You would think that a small island,  would have the best quality seafood, everywhere you go.  Thanks to Tasmania we discovered you really need to go in search of a decent fish and chip shop to get the goods.  This is what we tried and loved of the seafood in Tassie.

Our first stop was the seafood on the wharf at Hobart, however to excited about eating we forgot to take a photo, but we did end up going back for some more.  After doing our cooking class we headed up the A10 to Burnie from Hobart.  Doing a little drive out to Stanely to go and see the Nut.  There was a pretty busy fish and chip shop so the chances of getting some goods where high.

the Seafood restaurant did have a fresh seafood shop linked to the side, note the lobster on the roof, yet the restaurant had a shark on the roof…  Our lunch

Seafood basket for 2 and apparently they gave us some extra stuff.  Now the yellow looking batter was slightly flavoured with curry powder.  This can be good but i dont think that oil they used was the freshest.  All of the scallops, seafood sticks even the calamari where frozen processed goods.  Our fish and prawns where real, that was it. A little disappointing, at least we had a bottle of coke to help dissolve the oil that we consumed and not leave our poor little bellies feeling sorry for themselves.

The Nut at Stanely, this is the warning sign of the worst fish and chips in Tasmania.

Along a better note, we went into Burnie a real town, to try another one of the delicacies here in Tassie – Seafood Chowder

I remember Roy rating this chowder pretty highly, having real seafood as ingredients.  I did not mind it but not a huge fan of cream. Obviously was not designed for me.  I had the safe option of Trevalla and Calamari.  We just finished scoffing down cheese at a cheese factory at Burnie.  So was not too hungry but just cant turn down calamari. yumm

it was really delicious, fresh too.  We bought this good lot from Fish Frenzy on the water at Burnie

Recommend the Chowder, and they have a nice range of wines to drink with the seafood, while watching the world go by on the balcony overlooking the sea.  Nice afternoon

Next stop on the seafood trail was a little place that sold oysters fresh to the Public – at Freycinet Marine Farm Bay on the way to Wine Glass Bay.  Worthy of a stop if you love fresh oysters.  Its all so BYO so you can have a drink while slurping down your oysters.

He Finished the lot all to himself.  That was one happy man, who wouldn’t be with a pile of oysters and a bottle of Whisky at your side.

Then after a few days in Wine Glass Bay, we headed down to Port Arthur along the way, we read about this place called the Ugly Duck Out which is in Swansea.  It has been called the Best Fish and Chips in Tassie.

This is the Winner of our taste sensations too, just look at it, fresh, not oily no need for absorbent paper anywhere.  Lightly salted, not too many chips all a big plus for us.  I still dream about this meal, now to find a good version of this in Brisbane or surrounds.

Lastly we made it back to the same chippy at the wharf in Hobart

Back from the Federatiom of Fish Fryers.  I flew Ryanair to Leeds and back for 1 euro each way plus handling fee of 10 euro ( I think), maybe 12.  Ryanair are  brilliant.  The flights leave on time, no assigned seating, room for everybody’s  carryon as nobody is trying to shove extra bags of shopping etc as their carry on luggage.  Everything is up front.  You want to eat, you pay.   You want to drink, you pay.  You want to be pampered, you pay.  You want to fly cheap provided it’s not a rugby or  soccer match or something else that drives up demand you can.

I was astonished when I arrived at Dublin Airport at 4.45 on a Monday morning and the place was  jamming.  There was an army of people marching through on their way to flights to mainland Europe.  No leisurely tourists here.  Busy people with no frills and flounces in sight.  Recessionwoman’s style.

The fish fryers course was a delight from beginning to end.  The tutors ranged in age  from 77 down to 34 but all had lots of experience  in the fish and chip business.  We cooked and ate fish and chips for the three days and learnt everything from hygiene to equipment to actual cooking.  It was worth every penny of the 740 sterling and I have become a very discernong consumer of fast food.

There were 9 students of which I was the only woman.  The only other non British person was from Transylvania of all places.  Most of the other trainees had their own premises or were in partnership with people who owned premises so I was out of sync there.  Still I have a fairly good idea of whats needed in terms of prep area etc.  Also the tutors provide mentoring on an ongoing basis.  They were a really nice  bunch of people and made me realise how  polite, amusing and charming the Brits are.

We have got no reply on our premises offer  and I feel it is not going to pan out so it’s back to the drawing board.  However, knowledge is power and I am looking for a job in a chipper to build  on my learning.

