Mysteries of our time no 1 - Chip shops

Got one a few minutes walk away, the food is really good, no soggy batter.
At lunch times the cook to order which is a pain as when I fancy some on the way home I just want to get home asap and relax
so don't do that.
Last time I went there in the evening there were 2 huge queues, one taking orders and the other for collecting them which was getting ever longer.
In the 20 minutes I stood there waiting to give in my order I never saw one person served with food, despite there being plenty in the hot
bits, I gave up.
From what |I've heard a lot of other people have too, will be shame if it closes due to this what seems new way of doing things, it never
used to be like it before they had fire damage a few months back
 
My pet hate is anaemic chips, many chippies seem to suffer with this, I assume its an attempt to save energy. Don't know how as the fryer must be up to temp all the time.
Many a time I've asked for chips to be put back in the fryer (sometimes twice).
Not a good profession to be in if you can't cook chips.
 
A chippy thats got fish on the rack cooked half an hour ago is one not worth visiting. Actually thats a paradox as clearly no-one is visiting :)
It depends on the time of day. Fridays are probably the busiest. I recall one chippy that I used to visit that was dead quiet after 2pm until the evening so that's when I used to go. The chap would make it fresh to order so I didn't mind the wait.

Try ordering a veggie wrap meal in a Macky D's drive through, its a stone wall guarantee your going to be asked to park in the waiting bay.......drive through? my eye it is.
I've ordered that whilst in drive-thru and never had an issue but with some orders if they can't get it to you there and then and there's a queue, you have to go park and wait.

I was once queuing so long at a local chippy, I asked if they were actually serving food...... or was it just an exhibition. :mad:
One of our "local" ones (I have to drive there and it takes 5 mins) has a queue that goes out the door and around the corner. It's only open for something like 3 hours a day for lunch times and 3 hours on a Friday evening. But it makes enough money that it can sustain the business and I know the extended family go on a holiday twice a year for two weeks.
 
Ours generally has some waiting. The annoying thing is that they are closed at Sunday lunch time.

There is another one down by the seafront and whenever there has been an event on which would ensure hundreds of people walking past at the end, I have been amazed to see that they are always closed.

It's as if they don't want to make any money.


Steve.
 
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Can't say that I've ever had a non seaside local chippy (ie. takeaway only...not a sit-down place), that's opened on a Sunday lunchtime.
 
The seafront one isn't open Sunday lunchtimes either! A couple of times on a Sunday, I wanted to get chips and both shops in the high street were closed. On the second occasion I had the brilliant plan of walking down to the seafront shop which was about a mile away and they were closed too.

The two in the town also close at 9pm. If I owned them I would have them open late at night at the weekend when people are walking home from the pubs.


Steve.
 
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The seafront one isn't open Sunday lunchtimes either! A couple of times on a Sunday, I wanted to get chips and both shops in the high street were closed. On the second occasion I had the brilliant plan of walking down to the seafront shop which was about a mile away and they were closed too.

The two in the town also close at 9pm. If I owned them I would habe them open late at night at the weekend when people are walking home from the pubs.


Steve.

Oh well that's just sick and wrong!
Shame on them
 
The seafront one isn't open Sunday lunchtimes either! A couple of times on a Sunday, I wanted to get chips and both shops in the high street were closed. On the second occasion I had the brilliant plan of walking down to the seafront shop which was about a mile away and they were closed too.

The two in the town also close at 9pm. If I owned them I would habe them open late at night at the weekend when people are walking home from the pubs.


Steve.

I think it's something to do with Sunday opening hours. I think it's an anomaly that Chinese chippies (or rather Chinese takeaways that also serve F&Cs) are exempt.
 
Hum fresh cooked as opposed to something that may have stood for sometime...

:agree:

And I like my fish lightly battered thanks, the ones left congealing in the heat lamp cubby are always thick with batter........and grease YUK

SAVELOY....Who eats that.......Offal ground up with flavorings and deep fried....no thanks.
 
SAVELOY....Who eats that.......Offal ground up with flavorings and deep fried....no thanks.

A case of each to their own.
I don't know how anyone can eat Marmite....peanut butter....or shellfish...but plenty do.
 
When I was a kid, the local chippy used to give you little bags of batter scraps if you asked for them.
They were lovely. They also used to do potato ftitters...also in batter...also delicious.

Potato fritters! Flashback to my childhood, yum.
 
Our local chippie still sells potato fritters. Almost everything is cooked to order, though they do have a small selection of popular items ready to go at busier times. They even do on-line ordering and delivery from some branches.

