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This week my daughter Ground Zero and I went for a chippy tea at Fryday, the fish and chips restaurant that recently opened in the premises that was previously the long-standing home of Italian eatery Tinos.
As I’m terrified of accidentally driving down one of Preston City Centre’s forbidden thoroughfares and am aware of a bus gate that has been terrorising car owners in the Corporation Street area, I snuck up on it from Marsh Lane, took a right down Ladywell Street and left my car in Hill Street Car Park, conveniently situated almost opposite our destination.
I received three fines in one day when driving around looking for a parking space when Fishergate was first turned into a stealth bus lane. After it was ruled to be inadequacy signposted I was only refunded the cost of the first fine… I assume because of some spell that makes it visible after the first transgression, like that skinny house in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but with pedestrians leaping in front of the cars because it’s a Shared Space/Squid Game. Anyway… Not today, Lancashire County Council.
The decor was typical fast food style downstairs and sparklingly clean. We sat at one of the few tables downstairs but the smiley person behind the counter advised us that the room upstairs was a lot warmer so up we went after we’d ordered. That space was also pristine and slightly more glam whilst still being easily wipeable if things got smeary.
Our food arrived quickly. GZ had ordered the sausage special – a small sausage, chips and gravy with a drink – for £4.20. The sausage was the typical type of chip shop style saveloy that would make Jamie Oliver cry, but GZ said it had a good flavour and was better than most. The gravy was tasty and thick enough to dip chips into, and the chips were the real, old fashioned type. They were slightly crispy and the oil in which they were fried was obviously fresh.
I had the fish special – small fish, chips and peas with a drink – for £5.30. The fish was one of the best I’ve had from a chippy, with a crispy batter thinner than the walls of a new build house. I usually discard most of the batter around the fish because so often it’s greasy, floppy or thick and slightly slimy inside, but this was everything a battered fish should be. It was the type of chip shop meal that you’d doggedly finish whilst sitting on a bench on a seaside promenade, despite torrential rain and seagull strikes.
The mushy peas were fine, but improved no end when vinegar and extra salt was added to them.
I’d also ordered a cheese and onion pie for £2.30. It was awful… pale, stodgy pastry half-filled with a vaguely cheesy gum. A Holland’s pie that could have done with a couple of weeks in Spain on the way to the table.
The buttered bun/roll/bap/barmcakes for 90p was large, soft and squidgy. It shared a plate with the pie but just platonically because it had already been promised to a big old pile of chips.
The offer included a hot drink or a cold one from a fridge that held bottled water and little bottles of fizzy Panda Pop style drinks. We both chose the latter and deeply regretted it as they tasted strongly of chemicals and such incredibly fake sweetness that we had to leave them. If that’s what the pandas have been drinking it’s no wonder their numbers are dwindling.
Unfortunately for some, the restaurant doesn’t have many vegetarian and vegan options are scarce and there is very little information about Halal options. It also doesn’t carry an alcohol licence, but it’s not somewhere you’d go for date night, more somewhere to get a cheap, hearty meal with family or for a quick lunch.
Fryday will be my go-to place for fish and chips from now on as they absolutely nailed those two staples and the staff, hygiene and prices were excellent. The sausage was also good, but if I want a pie I’ll go to Rounds on Ribbleton Lane, get myself a steak pie and take it home so nobody can watch me eat it with their judgy, pitying eyes.
Do you live in a house with walls like batter? Fortify them with an undercooked Holland’s Pie and let us know how it went.
Read more: All of Karen’s reviews
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