PORT NOARLUNGA HOTEL

PORT NOARLUNGA HOTEL

Having tried the Old Noarlunga hotel recently we decided it was high time to try the coastal version and have a meal at the PORT NOARLUNGA HOTEL.

Nice surroundings when you walk in and quite modern interior. A sign requires you to report to the bar before being seated which seemed a little superfluous as you have to report to another counter to get served. But it all went smoothly and we were able to pretty much choose our own spot. We placed our orders at the ‘other’ counter in an alcove by the kitchen and were strangely met by the same person we had arranged seating with.

There were some specials on offer, one of which was a fish meal at a special price, so I went for that while my wife decided on the daily roast, which is of course her favourite.

There is a nicely equipped salad bar with hot vegetables as well, so I decided to take advantage of that and returned to the table with a plate of various things, all of which were quite good standard pub food. I had time to consume that sample and go for a second before the food arrived, which was a little surprising as we were early and hardly any orders had been placed. It filled up later, but at the time there were hardly any other people in the whole Bistro.

However in my case it was just as well because had I not had time for two plates of salad I would certainly have starved on the fish meal when it arrived. Of all the reviews of all the places in the south of Adelaide, that was the second poorest serve. Only the Warradale was worse. There were 17 chips (one was more like a fragment so I would say 16.3 chips.) and a very inadequate piece of fish on the plate. Now across the road is the Old Noarlunga fish and chip shop I reviewed previously and I reckon that if I had walked out the door with only half the cash I had paid, I could have come back with a serve of fish and chips that would make the one served up look totally embarrassing. It was pretty well cooked though, brown crispy batter with tasty fish, but it was so small I decided to eat quickly in case a fisheries inspector arrived and wanted to seize my meal for evidence of under size. Compared to the excellent serve at the Blanche Town Hotel, (see review) for exactly the same price, this meal was almost a joke.

My wife on the other hand had a generous serving of roast meat with accompaniments that she found tasty and bordering on more than she could eat. For that reason she made only one trip to the salad bar and was content. But it was kind of a bit one sided with her munching happily away while I had consumed my really small serve in a very short time, so I made another trip to the salad bar. I was determined not to go home hungry and eventually made a fourth trip.

The offerings of the salad and hot vegetables bar was quite wide ranging through crispy salads to three types of pasta salad that were quite nice. Cheesy white sauce coated Broccoli formed a top layer of one container with white cauliflower underneath and it seemed quite popular as the level fell quickly. A bit too popular perhaps because it did not seem to get topped up and was obviously intended to last a lot longer than the diners took to consume it. On return to the table each time I found my wife happily munching away. For a standard pub ‘roast of the day’ she thought it was pretty good. Not bad, not spectacular, just good. Most of the meat was nicely cooked but she had to leave some as it was too tough.

In general it was all very standard. No single item that I could say really stood out for taste or even to catch the eye. It was plentiful and it was edible, but it was all kind of ‘ho hum’. So average as to be a flat line. I would suggest that anyone wanting a nice predictably average meal for a reasonable price would probably find the Port Noarlunga Hotel a good place for the family to meet and it was obvious looking around the Bistro that by the time we left several families were meeting for celebrations. Reasonable price would not however include the fish and chips serve. For that I would suggest you leave the family to eat, and wander across the road for a meal that would at least be filling and half the price.

I don’t want to be too harsh. We’ve been there before and had a standard meal. There is not much wrong with the place and the salad bar is well stocked. But the meal and the menu was so average that I wondered if they had some sort of franchise  going with the Warradale hotel, as their fish offering was certainly similar. So if you want to visit a good pub bistro without any fuss, then the Port Noarlunga Hotel would probably suit you...just don’t order the fish if you are hungry!