The workflow is quite efficient - you place your order with the fryer as you go in, who starts cooking your order there and then. You then join the queue to pay, and given that many people pay by card these days, this takes a few minutes. Most of the time, your order is ready to go within a couple of minutes of paying.

One thing that always surprises me is the variation in the menus available at chippies across the UK. In some parts, you have the choice of maybe a dozen things, but at others there are lots more options including baked potatoes, pizzas, burgers and even salads! This is the menu for the one we use most often, which isn't the most extensive: http://www.theashvale.co.uk/resources/ASH57626_TA-Menu.pdf
 
Hark at you lot getting all Egon Ronay about your fish and chips,I bet you eat it with a fork,(don't want to spoil the manicure do we boys),country's going to the dogs.I remember when they came in real newspaper,you had something to read while you scoffed them,no wonder literacy rates have fallen.
 
Our local chippie still sells potato fritters. Almost everything is cooked to order, though they do have a small selection of popular items ready to go at busier times. They even do on-line ordering and delivery from some branches.

The workflow is quite efficient - you place your order with the fryer as you go in, who starts cooking your order there and then. You then join the queue to pay, and given that many people pay by card these days, this takes a few minutes. Most of the time, your order is ready to go within a couple of minutes of paying.

One thing that always surprises me is the variation in the menus available at chippies across the UK. In some parts, you have the choice of maybe a dozen things, but at others there are lots more options including baked potatoes, pizzas, burgers and even salads! This is the menu for the one we use most often, which isn't the most extensive: http://www.theashvale.co.uk/resources/ASH57626_TA-Menu.pdf

£2.00 for chips!!!! :runaway:
But no cod. :thinking:
 
Hark at you lot getting all Egon Ronay about your fish and chips,I bet you eat it with a fork,(don't want to spoil the manicure do we boys),country's going to the dogs.I remember when they came in real newspaper,you had something to read while you scoffed them,no wonder literacy rates have fallen.

No proper fish is eaten straight from the paper taken from the smoker of the harbour at Peel on the ISle of Man, or on the side of the water at Grimsby.
 
Hark at you lot getting all Egon Ronay about your fish and chips,I bet you eat it with a fork,(don't want to spoil the manicure do we boys),country's going to the dogs.I remember when they came in real newspaper,you had something to read while you scoffed them,no wonder literacy rates have fallen.
We laugh ag that. I happily eat mine raw, lift it by its tail and lower it in your mouth. Pah, fried fish, news papers. No real men left, that is the problem. Raw meat, and raw fish. Yum.
 
Hark at you lot getting all Egon Ronay about your fish and chips,I bet you eat it with a fork,(don't want to spoil the manicure do we boys),country's going to the dogs.I remember when they came in real newspaper,you had something to read while you scoffed them,no wonder literacy rates have fallen.

Given the sentence structure and grammar (or lack thereof), I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that although you remember the F & C being wrapped in newspaper, it must have been page three heavy. ;) :p
 
Yes but you're less than English,we don't go for that foreign malarkey here.
We see ourselves more than English, not less, thank you very much ;)
 
£2.00 for chips!!!! :runaway:
But no cod. :thinking:

About £1.80 to £2.00 for chips is the going rate up here. Some chippies do sell cod, but not many as it's not as popular as the other varieties. Probably not worth them buying a box of cod if they'll only sell one or two a day and have to throw the rest out.
 
About £1.80 to £2.00 for chips is the going rate up here. Some chippies do sell cod, but not many as it's not as popular as the other varieties. Probably not worth them buying a box of cod if they'll only sell one or two a day and have to throw the rest out.

Cod is not PC
 
Deep fried battered mushrooms and onion rings...
 
I do happen to be Scottish.. ..
.. but fish & chips falls into the "What have immigrants ever done for us?" category - in this case being introduced by Jewish refugees from the Iberian peninsula in the seventeenth century..
 
I think there are certain things I just don't want to know. Then again perhaps good for a school based "pub quiz", whilst eating my fish and chips from a polystyrene box.
 
I do happen to be Scottish.. ..
.. but fish & chips falls into the "What have immigrants ever done for us?" category - in this case being introduced by Jewish refugees from the Iberian peninsula in the seventeenth century..

Fried fish yes... (16th century), but chips, and pairing it with the fish came much later.

