One of us had lunch at Frydays in Derby. It’s one of those chippies on a main road into town that does good business with workers on a lunch break. The window is covered in signs for meal deals, so it helps customers with pricing their orders.
Three customers are allowed in at once and the counter has the perspex screen that we have all come to expect these days. When I entered the premises, there were two others waiting for food (unmasked). Then a kid walked in. Does that count as four customers or three and a half? Anyway, I waited outside for my fish to be fried.
My food was soon ready. As I was served I noticed the most mouth-watering onion rings (five for 80p) but I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat those with my ‘large mini fish mix’ £4.75.
The gent serving was the perfect chip owner... asking if I wanted salt and vinegar on before my ‘mix’ of curry, and then asking yet again if I wanted more on top of my fish.
When the carton of food was filled he wrapped it in a neat little parcel and tucked a fork inside the flap of paper at the top. It takes years of experience to perfect that type of service!
I found a wall nearby to perch on and eat.
The chips and the curry sauce were both excellent. I was over the moon at the chunky fresh hunks of potato with straight, firm edges and fluffy insides.
The curry sauce took me back to a meal I’d had at Burton Road in Lincoln a few years ago. I reckon it was Ceres sauce. Utterly delicious. Sweet and spicy in one, and enhanced by the vinegar. The curry clung well to the chips making every mouthful a delight. I could have licked the carton clean ... but I’m too civilised to do that (in public anyway).
But the fish... where was it? There was a form of batter in my carton that was unmistakably fish-shaped, but when I stuck a fork in it and peeled it back I found... more batter! Spongy and soft. I ate a little knobble of crispy batter at one end of the fish because I needed that crunch; the rest of it I left to one side.
I took a photo of a piece of white fish that I found just so that I could look back later and convince myself I had eaten some. However it was one of those meals where photographic evidence doesn’t seem to prove enough. I seriously couldn’t remember any fish passing my lips.
Ratings out of 5:
Fish: a phantasmagorical 1
Chips: 5
Curry sauce: 5
Shop and service: 3
Overall: 3
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