Meantime I am standing firm on “the higher Ground”.

Deary me, my social (media) life has gone somewhat downhill of late! I am officially horrendous at keeping in touch with you my internet world…

I’ve had a tremendously busy couple of weeks (or months, I cant keep count anymore!). I actually thought the time was 9pm as I’ve only just sat down after getting in from work and putting the tea on – but infact it is 10:49pm – woe is me indeed!

I just thought I’d write a quick catch up blog before, well, bedtime really!

Basically, I’ve been working hard and playing harder! Theres been fancy dress, fireworks and actual FIRE… and some lovely flowers too. Man, it’s been ‘fabulous’ for more of a better ‘f’ word. AMAZING. Anywhoo, I would post some pic’s but I’m currently being selective with my face (and my friends faces for that matter) and the internet. Just because there are some unkind folk who would prefer to have an over active imagination and not think about getting caught in the act. LOLZ indeed. But this is by-they-by.

Lots of exciting fashionable stuff going on at work and home. I have lots of recent purchases to share and restaurants to critque!

But for now, I am off to bedfordshire for I am shattered!

Goodboo.

Cxx

]]> http://feedingfamily.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/fried-vs-fresh/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:32:43 +0000 larac78 http://feedingfamily.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/fried-vs-fresh/

Here’s something to consider.

For the same price as fish and chips to feed the family – about $25 – you can buy 1kg of fresh prawns, avocado and some bread.

Squeeze some lemon juice and season the avocado.

Spread it on slice of crusty bread from a good bakery.

A good dollop of seafood sauce, then complete the meal with some peeled prawns.

OK, so maybe 2yr old doesn’t get into the prawns. He prefers to play around with them. We sacrifice one prawn for him.

But 4yr old really enjoys our little floor picnics on prawn night an it has become a regular treat.

When you think of the nutritional value of the prawn meal versus the fried meal I think it becomes clear that it’s not only for taste reasons that fresher choice wins out.

Unless of course you don’t like prawns. Sadly I know too many who do…in which case, go ahead and have fish and chips.

I’ve always thought the cost of take away food is far outweighing it’s usefulness, outside of giving mum the night off. It has become so expensive to eat take away that I think it’s usually cheaper to buy the food fresh and make it yourself.

PS: I’m not pretending I don’t LOVE indulging in the greasy, crispy, salty pleasures of fried food, but when we’re talking about making better choices for our health and our family’s health,  I thought this little comparison illustrates the point nicely.

PPS: This post becomes irrelevant in the weeks surrounding Christmas. As we all know, prices escalate beyond all reason.

By Andrea McCallum

A CHIP shop owner fined £1,200 after health inspectors found a dead mouse in his takeaway last night blamed Edinburgh’s hated tram works.

Furious Carlo Corolla, 41, claims the digs have disturbed so many colonies of vermin across the city – that his Clifton Fish and Chicken Bar is among scores of businesses hit by the unwelcome visitors.

He said: “It’s the tram works, it forces all the rodents up to the shops here.”

Health inspectors who carried out a spot check on his premises on Clifton Terrace said they found  not just dead vermin, but droppings and contaminated food.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday than during the February 3 inspection, they also ventured into the basement where they found a major mouse infestation.

A large dead mouse was found, bags that stored food contained mouse droppings and wafer cones were found covered in urine.

Owner Corolla rushed to the shop after hearing about the inspection,

The fryer was immediately closed by inspectors due to the risk of health. It was shut down for five-and-a-half hours during the blitz.

Corolla, of Main Street, West Calder, had previously pleaded guilty to failing to ensure he kept his premises clean, and failing to ensure materials used for wrapping food were not contaminated and that wafer cones were contaminated with mice droppings and urine.

According to the inspecting officers, a grill in a boarded up window has allowed mice into the premises.

James Grant, Corolla’s solicitor, said the incident was a “one off” and said his client believed the cause of the infestation was due to the ongoing tram works.

He said his client had no idea about the problem and if he had, would have acted swiftly to take action.

Last night Crolla said: “The work have disturbed their nests and everything. All of the shop owners here complain about the tram works.

“I have not noticed any loss of business yet, hopefully it will stay that way. Everything has cleared now, there is now trace of that.”

He added: “I can get you a portion of chips if you want, otherwise you can just get out.”

By Andrea McCallum

A CHIP shop owner fined £1,200 after health inspectors found a dead mouse in his takeaway last night blamed Edinburgh’s hated tram works.

