October 13, 2013

Fish & Chips in the Lake District: Our Summer Holiday, Part 3

It's a well known fact that the British love their fish and chips and they certainly know how to do them well. A trip across the pond wouldn't be complete without getting a portion of a one and one. On our recent(ish) summer holiday we tried out Ambleside Fish and Chips. This takeaway is situated by the jetty for the ferry and could at first glance be mistaken as a bit of a tourist trap but there was a steady stream of locals visiting it.

The menus in fish and chips shops in Cumbria seem to be a bit more varied than Irish ones and offer a range of items we never see here. Indeed the boyfriend has his mind made up as soon as he saw that they offered battered black pudding! I got myself a one and one as I can't resist some good haddock. We sat outside on the terrace overlooking Windermere Lake and the slowly setting sun. Who knew fish and chips could be romantic!! 

The portion sizes were huge and I'm not even sure the pictures do them justice. The battered haddock was lovely with a crispy light batter while the chips were exactly what you want from a chipper. The boyfriend's came with an full sized black pudding and was surprisingly delicious. I wouldn't be able to eat a whole one but it wasn't as heavy to eat as I thought it would be.

During our stay in the Lake District we kept finding ourselves drawn back to Keswick. It's a great little village with probably the best shops to have a wander about in. On one of the days we visited the Old Keswickian, a local fish and chip shop, at the end of the square. On this occasion we got smoked sausage and chips and this time just shared them! The smoked sausage was great and was an unusual addition to a normal takeaway. I know you might ask yourself why would you get fish and chips - it's just fast food!? I think though that a trip to the Lake District without getting some would be like visiting Ireland and not sampling a pint of Guinness!!

As a little sidenote there is a lovely weekly market in Keswick. It was the only local market that we came across during our stay and it was full of local produce and crafts. I spent about a good ten minutes questioning the man at Cartmel Cheeses but came away with a bagful of local cheeses!

If you would like to read a bit more about our holiday to the Lake District have a look at the posts below:

Ambleside & Grasmere: Our Summer Holiday, Part 2
Nolita Cantina - American Style Dining in Liverpool
Conwy, Wales - Our Summer Holiday, Part 1

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