The Blanchetown Hotel

The Blanchetown Hotel

As it was a nice autumn day we decided it was high time to venture further a field before winter takes over and keeps us closer to home. My elder brother joined my wife and myself for a drive up the pleasant Stuart highway to the River Murray. Not having driven in the region for some time it was a wonderful surprise to find the roads were really excellent. We joined the dual carriageway at Port Adelaide after passing over the Port River on the new bridge. The road is new and delightful to drive on but the biggest surprise was that the dual highway just went on and on and on right up into the Barossa valley. With such good driving conditions Adelaide was soon left behind and all three of us renewed our acquaintance with some territory we had all been too at various times, but not in recent years.

The farm areas around Gawler soon fell behind us and we entered the grape vine district of the Barossa, but on this trip we were aiming for the river-land, so despite many tempting things along the way, kept driving onward. There had been some thought of stopping at Truro for lunch, but the pub Bistro there was either not open for lunches or has some very inadequate advertising signs as it seemed to be evening meals only. But we knew that at Blanchetown there were some places to eat and among them a truly historic old hotel.

The drive was a fairly long one so our stomachs were rumbling by the time we reached the small river side spot known as Blanchetown. The river is partially in flood at present but I seemed to remember that the old pub was perched up quite high on ground that overlooked Loch One, and sure enough even though it’s been many years the old place was indeed still there high and dry. Parking lots up that way are not as formal as in the city or large towns, so we were able to draw up right near the door which was a boon for me as I had been suffering some leg pains over the past week.

Country pubs are famous for their open hospitality and this one certainly didn’t disappoint in that regard. We were well greeted on entering and the whole place, while small by comparison with other pubs, was cosy, with a nice feel to it. For those wanting more elbow room there was a much larger area out on a deck that overlooked the river, so although the part we chose to sit in was small, the over all capacity of the place was obviously quite large.

Now I made a mistake here. As a strict rule I never tell anyone that I am going to write about the food and the service, but the Publican was so darned friendly that when he enquired as to the purpose of our long drive up from the south of Adelaide, I accidentally let slip that this would be the first venture into reporting on a casual eating place north of Adelaide instead of the south. That meant I had to be really on my guard in case we got a better than usual serve.

Seating was comfortable and I felt that although we are leading into winter, the Bistro area would be a very cosy spot in cold weather. Off to one side there were several selections of sauces, salad dressing etc and it was obvious that who ever arranged that had a good feeling about how different people’s tastes can be. It catered for them all.

Having let slip that I would review the meal on my Blog I decided one way to tell the real situation would be to observe the other tables. Thus I looked closely when their meals were brought out and could see that the serves were quite generous, the staff friendly and that they seemed to also know the rules of good service by standing in the right places, not passing food in front of other diners etc. A young lass serving never failed on that issue. I noted that when putting dishes in front of a diner she always moved around the table, serving each, never reaching across. Later she was the same at our table, moving quietly around behind each of us to place the meal just as a trained waiting staff should do.

In each case the meals being served were universally generous, well presented and were being received with approving eyes as they were put before each person. I could also see the reactions as the other diners ate and it was obvious they were all enjoying the food.

We had all decided that for once we would each have the same meal. Fish and chips seemed like a nice lunch. There was a choice of a small or a large serve and we all chose the large. Considering what we have paid elsewhere the price was more expensive than some and less expensive than others, indeed one might say right in the middle. So the deciding factor would be the serve itself.

Now fish and chips are fairly limited in the way they can be presented, but the kitchen had taken time to arrange them quite artistically. Not unlike they were in my review of the Warradale Hotel, (see the files on this Blog) except in this case the meal was far more adequate and it was to make an attractive presentation instead of hiding how little there was.

My first impression of the fish was that all pieces were almost uniform in colour. No burnt extremities, no pale patch here and darker patch there. All were excellently presented. The chips were quite adequate and once again I did not feel a need to actually count how many of them there were on the plate. There is nothing worse than looking at the plate and feeling it looks rather bare, but there were no such feelings at the Blanchetown Hotel. Like the fish there was a uniformity to their colour and they were very pleasant to eat, being crispy and with plenty of flavour. I presume they cut their own chips from fresh potatoes instead of the frozen pre cut taste destroyed monstrosities one gets in other places.