Furious Carlo Corolla, 41, claims the digs have disturbed so many colonies of vermin across the city – that his Clifton Fish and Chicken Bar is among scores of businesses hit by the unwelcome visitors.

He said: “It’s the tram works, it forces all the rodents up to the shops here.”

Health inspectors who carried out a spot check on his premises on Clifton Terrace said they found  not just dead vermin, but droppings and contaminated food.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday than during the February 3 inspection, they also ventured into the basement where they found a major mouse infestation.

A large dead mouse was found, bags that stored food contained mouse droppings and wafer cones were found covered in urine.

Owner Corolla rushed to the shop after hearing about the inspection,

The fryer was immediately closed by inspectors due to the risk of health. It was shut down for five-and-a-half hours during the blitz.

Corolla, of Main Street, West Calder, had previously pleaded guilty to failing to ensure he kept his premises clean, and failing to ensure materials used for wrapping food were not contaminated and that wafer cones were contaminated with mice droppings and urine.

According to the inspecting officers, a grill in a boarded up window has allowed mice into the premises.

James Grant, Corolla’s solicitor, said the incident was a “one off” and said his client believed the cause of the infestation was due to the ongoing tram works.

He said his client had no idea about the problem and if he had, would have acted swiftly to take action.

Last night Crolla said: “The work have disturbed their nests and everything. All of the shop owners here complain about the tram works.

“I have not noticed any loss of business yet, hopefully it will stay that way. Everything has cleared now, there is now trace of that.”

He added: “I can get you a portion of chips if you want, otherwise you can just get out.”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

Chicken Chow Mein, fish and chips, Hawaiian pizza – the carnage of a late night take away. Take out tends to only taste good when you’re drunk or desperately hungry – but why order take out when you can ‘take in’ at home.  The greasy spoon favourites don’t need to come with extra helpings of MSG; you can cook all the take away classics in your own home without the disgrace of being surrounded by polystyrene cartons in the morning. More…

Really nice place to chill and have big portions of Australian fish and chips. There are many types of fish to choose from, and this is what makes their fish and chips more special than others.

Stall name: Double Bay Australian Restaurant & Bar
Location: 252 North Bridge Road #01-22A Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore 179103
Tel: 63346530 (must make reservations!)

Diese Briten!

Bekanntlich ist das Verhältnis zwischen und Israelis und Briten nicht das unkomplizierteste und von allerlei unschönen historischen Ereignissen, vor allem aus der Mandatszeit, geprägt und auch die zunehmende Islamisierung und das immer mehr zunehmende Dhimmi-Tum der Insel ist alles andere als toll.

Nun hatte ich das Vergnügen im Rahmen von vertraglichen Wartungsarbeiten an UAVs mit einigen britischen Soldaten und Contractors zu tun, die erst vor kurzem in Afghanistan und dem Irak eingesetzt und nun zurückgekehrt waren. Wir hatten etliche Stunden miteinander zu tun und kamen recht gut ins Gespräch.

Natürlich ging es auch um den Krieg gegen den Terror, Cast Lead und ihrer Erfahrungen und Anekdoten aus ihrem Kampf gegen die Taliban, u.a. Helmand Provinz und den von ihnen kontrollierten Gebieten im Irak.

Michael Yon, der einige Zeit, außer mit dem Amerikanern, vor allem mit den Briten, auf beiden Schauplätzen “embedded” war und dabei von vorderster Front arg ungeschönt über den Verlauf des Krieges berichtete, bis ihm, wohl weil er zu vielen Politikern und Stabshengsten dabei auf die Füße getreten hatte, kurzfristig die Genehmigungen verlor und die Zusammenarbeit beenden musste, hat wohl ziemlich Recht mit seiner Einschätzung! Es mangelt ihnen an einiger Ausrüstung, Fahrzeugen mit ausreichender Schutzwirkung und letztlich auch Truppen um wirklich etwas erreichen zu können und nicht jedes mal nachdem sie, oft unter hohem Blutzoll, einen Vorteil errungen haben, ihn nach dem angeordneten Rückzug, oder aus Mangel an Verstärkung wieder hergeben müssen.

Trotzdem ist ihre Kampfmoral hoch! Und sie pflegen ihren ganz eigenen britischen Humor und haben ihre besonderen Bezeichnungen für die Dinge.

Nehmen wie den Kampf im bebauten Gelände.

