Ah am missing England. Sunday drives in the country side, pub meals, Sunday roasts… Yorkshire pudding, sticky pudding and drive to the seaside for Fish & Chips.
Yes I do miss Fish and Chips.. quintessentially a British dish.

I went to the farmers market yesterday and there is always a mobile fish monger that comes every week.
If I would find WHITE BAIT (maridakia in Greek) I would do Fish & Chips. Peeling, slicing and frying my own chips… frying my flour coated fish. But alas no white bait. I came home with some squids instead. I was even planning to make newspaper cones (forget the hygiene) just to make it so authentic.

Then last night Jayred in Switzerland wrote on her X Files Journal, that she bought fish & chips at Zurich Banhoff.

What the Swiss know about fish & chips?

Jayred by the way is using her sense of humour to “survive” the Swiss way of life and she reads my food blog hoping she can learn something about cooking. .. While I read hers because I am a Swiss by nationality and her observations of Swiss life sends me howling with laughter.

Well at least when I go to Zurich I would just ring her up and say “meet me at the Banhoff for fish & chips“…
Her post , my craving for fish and chips ,my missing UK feeling took me back on a cold wintry day last November 24th, 2004.

We drove to Scarborough, North East Yorkshire. We were idling around in York when my sister said why not go to Scarborough to sniff sea air and heard they sell amazing fish and chips there!

I am not very fond of pre cooked fish and chips, those who have been fried hours ahead and been kept warm inside those glass box with red lights. But give me real fish and chips where its freshly cooked and you actually have to wait for a while then I would go for it.

We walked along the beach towards the port to whet our appetite. We had no particular place in mind but this Winky Willy happened to be in front of us when we all felt our tummy need nourishment.
We had different orders. I had plaice, Swiss Cheese had a mix fish and Tara had haddock. Each plate had fresh chips, mushy peas and tartar sauce.

If you don’t want to sit down you can always order outside.
Traditionally fish and chips were served up wrapped in old newspaper. Nowadays (thanks to hygiene laws) they are wrapped in greaseproof paper and sometimes paper that has been specially printed to look like newspaper. You often get a small wooden or plastic fork to eat them with too, although it is quite ok to use your fingers.

Yes it came with tea, bread and butter. Nothing fancy but it was so fresh.
That’s how I want my fish and chips. It was a long drive but it was worth it.

Soon after we went again for a walk, struggling with the wind. Scarborough was quite that time.
Scarborough by the way is the oldest sea side spa town in the British Isles.
The Victorian Esplanade looked so pretty and still, above the hill we looked at the North Sea and thank for her bounty we had decent fish and chips!