The fish was great. So many places overcook the fish and destroy its flavour but in this instance all the juices were retained yet there was no fatty taste. All in all that meant for a pleasant taste experience that was really pleasing. There were three pieces on my plate and each one was very enjoyable.

Equally pleasing was the salad. Now many years ago as a Bush Cop I had eaten in the dining room of many a Pub during the more formal evening meal times when things were supposed to be somewhat better than during the day, yet to have been served a salad as tasty and innovative as this one would have been unheard of. You might have got a few bits of crisp lettuce and a slice of tomato, but that’s about all. So it was really nice to see that here was a bush pub that matched nearly all the hotels and eating places so far reviewed on this Blog. It was probably only beaten by the presentation at the old Noarlunga Hotel, and then only by an artistic blending of colours. The salad served with our meal was the equal of all the others and a darned sight better than some.

We had a great day out driving the old yet familiar areas of the river, enhanced by an excellent lunch that had all three of us feeling pleased with the world in general.

THE NOARLUNGA HOTEL

THE NOARLUNGA HOTEL

This lovely historic old pub sits in the equally lovely town of Old Noarlunga, nestled in a bend of the Onkaparinga River, south of Adelaide. I had not been into that pub in many years so when we decided to head down there and explore the Bistro one lunch time, it was with a certain amount of interest and awareness that it is a historic place.

Of course its had quite a rebuild in recent years to enable it to cope with a growing population in the areas out around the sleepy old town itself. Once a small town isolated from Adelaide by distance and countryside it is now kept isolated only by the limited amount of land available in the river bend. This makes it a fortunate place for it has all the charm of the country and yet the customers a large city pub would enjoy.

The bistro was very nicely laid out in restful colours, rather long and separated from the ‘Pokies’ by a curved wall that adequately controlled the noise from those machines. We were attended to very promptly and my request for a nice quiet spot was happily granted at a window table by the northern end. This enabled us to have a pleasant view of the town and hills of the river bend.

The menu was downright tempting in all ways. I felt it was very cleverly thought out as it provided a range of meals that would appeal to just about anyone, yet was small enough that the kitchen staff would be able to guarantee every item was fresh. My wife was immediately taken by the grilled Tuna steak which left me a little jealous as I would have liked to go for that myself. But having decided that when ever possible we should try different things, I stuck to the game plan. I’ve always loved Pasta Marina and it was so nicely described that I settled on that, although it was a close run thing as some of the steak and other dishes sounded really nice. Someone obviously knew how to make the menu sound tasty and in language people understand.

Having placed our order we were invited to help ourselves at the salad bar. This was nicely laid out and while it had most of the usual things one expects, this one also had a tasty looking Thai cold noodle salad. The salad plates were quite adequate in size which was certainly an improvement over some other establishments we have been too.

Once seated with our salad plates at the ready, we got down to eating. The Thai salad was very tasty indeed and had just the right amount of ‘zing’ to it to refresh the palate and be enjoyable without overpowering all the other items available. Very notable was how fresh and crisp the salads were. I’ve had some nice ones recently and described them on this blog, but somehow the salad at this Bistro was just that little bit better than the others.

Despite quite a few people in the Bistro we did not have to wait very long to receive our main meals. When placed in front of us I could not help but admire them. Modern Chef’s like to indulge in a bit of decoration on the plate, but often forget that it is still a meal and the person eating it needs to feel they have eaten well at the end of the experience. The grilled Tuna steak sitting in front of my wife looked absolutely delectable. I don’t know if the Chef planned it that way or not, but every salad vegetable or accompanying vegetables on that plate formed a really attractive backdrop to the juicy fish in the centre. The various greens items seemed to be placed just right so that dark or light, each was visible, blended with the red of tomato and the red of capsicum to make the whole dish a great visual experience even before eating.