Die Amerikaner nennen es MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain), bzw. neuerdings nur UO (Urban Operations) während die offizielle Bezeichnung der britischen Armee OBUA (Operations in Built-Up Areas), or FIBUA (Fighting in Built-Up Areas) lautet.

Die britischen Soldaten nennen es einfach “FISH and CHIPS” – die Abkürzung von “Fighting In Someone’s House and Causing Havoc In People’s Streets” – was wohl die tatsächliche Abläufe am ehesten beschreibt. Das zeigt, das sie ziemlich genau über die Notwendigkeiten und Realitäten Bescheid wissen und sich, anders als ihre und unsere Politiker, keinen romantischen Vorstellungen über diese Dinge hingeben und auch wissen warum und wofür sie und ihre Kameraden kämpfen.

Und so ist der Auftritt und die Aussage des Colonel Richard Kemp vor der UNO, in dem er Israel Vorgehen bei Cast Lead verteidigte und die IDF als moralischste Armee bezeichnete und klarstellte, das Selbstverteidigung kein Kriegsverbrechen sein kann, nicht als Meinung eines Einzelnen zu sehen, sondern eher so, dass wir Freunde und Verbündete dort haben, die unser Vorgehen nicht nur nachvollziehen sondern auch verstehen können, wo wir es manchmal am wenigsten erwarten würden.

Ich jedenfalls salutiere vor diesen britischen Soldaten, die weit weg von zu Hause, ohne ausreichende Unterstützung und auf wohl recht verlorenem Posten, trotz allem ihre Pflicht erfüllen und dafür sorgen, das ihre und unsere Familien und all die, die in Afghanistan frei sein wollen, möglichst ohne Angst leben und schlafen können und dafür ihr Leben riskieren.

McKibbins Irish Pub

Si vous cherchez un endroit où manger un bon Fish and chips, allez au McKibbins Irish Pub! Dans ce pub de la rue Bishop, vous trouverez autant une bonne cuisine “irlando-américano-québécoise”, qu’une ambiance sympathique.

Au menu, poulet pané, burger, viande de bison, tortillas et bien sûr une excellente assiette de Fish and chips servie avec une sauce tartare, du citron et une salade de choux. Du paté chinois, de la tourtière et de la poutine sont aussi au menu.

Pour accompagner le tout, le bar offre un choix de bières plutôt intéressant, comme de la  Harp et la fameuse bière noire Guinness.

J’ai beaucoup aimé la salle du pub, car elle est entièrement recouverte de briques et de bois. Le soir, la lumière est tamisée et des bougies éclairent les tables, tandis que l’été, une terrasse arrière est ouverte aux clients.

Au final, si vous n’êtes pas très adepte des pub, le McKibbins Irish Pub est un bon endroit pour renouer avec eux.

McKibbins Irish Pub
1426, rue Bishop
Montréal (Québec)
H3G 2E6

Prix : De 15 à 30 $ tout compris par personne pour une entrée, un plat et une bière
Les plus : Le Fish and chips, la rapidité du service, la terrasse en été
Les moins : Les serveurs ne parlent pas tous français
Note : 4 /5

maybe the definition of concentrate.

New Zealands best top chip shop has been annonced it was won by Oceanz in Silverdale, located 35km north of Auckland, in this year’s best chip shop competition. Chip shops were judged on the freshness and colour of their chips, shop cleanliness and customer service. Regional finalists were decided through public text voting, mystery judging and chip fat analysis across New Zealand before the six regional winners and the overall winner were then chosen by a panel of judges. Not every F & C shop entered but it gives a pretty clear indication of quality.

But how did the Hutt Valley fair, and where is your local?

The regional finalist for Wellington was from the Hutt Valley and was So Fine Seafood at 2 Tennyson Avenue, Avalon, Lower Hutt.

I have freqented here and must say while not highly visible to the public being off High Street it certainly draws the crowds come Friday. Disappointingly they dont have EFTPOS which I always find annoying, and has caused me to travel further afield on occasion.

As for the rest of the Valley, finalists were:

Moby Dick’s Fish & Chip 51 Witako Street, Lower Hutt

Samo’s Seafood 52 Holdsworth Ave, Upper Hutt

Waterloo Fisheries 1 Hardy Street, Lower Hutt

Blue Island Seafood 131 Randwick Road, Lower Hutt

All competitions aren’t created equal and remember it was for the best chip not the fish, but great result for the Valley.

Whats your favourite?

My winner would be Ocean Blue Seafoods, the most cleanest, polite, prompt service I have had in the Valley. They are at 812 High Street corner of High Street and Park Road.

