Perfic Plaice, Loughborough

I didn’t know whether to just walk out but I’d already paid. It just didn’t feel right. Maybe it was the abundance of posters for all kinds of takeaway food. Maybe it was the black tape over the prices of fish. It didn’t feel right but I decided to see what came over the counter. 

I can remember when this was a trad chippy. It seems no longer to be the case. It’s one of those places that offers so many different kinds of food you can no longer call it a chip shop. 

When I ordered “regular cod and chips” the chap behind the counter looked puzzled and said “just fish and chips then?” as if they didn’t have any cod but I’d get something that once had gills and lived in water. 

One customer just ordered chips. He’d brought his own container for them to be put in. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.

There was an anti masker in the shop. Seemed he was also anti pulling his trousers up too.

Anyway the moment of truth was about to come. The fish was encased in a smooth batter. This was chiseled away to show a fairly decent fillet of “fish”. The inside of the batter was raw, of course, being too thick to cook through. The batter broke the fork. 

Astonishingly the chips were delicious. Medium cut, crispy outside, fluffy inside and super tasty. Now I know why that customer came for just chips. 

After I’d hollowed out the batter and eaten most of the chips I closed the lid on the box and looked for a bin. The container still felt really heavy from the batter. Good job that wasn’t in my stomach. 

Ratings out of 5:

Fish: 2

Chips: 4

Shop and service: 1

Over all: 2