I could hear Mahler. Sitting in a dank park in Belper during the pandemic winter. A man was pouring disinfectant all around the bins. Unlike Von Aschenbach I didn’t need to ask why...
I was attempting to eat my lunch, but paused while the council worker completed his job and moved on.
The Chip Fiends have entered George’s Tradition many times in our diary. However we hadn’t tried the one in Belper that one of us once overheard an American tourist waxing lyrical about. Belper is a pretty town with stone-built houses. It’s not far from Derby but already feels like it is approaching the style of the Peaks. However, there weren’t many tourists on my visit. Like Venice, the pandemic had driven them away.
I tried some different items to what I usually have from George’s. On this occasion I had a small portion of chips with a homemade fishcake, plus a side order of salt and pepper squid and curry sauce.
The fishcake and chips were a good value deal for lunchtime at £1.80. The chips were nice. Soft but pale gold and fresh. The fishcake was ok. Better than the mass produced ones, with a good amount of fish rather than potato.
The four squid pieces (£2.15) were the texture you would expect them to be. Crunchy on the outside and rubbery inside. I couldn’t help thinking they looked like some ancient, divine relic, to be kept under glass.
The curry sauce was nothing to send a postcard home about. Too liquid in form and overpriced at £1.95. I sipped some of the runny concoction from the cup. It tasted of grease.
I put the curry and chip wrappings in the bin and shuffled home to the strains of Symphony no.5.
Ratings out of 5:
Chips: 4
Homemade fish cake: 3
Salt and pepper squid: 3
Curry sauce: 0
Shop / service: 4
Over all: 3
Comments
Post a Comment