WHAT IS THAT??
So exclaimed The Child as we rounded a corner and came face to face with a leaning tower of deep-fried-potato-heart-attack-on-a-stick. I was momentarily lost for words myself as I had neither seen nor experienced such a thing before. Mrs P gallantly stepped up to describe (what we assumed should be called) the snack; 'It's a deep fried, battered twisty potato. On a stick.'
And that, dear reader, was exactly what it was. Freshly spun, the potato was teased onto a skewer as long as my arm, covered with thick batter and dropped into the longest deep fat fryer I've ever seen. After a few cholesterol enhancing minutes, it was removed and I was asked: 'Cheese or onion flavour?' I then replied 'Which is the nicest?' and the young man behind the greasy counter gave me the dead eyed stare of a student working on Saturday when he clearly wanted to be somewhere, anywhere, else. 'My boss says it's the same flavour that they use in Walkers', he replied.
'In that case, can I have both?' I respond, and the two pots were dutifully sprinkled liberally over the hot batter. At this point, I should say that we had literally just stepped out of Pizza Express having had lunch and so this was the sheer definition of an impulse purchase.
Despite our already groaning stomachs, we tucked into this new genre of chip determined to experience this amazing looking helter skelter. First impressions were clear, if these flavourings came from Mr Walkers factory, it was in a 99:1 ratio in favour of Professor MSG. Battered potato is quite an experience, The potato was thin and the batter was well seasoned but I have to question the sanity of the man who took a greasy deep fried chip, battered it and thought to themselves 'well it's tasty but it just doesn't look very exciting...'
Final Verdict: I can totally see these taking hold at festivals or the <ahem> classier seaside resorts, but I'm not sure it will ever replace the British love of the chip.