We brits think we " invented" so many things that we actually didn't. ..including whisky! :runaway:
 
The irony is that the one national dish we did invent is chicken tika masala.. .. :D
 
We brits think we " invented" so many things that we actually didn't. ..including whisky! :runaway:

Wha's Like Us - Damn Few And They're A' Deid

The average Englishman, in the home he calls his castle, slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland. En route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland.

He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn, Scotland, arrives at the station and boards a train, the forerunner of which was a steam engine, invented by James Watt of Greenock, Scotland. He then pours himself a cup of coffee from a thermos flask, the latter invented by Dewar, a Scotsman from Kincardine-on-Forth.

At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive stamps invented by James Chalmers of Dundee, Scotland.

During the day he uses the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, blacksmith of Dumfries, Scotland.

He watches the news on his television, an invention of John Logie Baird of Helensburgh, Scotland, and hears an item about the U.S. Navy, founded by John Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.

He has by now been reminded too much of Scotland and in desperation he picks up the Bible only to find that the first man mentioned in the good book is a Scot, King James VI, who authorised its translation.

Nowhere can an Englishman turn to escape the ingenuity of the Scots.

He could take to drink, but the Scots make the best in the world.

He could take a rifle and end it all but the breech-loading rifle was invented by Captain Patrick of Pitfours, Scotland.

If he escapes death, he might then find himself on an operating table injected with penicillin, which was discovered by Alexander Fleming of Darvel, Scotland, and given an anaesthetic, which was discovered by Sir James Young Simpson of Bathgate, Scotland.

Out of the anaesthetic, he would find no comfort in learning he was as safe as the Bank of England founded by William Paterson of Dumfries, Scotland.

Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a transfusion of guid Scottish blood which would entitle him to ask "Wha’s Like Us".

 
Our local Chip Shop is always busy. Sometimes we have to wait but they do have cooked items ready to go. Chips are awesome!
 
Wha's Like Us - Damn Few And They're A' Deid

The average Englishman, in the home he calls his castle, slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland. En route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland.

He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn, Scotland, arrives at the station and boards a train, the forerunner of which was a steam engine, invented by James Watt of Greenock, Scotland. He then pours himself a cup of coffee from a thermos flask, the latter invented by Dewar, a Scotsman from Kincardine-on-Forth.

At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive stamps invented by James Chalmers of Dundee, Scotland.

During the day he uses the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, blacksmith of Dumfries, Scotland.

He watches the news on his television, an invention of John Logie Baird of Helensburgh, Scotland, and hears an item about the U.S. Navy, founded by John Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.

He has by now been reminded too much of Scotland and in desperation he picks up the Bible only to find that the first man mentioned in the good book is a Scot, King James VI, who authorised its translation.

Nowhere can an Englishman turn to escape the ingenuity of the Scots.

He could take to drink, but the Scots make the best in the world.

He could take a rifle and end it all but the breech-loading rifle was invented by Captain Patrick of Pitfours, Scotland.

If he escapes death, he might then find himself on an operating table injected with penicillin, which was discovered by Alexander Fleming of Darvel, Scotland, and given an anaesthetic, which was discovered by Sir James Young Simpson of Bathgate, Scotland.

Out of the anaesthetic, he would find no comfort in learning he was as safe as the Bank of England founded by William Paterson of Dumfries, Scotland.

Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a transfusion of guid Scottish blood which would entitle him to ask "Wha’s Like Us".


I did say British not English.

And AGB didn't invent the telephone :p
 
We go to a chippie that's always really busy. When you go in you immediately order and then wait in the queue. By the time you get to the front of the queue your order has been made for you. It's a great chippie.

Tried that the other day, got told (rather rudely) to order at the till as I wouldn't get it any quicker! I also asked them to wrap the fish separately but they didn't. It all fell apart when we opened it and the batter was mushy and tasteless. Needless to say, won't be going there again.

In Somerset at the moment, off to Weston-Super-Mare tomorrow. Fish & chips by the sea, can't beat it. :D

Oh, and curry sauce FTW. :p
 
A case of each to their own.
I don't know how anyone can eat Marmite....peanut butter....or shellfish...but plenty do.


No taste, No standards, Drunk or a dog, maybe a hungry cat............I am blaming "How Its Made" they covered it in a show and now it turns my stomach,,,sorry, I just couldn't
 
All fried food turns my stomach. Just the smell of any cooking oil or fat makes me gag.
 
Wha's Like Us - Damn Few And They're A' Deid

The average Englishman, in the home he calls his castle, slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland. En route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland.