My Marinara was also very well laid out and my attention was immediately drawn to the juicy looking prawns and larger than expected sections of Calamari. The meal was a delight to get stuck into with a great sauce and pasta that was perfectly al’dente. Each prawn was a fresh and tasty treat, but the Calamari topped everything, being cooked to perfection as so few people seem to be able to achieve. I was surprised to find there were no shell fish as that is so traditional to Marinara, but in its place small pieces of smoked salmon had been substituted and these added a nice flavour.

Near the bottom of the pasta, with all the other items consumed, I was a little perplexed to find a flavour that I did not feel went with that sort of dish. I could not really decide what it was. It wasn’t really bad, yet it just did not match. For that reason I left the last heap of pasta uneaten. Considering the excellence of the dish in all other ways I am still a little surprised now, that there was something not quite right toward the end. It was however the only fault I could find with a generous and well laid out serve. Perhaps Chef needs to sit down and eat one almost to the end in order to work out what ingredient caused that end taste.

Meanwhile Maureen was eating away happily at her Tuna Steak. Having realised that I would have liked that myself she even let me try a fork full of what turned out to be a very pleasant and flavourful fish. I’m used to eating raw fish as I love Sushi, but my wife has never been fond of it. The Tuna steak was perhaps a fraction too raw. The outside was grilled nicely but there had not been time for heat from the grill to penetrate to the centre of what was a really thick Tuna steak. None the less it was delightfully tasty and was fully consumed along with the clever array of accompanying vegetables and green salad.

On this occasion we had sighted a menu item that drew the attention of both of us. Dutch Apple Cheesecake dessert looked like something not to be missed, so we ordered one to share. My wife is really the desserts person, the sweeter the better, but she was quite pleased with this first introduction to something a bit different. I was impressed by the quality of it and thought the taste was good, but Maureen declared it a first class dish and obviously enjoyed it. As she is the expert I will have to agree with her assessment.

Over all the visit was a very pleasant one that we will remember and have promised ourselves we will repeat. Staff were friendly and although only two were working tables they were obviously able to cope and were well in control. There were only rare glances of kitchen staff. My impression was that it was a very well run Bistro both from a management and kitchen point of view. 

THE CHRISTIES BEACH HOTEL

THE CHRISTIES BEACH HOTEL

Its a working mans pub in a working mans district, so this is a pub that provides good solid food and is very popular. We went in on a wet Sunday evening and arrived just before the main crowd.

The wait to be served sign was up and we waited and waited and waited. Eventually I decided to ignore it and followed instructions to place orders at the bar in front of us, where we received a very friendly welcome. I asked for a quiet corner as we’ve been to the hotel before and it can get very crowded. The waitress was only too happy to oblige and allocated us a table right at the back where we did indeed avoid most of the noise and crowd once other patrons flowed in.

The Chef special for the day was a Hickory grilled steak and having really enjoyed the one I had at the Victoria, I was keen to seek the taste of a nice juicy steak again, so that was my choice without hesitation. My wife likes chicken so as they had a special chicken meal at a special price, she settled on that.

The Christies Beach Hotel has an excellent salad and hot food bar. The size of the plates reminded me of a children’s tea set, but none the less you could go to the get as many serves as you wanted. The choice was very good too. Several hot vegetables were on offer, all nicely done and well laid out. The range of cold salad was also very good. In all the amount of food on offer was larger than we have seen at most other venues.

We returned to our nice quiet table with well packed, if tiny, plates. All items were first class and could hold their own in any pub or restaurant in the land. Crispy roast potatoes, or large salad potatoes, it mattered little because the taste was excellent and all were cooked just right. Pasta salad was tasty, coleslaw as good as any you will get anywhere. The best of all to my mind was the seafood salad which was not only tasty but had a generous mix of the seafood as well as a slightly wider than normal range of salad vegetables in it. It was excellent and we were certainly feeling quite good by the time the main dishes arrived.

