I’m very aware of a poll I read today on a hospitality group on Facebook as I write this. The poll was asking about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. Had it been helpful and venues were seeing an increase. Or was it just putting off the inevitable. The number tagging the latter was awfully sobering.
Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely don’t know the state of affairs of this, or any other venues. But I’ve seen so many close that I’m feeling the losses of independents kind of in advance. In short, I’m worried. About all of them. The people, the owners, and who we’ll lose.
So before I go any further, please. I know we’re in recession again, I know things are going to get tighter and more expensive. So please, spend wisely. Spend in independents if you can. Invest in people. In your city/town/village. Invest in the places you love.
Anyway, that rather sobering bit over with, lets get to the good stuff. Food.
If you’ve never been to The Hip Hop Chip Shop, imagine an indie record store meets chippy. Where you’ll sit at a table with the world’s hip hop finest covering the walls, gig posters, and artwork, but be able to sit and eat some of the best fish and chips in the city (I can’t say actual, I’ve not been to every single place in the city, and I’m not sure I could).
The food we’ve loved buying at street food events now has a solid home in Ancoats, and as we’re trying to dip our toes into normality bit by bit, we booked in. Basically a pile of fish and chips appeared in my twitter feed, I was hungry, and it made me book for the following week. Don’t say social media marketing doesn’t work because. Well. It does.
As with every venue we’ve been to so far service was great, social distancing and hygiene was really good too. Masks in place, lots of cleaning, and hand sanitiser visibly available. You can tell the team is rather glad to be back, even if visitors are all just a little bit spaced out in both the venue and timings.
Drinks wise, the range is pretty good. Beer, wine, softs, and a spirit or two. Given it’s a favourite, I opted for the Shindigger Mango Unchained. Fruity, clean and easy drinking. Good for cutting through the delicious fattiness of our meal.
We of course, for our first visit back, went traditional. Feastie Boys – classic fish and chips with mushy peas. Proper chips, minted mushies, and fish that would make even the fussiest of fish lovers happy. Thick crunchy batter, fish just done, delicious.
And as usual because our eyes were bigger than our bellies, we added some extras. Curry sauce to share, as well as halloumi and deep fried pickles.
The haloumi is thick cut and generous, oozing inside crunchy batter. And I’m sure it seems like a small victory, but the batter they use actually stays on the pickles, which many venues don’t manage, the batter becoming over wet and slightly slimy – sliding off. This is crisp, crunchy and oh so moreish.
Which is why we waddled out of there, having taken our time to let our tummies settle, not even considering a pudding, oh and with a doggy bag.
There was no way we were wasting those sides.
It was our first visit to their Ancoats site, but what we found was what they’re known for, bloody good fish and chips, with a funky vibe. A more modern take on an institution. And we’ll be back soon.