the snob in me again - very much aimed at the middle-classes who are flocking to the revitalised town. So we're talking 'skin-on' fries, fish and chips with a twist and a dazzling array of vegan grub.

If truth be known, my target destination was Po' Boy - The Creole Fish Hut a couple of doors along. But it's shut. So the bus it is.

Slightly to my relief, there's not enough space to sit inside - so we perch on a table on the covered decking area. The cover rather conveniently absorbing the chilly sea breeze which means we're sat enjoying the fresh air and sunshine as we're handed a menu.

The Bus Café, it must be said, provides a rather glorious clash of the old and new - sophistication and kitsch.

A big double-decker with a laminated menu, where breakfast is clearly a big deal on, perhaps, Kent's most famous kiss-me-quick sea front. Yet, the menu reeks of quality cuisine. It's all 'organic soughdough' , 'mumbled eggs', homemade pickles this and balsamic glaze that.

Clearly, I am going to have to hastily reconsider my stance on buses repurposed into diners. Or, at least, this one.

Its key dishes are its all-day breakfasts - festooned with award-winners no less - and its smaller 'light bite' dishes are variations on the same theme.

From crumpets to beans or egg or mushrooms on soughdough toast, everything sounds extremely promising with just that touch or pretension to annoy those for whom any good breakfast should be followed by a major coronary incident.

I opt for The Veggie (£11), a dish which promises me (amongst other things) re-fried smokey Heinz baked beans. Now, I am something of a connoisseur of the humble baked bean. Re-fried and smokey is new to me.

Not only that but it includes crisped halloumi - a substance I am fast growing an addiction for - tamari mushrooms and mumbled egg. A cross, Mr Google informs me, between fried and scrambled eggs.

My dining party all opt for bits from the 'light bites' menu (between £6-7.50 each) - leaving me feeling a big piggish - and pots of 'builder's tea' and filter coffee are delivered to our table by friendly and efficient staff members.

A cup of tea is an easy enough thing to make. But rarely achieved with much aplomb. This is, it should be said, a proper cup of tea with clout. So far so good.

After a short wait the food arrives en masse.

They say the first bite is with the eyes and if you subscribe to that theory then the first here is a scrumptious one. Someone has thought long and hard about presentation and the plate arrives with the food artistically stacked and with a colour palette which would not look out of place down the road at the Turner Contemporary.

The bigger question, though, is whether my taste palate will laud it.

Before we go any further though, it should be said a big breakfast is not something I'd normally go for. They are too heavy, too greasy and tend to send my blood sugar levels soaring to the extent all I can think of doing afterwards is sleeping for about three hours while my malfunctioning pancreas gets itself into gear.

So I have some trepidation as I take the first bite.

I won't take you through a blow-by-blow account of eating a breakfast dish at lunchtime, but this really is something else. The lightness of touch, the clever blend of flavours and the complete lack of stodge makes this a truly outstanding meal.

Even fooling around with the hallowed baked bean works.

I've never thought the words 'light and fragrant' could be applied to a full-on breakfast, but this is just that. The artful drizzle of balsamic add a zing you're not expecting, while the halloumi lurks in the centre of the stack for you to discover just when you thought this dish couldn't get any better.

The meal ends (and how I wished it could have gone on) with me in almost slack-jaw amazement/ A converted double-decker bus on a seafront in front of a grotty-looking hotel really shouldn't be so damn good.

I am reliably informed the 'light bites' were equally as well crafted.

As we stroll away - and for five of us all food and drink cost a smidge under £45 - there is no sense that my arteries are heavy under the weight of oil and fat. This is what are breakfasts should aspire to be.

As for having breakfast at lunchtime? Well, frankly, this meal was so well crafted and put together, it could easily pass for a main dish at any time of day. But given it closes at 2.30pm don't plan an evening jaunt.

So I'm very sorry The Bus Café for ever underestimating you. This is a stop everyone travelling through Thanet - actually, make that Kent - ought to make.

Out of five:

Food: Oh my. This was top-notch food in the most unexpected of surroundings. First rate *****

Drink: A 'proper' cup of tea and a very nice filter coffee. And you can have oat milk if that's more your thing *****

Decor: Given we didn't go inside, I can only guess at the upstairs seating area of the bus itself - but if the weather is good, you lose nothing from being sat outside overlooking the sandy beach ****

Staff: Smiles, efficient service and friendly. Couldn't fault anyone *****

Price: I'm sure you could find a greasy spoon in Margate who will offer you a pile 'em high approach to a full English at half the cost, but at £11 for The Veggie it is, honestly, a bargain for the quality. And less than £45 for four people including drinks? A great, great deal *****