Fish and Chips

A glorious day by the sea side.  Families lining the sand while children build sandcastles and frolic in the surf.  Donkey rides, Punch and Judy, kiss-me-quick hats.  All endearing images I'm sure, but the reality of January in Weston-Super-Mare is as far removed from this imagery as possible.

The few families that were there were all huddled from the icy winds and wrapped up in as many waterproof layers as they could find.  We made our way along the pier, which has a handy shelter that runs its entire length, to the worlds largest penny arcade*.  If the children we had with us had been a couple of years older we'd probably have stayed longer, spent more money and had a sugar induced screaming fit by the end of the afternoon.  Luckily at fifteen months and four years our two were easy to move on.

No trip to the seaside is complete without Fish and Chips.  I've eaten some of the worst chips known to man by the sea but it's never stopped me going back for more.  Luckily there are plenty of chippies to choose from, but where to start?  We decided to let modern technology be our guide and with a combination of Trip Advisor and Google maps we found The Atlantic Fish Bar.  Without the age of the internet we'd probably have ended up with yet more wilting chips and soggy batter.  What we found, well off the beaten tourist trail was a gem of a chippy who had signed up to Hugh's Fish Fight.

I've had mackerel baps from Fish& in Leeds (and very good they are too) so I looked further down the sustainable fish menu to see what  else was on offer.  Your average chippy might offer a choice of cod and haddock but The Atlantic has 8 different fish on offer.  I had Rock Salmon (also known as dogfish or huss) as I'd never had it before and good it was too!

*I made this up, but it is really big.