St Mary's churchyard, Whitby

<For quick links on where we went in Whitby, scoot to the bottom. For general ramblings read on!>

Now, what with Halloween approaching and suchlike, it seemed like a good idea to trot off to Whitby, on the North East coast of the UK. It’s famous for quite a few things, but fish & chips and being the setting for large parts of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ are probably the main ones. With that in mind, Diceman, the Bear and The Director anticipated much spookiness as we headed over the moors.

In summer, the journey over to Whitby is glorious. Yorkshire’s moors are almost unfairly beautiful, splashed with purple and broken up by amusingly suicidal sheep lining up to laugh at the Hole of Horcum (Diceman is definitely too old to find this name amusing. Definitely). In the autumn it’s a different, more dramatic story – low skies, blasts of rain, the occasional rainbow and giant black clouds rolling towards the cliffs like an avalanche. Your first glimpse of Whitby is the silhouette of the abbey, skeletal against the sky, before you come down from the heather and into the town. Goth-tastic.

After that, however, it’s not a scary place at all, apart from the monstrous 60s office block a bunch of boneheaded town planners dropped into the middle of things. Instead it’s a jumbled mass of red-roofed buildings mingling with crumbling (but still wistfully glamorous) hotels, a snug harbour where a replica of James Cook’s ‘Endeavour’ reminds visitors of the town’s other famous name, and a slew of fish & chip shops, hippy boutiques and the odd arcade plonked towards the end of the pier. Whitby’s got a cobbled, tea-room charm but doesn’t want you to forget that it’s also a working fishing town – chippies boast ‘best in town according to the locals’ signs and the Whitby Gazette is everywhere to remind you that life goes on regardless of your holiday. It’s fair enough – a town doesn’t stare down the barrel of the North Sea for its entire life, getting raided by Vikings, shot at by German battleships and invaded every year by hordes of Goths, without developing a certain kind of weatherbeaten welcome.

But there’s definitely a welcome here, however different. The grizzled chap in the pub who recommended a type of unpronounceable whisky to me, or the long-suffering barman he’d been chewing the ear of, for example; or the blustering cake shop lady cheerily bellowing about the daftness of these ‘wheat intolerant ones’ as she gloated over something fabulously unsuitable for them; all were splendid.

But what of the spookiness? Well, staying in the kitschest, cutest, four-poster-beddest little boutique room didn’t swoop a cloak of dread over things for starters, and nor did the pretty little courtyard it overlooked, complete with trailing plants, fuchsias and quaint little wholefood shop attached to it (more of that anon). In fact, there are only the faintest of nods to the Count in town – a Dracula exhibition promising Christopher Lee’s cape, a sinister looking sweet shop and a couple of sexually ambiguous goths were all we spotted. It changes when you climb the 199 steps to St Mary’s church and the Abbey, though.

Is it spooky up there because I’ve read Dracula, or is Dracula spooky because it so perfectly evokes what it’s like up there? Hard to tell. But there’s definitely something more mournful than your average churchyard about it – perhaps it’s the obdurate stockiness of the church itself, with the gutted remains of the Abbey frowning down on it; it could be the sheer number of crooked tombstones, all pocked and ravaged by the elements; or it could be the location, teetering over the North Sea – from up there, it swirls like mercury around the rocks, thick and freezing cold.

Maybe it’s all of that, but really for Diceman it’s the church itself, which is very strange indeed. Its proportions are somehow wrong and ungainly, and inside there’s none of the comfortable serenity that even Diceman, a bit of a heathen, can feel in churches. Instead it feels like a lifeboat: a thing that exists only to save you from terror, that can offer no more reassurance than that it might – and only might – deliver you from the tempest. It’s a place built to honour the God of the edges of the world, a maker of oceans and undertows and storms, a place for people to shelter from higher powers. Inside, the pews are boxed in and high sided, the congregation cattled in to face each other as if in dinghys after a wreck, crammed together in whatever order would fit, with the pulpit haphazardly aloft in the centre. Some of the box-pews are labelled ‘Strangers’; above everything a hanging mezzanine helps stuff in more of the shipwrecked. You don’t go here to seek comfort from God: you go because you’re afraid of him. Little wonder Dracula’s arrival and subsequent lurking around this fearful place was so chilling.

