Nobody does it batter!
Fish and chips on UK beach is one of world’s best food experiences
TUCKING into fish and chips on a blustery seaside promenade or popping into a pub for a Sunday roast have been named among the world’s top food experiences.
Experts at the Lonely Planet travel guides have compiled what they believe are the 500 best culinary treats and a recommended venue for wherever in the world you happen to be hungry – and almost 30 from the UK have made the cut.
The top UK food experience was enjoying fish and chips at The Bay restaurant on Stonehaven Beach in Scotland, which ranked 31st overall in the world, while devouring a pub roast – at the Michelinstarred Star Inn in Harome, on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors – came in at 59th.
These tasty treats are lined up alongside the world’s top five of pintxos – a type of tapas – in San Sebastian, Spain, a bowl of curry laksa in Kuala Lumpur, sushi in Tokyo, beef brisket in Texas and som tum in Bangkok.
And while the location of the best greasy spoon for a full English breakfast could be debated across the country until well past elevenses, the Lonely Planet foodies have pinned their rosette on Electric Cafe in West Norwood, south London. The guide said: ‘Starting the day with a plate of fried food, served to you by someone you’ve only just met but who insists on calling you “love”, is good for the soul. And also for a hangover, it has to be said.’
Perhaps controversially, the best cream tea is – according to the guide – not to be found in Cornwall or Devon, but at the National Trust-run Peckover House And Garden in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Eatlist, put together by foodies and bloggers around the world and then collated by top chefs, called Stonehaven’s The Bay, the ‘best fish and chip shop in the world’, with experts suggesting an order of battered cod, a large portion of chips and, perhaps surprisingly, a can of Irn-Bru.
But they also admitted that ranking a Scottish chip shop above others in England was controversial. The guide said: ‘Of course, saying the best example of Britain’s national dish is in Scotland may ruffle a few feathers. For one thing, most accounts have the dish originating in England in the 1860s.
‘Whatever the truth, there are great fish and chip shops the length of Britain.’
Other top experiences that made the cut included eating a scotch egg at Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, London, and a visit to Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire.
A balti at Shabar restaurant in Birmingham also featured, as well as a chicken tikka masala at Shish Mahal in Glasgow.
‘May ruffle a few feathers’