He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn, Scotland, arrives at the station and boards a train, the forerunner of which was a steam engine, invented by James Watt of Greenock, Scotland. He then pours himself a cup of coffee from a thermos flask, the latter invented by Dewar, a Scotsman from Kincardine-on-Forth.

At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive stamps invented by James Chalmers of Dundee, Scotland.

During the day he uses the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, blacksmith of Dumfries, Scotland.

He watches the news on his television, an invention of John Logie Baird of Helensburgh, Scotland, and hears an item about the U.S. Navy, founded by John Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.

He has by now been reminded too much of Scotland and in desperation he picks up the Bible only to find that the first man mentioned in the good book is a Scot, King James VI, who authorised its translation.

Nowhere can an Englishman turn to escape the ingenuity of the Scots.

He could take to drink, but the Scots make the best in the world.

He could take a rifle and end it all but the breech-loading rifle was invented by Captain Patrick of Pitfours, Scotland.

If he escapes death, he might then find himself on an operating table injected with penicillin, which was discovered by Alexander Fleming of Darvel, Scotland, and given an anaesthetic, which was discovered by Sir James Young Simpson of Bathgate, Scotland.

Out of the anaesthetic, he would find no comfort in learning he was as safe as the Bank of England founded by William Paterson of Dumfries, Scotland.

Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a transfusion of guid Scottish blood which would entitle him to ask "Wha’s Like Us".


I too can cut and paste...



Ho this is a good one, let me compose you a fitting answer.

The Average Englishman?
The average Englishman, in his home he calls his house - does not put on a shabby Raincoat patented by Charles MacIntosh of Glasgow, Scotland, only the drunken Scots down the pub, and the perverts wear those. All his clothes are made on machines designed by Englishmen, Thomas Cromford, Richard Arkwright and Edmund Cartwright.

He drives a car fitted with tyres, which may have been invented by invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn, Scotland. Or may not, Dunlop, like most of his fellow Scots had deserted the ‘auld country’ to work in Glorious England, in this case it was at Manchester, and he was using the invention of Charles Goodyear. Who in 1847 invented a vulcanisation process for rubber - an invention that also revolutionised transport as it led to the development of pneumatic tyres. Charles was born in New Haven, Connecticut, of English parents. Anyway, he prefers to travel by Jet aircraft to work, an invention of Sir Frank Whittle, rather than use the Train, which was invented by Thomas Newcomen.


At the office he receives his mail with postage stamps which, still bear the Queen of England's head, a product developed by Sir Rowland Hill - English educator, inventor, and postal reformer.

During the day he uses the computer invented by Charles Babbage. Although born in London, Babbage came from an old Totnes (Devon) family. Of course Alan Turin first built the machine around 1945. Oh he was English too.

At home in the evening he watches his daughter Hoover the front room, with a machine invented by James Dyson, whilst listening to the radio, built and invented by Trevor Baylis
And calculates (on the calculator developed Clive Sinclair) how much money he has saved on batteries.

He would not be able to watch anything on TV if it hadn't been for Charles Parsons whom developed the electric generator. He not interested about the U.S. Navy since he used to serve in the Royal Navy, created by King Alfred the Great. He is also too educated to worry about the ideas within the Bible, since he completed his degree at Oxford, and his doctorate at Cambridge - the worlds finest universities.

He likes a drop of Gin and Tonic, or some nice cider - even a good real ale, a Saxon invention. Then the late film comes on the BBC, its Braveheart, played by an Australian, and it fails to show Robert the Bruce as a Norman, whose real name was Robert De Bloice, but the Scots could not pronounce that lol.

Of course he has one worry, its that all those blasted Scots who won’t go home, are mucking up his glorious Parliament, (another English Invention) despite the fact that we have given them their own building, I suppose they just like it so much here in England, that they don’t want to go home to that cold damp climate.
 
Things scotland might like help with

The murder rate, despite significantly falling recently (although they have taken out deaths by dangerous and careless driving), is still the highest in the UK, with Glasgow being the UK's most violent.area. Over 60% of violent deaths were alcohol related.

The mortality rate is still among the highest in western europe.

Having said that - you're better drinkers, and coming from the English that's something

Oh and we let Gordon Brown have a go at being Prime Minister, but he wasn't very good at it, and you need to apologise for George Galloway.

What sort of country has an invasion of insects designed to keep away tourists in the only months there's a hint of sun in the sky?

But thanks for the Fringe :D
 
So back to the original point of fast food, is this more about what's an acceptable time to wait for your fast food?
 
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