At that point things changed drastically. The chicken on my wife’s plate was not at all good. Shrunken to the bone and lacking any real meat left to eat. My first thought was that they should have labelled it ‘anorexic’ chicken special. I suppose its possible this was some left over from lunchtime, reheated rather too much and then served as an evening special. If so it must have slipped past the main Chef because I cannot imagine any Chef serving such an abominable meal to a pet, let alone a customer. My wife was obviously very disappointed and I could see that it was little more than some chicken skin shrunken around some bones. If the longest bit was a drumstick then that was one hell of a skinny chicken. The only save for that meal was that the chips were very crisp and tasty, plus of course my wife could return to the salad and hot accompaniments bar to fill up from there.

My steak was medium rare just as ordered. It smelt great and the thick meat had just the right amount of juice oozing from it. Well presented on the plate, but nothing fancy as one would expect at a working men’s pub.

At that point my illusions were somewhat shattered. My first attempt to cut into it was beaten off by the steak, which seemed to suffer little damage from my attempts to cut it and on closer examination I found a huge hunk of gristle and tendon. Working either side of that I managed to cut in and sampled it. Tasty for sure and cooked exactly as ordered. But oh boy I had forgotten to bring my working men’s teeth to this renowned working men’s pub. On one side of the gristle the steak was chewable with some effort. One the other side of the gristle it was chewable only with considerable effort. As I managed to cut it I found long white strands of tendon that I later left displayed right across the plate in the probably vain hope, that when returned to the kitchen someone might spot it and tell Chef that some of his steak was downright tough. But throughout the effort required to cut and chew it that steak did retain its juicy flavour and the taste on each side showed that it had been grilled with care, using a clean grill. Top marks in all areas except the meat itself which was really one of the toughest steaks I have had in many years.

But as with my wife’s dish, there were lots of potato chips and these were delicious in their crispiness and taste. Plenty of them too, which helped fill me up when I had to eventually concede that the steak was winning and give up trying to eat any more of it.

Overall the pub offers a good choice of meals with prices to accommodate everyone from those on a limited budget to those tradesmen flush with cash from an after hours call out to fix a drain. The salad and hot food bar was really good and the service friendly. Lots of staff kept going back and forth to the kitchen and these included some kitchen staff who seemed well kitted out.

So in conclusion we may have been unlucky that night. My wife getting some extremely over cooked chicken and myself getting the toughest steak Chef had at his disposal. But of course one is paying for the meal to be as expected, so that chicken should NEVER have slipped past the view of the Chef, even if kitchen staff had not cared. As for the steak, well the Chef cannot be expected to know if every bit of steak is tender or not, but he and kitchen staff should have been able to see that the pieced served to me was very gristly before it was tossed on the grill, and at least given a tenderizing treatment. A piece of white tendon was hanging out one side and the gristle was very clear to see, so I am rather amazed trained staff did not toss that one aside to be stewed in a curry where it would have done well.

KOKO DREAM CAFE.

KOKO DREAM CAFE.

I’m not sure what a Koko Dream is but the establishment is in the Mall at Hallett Cove. We’ve seen it many times and the place always seems to have plenty of customers, so being out very early one day we decided to have breakfast in the Mall. We were actually headed to another establishment, but the Koko Dream looked so inviting and popular that plans were changed and it became our choice.

Koko Dream is quite well laid out and the menu is loaded with tasty sounding snacks, so I really wanted a few moments to examine the menu, but in that regard good service became a little too good. We were asked to order well before we had time to consider the menu and as there was a fair bit of noise going on, people coming and going etc I felt pressured to state my choice. Probably not good because later after sitting down at our table I had much more time to examine what was on offer and would certainly have preferred something else.

My wife loves pancakes, so feeling a bit pressured I ordered them for both of us. The gentleman serving had an accent that I found very hard to understand. It may have been just that there was rather a lot of noise, but I kept thinking the TV series ‘Ullo Ullo’ and that the moustache wearing man taking my order was none other than ‘Rene’ ....bad accent and all. But he was pleasant and seemed to understand everything I was saying even if I was left somewhat confused by the time we sat down.