The Abbey, on the other hand, is stirring and atmospheric, but certainly not as forbidding. Unless you count the territorial duck that shouted at us and made The Director scream. What’s remarkable is how it endures, despite centuries of pummeling by wind and sea, plundering by greedy kings and gentry, and battering by artillery (the German battleship actually hit it with a shell). The only thing not damaging it are geese: there are none here, and none ever fly over it, apparently. It seems that one had the temerity to ‘bomb’ an Abbess many centuries back; the outraged lady cursed all geese to fall dead if they ever approached the abbey. ‘Love they neighbour’ obviously doesn’t apply to winged things…

Whitby-ness!

The Shepherd’s Purse B&B

Very cute, VERY pink, and very charming – we arrived to find our cosy little room all warm and lit with fairy lights. There were suitably battered old copies of Edgar Allen Poe by the bed, loads of Rajasthani blankets to ward off the October chill and very friendly owners. However, someone should remind them that if you call yourself a Bed and Breakfast, people are going to want feeding in the morning. They don’t do breakfast. Doh! Instead, slightly bemused staff in the wholefood store that makes up the other half of the Purse empire will look at each other and say ‘it’s funny, everyone who stays here always wants to know where they can get breakfast.’ Happily, they knew just the place…

Java

Just up the winding hill from the harbourside, this little diner has got the retro thing right: high stools, long counters, neon colours and shiny metal, plus a lively atmosphere – but more importantly absolutely gigantic breakfast sandwiches. Diceman got thick slices of bacon and three huge slabs of excellent black pudding between toasted bread, all cooked perfectly without a trace of a greasy spoon. The coffee was great, too, and there was even a nutter talking to himself the whole time to add some colour. They squeeze their juice fresh, as well.

Marie Antoinette’s patisserie, 139 Church St

The only place Diceman has ever been where they add waffles to the top of cheesecake, just in case it wasn’t already decadent enough. Like everywhere on Church street it’s about as big as a phone box, but has loads of character. Upstairs there’s a creaky old gramophone amongst black and white Parisienne furniture and old pictures; downstairs the till is a push-button affair from the days before t’electric came. Every now and then they open the door to the baking room and smells of absurd deliciousness waft out.

Moutrey’s Italian Restaurant, 9 Grape Lane

‘How fresh is the seafood on your pizzas?’ quoth Diceman. It duly arrived stacked with prawns, squid, mussels and one whole little octopus in the middle, all fresh that day. Outstanding. The Director, a vegan, was less impressed; just as well I didn’t make them do the ‘Under the Sea’ song from Disney’s Little Mermaid, then…

Mr Chip’s fish & chips, Church St

Voted best in town by the locals according to the Whitby Gazette, this place isn’t as good as the Magpie Cafe, but is still very good indeed. You get the option of fish from sustainable species, instead of cod and haddock; Diceman had the sweet and flaky Panga, which I’m assured is a real fish, and was mightily impressed.

Fish and chips, large

The kindest thing I can think to say about this experience was that the presentation was pretty impressive – just look at that large, rectangular plate and the obvious attention to detail put into the way everything is displayed.

But it’s a pity the person who spent the time placing each of those potato fingers in such a neat stack hadn’t spotted the fact that just about everything on the plate was burnt, to help them out for the future – that brown done-to-a-crisp glow is usually a bit of a give away.

Anyway we gave it our best shot and here’s what we found.

Batter: When you were a kid did your grandparents ever give you nut brittle? It looked so exciting but, even if your tooth enamel survived the experience, was surprisingly uninteresting. Little reward for effort exerted. Well the memories came flooding back. A solid experience and a challenge to get through, this had something of the heat lamp about it.

Fish: Overcooked to the point of spoiled. Once the barrier batter had been broken through, there was a small chance the fish inside might have survived but it was pretty dry. Such a shame as it looked a nice big portion.

Peas: Too sweet, too small, too smooth and too colourful. Oh dear.

Chips: They may be (called) chips, but they’re not as we know it. Squares of skin-on potato which appeared to have been baked. There was no crispness, just a warm, flaccid thing which managed to be filling without being fulfilling. Maybe a lashing or three of vinegar would have pepped it up but none was on offer.

Verdict: On the plus side, the restaurant serves a really good selection of teas so our pots of peppermint were very welcome. As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, this venue in The Station building provides a relaxed atmosphere and there’s a lot on the menu to enjoy. Just not the fish and chips going by this experience and at £8.95 it’s far from cheap.

Seasons Restaurant and Cafe Bar is at The Station, Richmond, North Yorkshire.