First to come was the coffee. We both like Cappuccino and the large mugs placed in front of us looked inviting. The taste was great too and one was well aware that one was drinking a cup of coffee provided by people who understood that drink. It was neither too sharp, nor too bland and the thick frothy coating nice and tasty.

While starting on our coffee it was pleasing to see a staff member nod acknowledgement of us and say that our main order would be coming along very soon. That’s great when a place has lots of people you can sit there wondering what your status is within the crowd, so it was nice to see that staff knew exactly what you had ordered and kept you informed of progress.

When the plates arrived they were piled high with some excellent pancakes topped with cream, ice-cream and of course maple syrup. Now that is not exactly the sort of thing I would normally eat for breakfast, so the whole thing was a bit experimental for me. None the less the warm pancakes proved easy to eat and the toppings were just right. I had the feeling that who ever was making these dishes must have eaten them regularly in order to know so well what was neither too much, nor too little. Very well presented.

Having consumed out pancake breakfast, and sipped the last of the coffee, we departed feeling quite full. One test of good pancakes is of course later in the day. Bad ones can produce indigestion, but these certainly did not. They were as light on the stomach as they were on the plate.

Prices were reasonable across the whole menu, although some things tended toward the higher end.

The Victoria Hotel At the top of the Darlington Hill.

The Victoria Hotel

At the top of the Darlington Hill.

It was a Thursday lunch time when we decided to try the Victoria Hotel. We had not been there for a few years, certainly not since its rebuild, so we decided to see if it was a good as we remembered. It has a very large and adequate car park, befitting a pub that is known to be extremely popular with young people on weekends.

On arrival we were faced by a ‘please wait to be seated’ sign, but nobody there to greet us. Often that can be annoying, but on this occasion any sense of impatience was immediately defused by a big smile from a young woman behind the bar who promised to be right with us ASAP. Then yet another acknowledged us and smiled in a way that suggested she would be with us shortly. They were obviously busy, so it was nice to be noticed and not just ignored. Then a few moments later a young man bustled out from the kitchen with both hands full of plates for delivery to tables at which expectant diners were waiting. I took it that he was the Bistro Manager. He called out that he would be with us very soon and as once he had delivered the plates of food came straight to us. I noted that one of the female staff was also about to come to help us but turned back. Excellent public relations by all concerned!

As I was nursing a head ache I asked if we could be seated in a quiet spot. The area in which all the other diners were gathered was already fairly crowded as it was St.Patricks day and I had a feeling it would not only fill up, but get a bit noisy. Without the slightest hesitation the young Bistro Manager showed us to an empty section of the dining room and seated us in a most comfortable spot. He then gave us some time to read the menu, but I noted that even though he bustled in and out of the kitchen a lot, he glanced at us each time and we were certainly not being ignored. As soon as we were ready he took our orders and we sat back to enjoy nice warm bread rolls served up with butter at room temperature.

I had decided on the daily special which was a steak with garlic prawns on top. My wife had pasta. The meals were very prompt in coming and neatly arranged, if not perhaps as artistic as one sees in a lot of places these days. Personally I prefer a good feed to an artistic presentation so I had no problem with viewing a plate that was covered with a generous serve of steak, oozing with Prawns and a great garlic sauce. For a lunch time special the steak was quite tender. Not remarkably so, but tender enough for my tired old teeth to deal with and I had the impression that under the juicy covering it may have been tenderized.

As the prawns were merely a topping to the steak I did not expect too many and yet there were enough for me to feel that I had not been short changed. The taste of the garlic sauce was excellent and seemed to well compliment both the prawns and the steak. There was no need to count how many potato chips were on the plate as they were quite numerous as well as crisp and brown. Sometimes it can be due to the potatoes used, but the taste did not quite seem to be the equal of their crispiness and evenly cooked appearance.

The Victoria does not provide a salad bar, but the salad provided on the plate was crisp and tasty, if somewhat conventional.

My wife was making signs that her pasta meal was quite excellent and declared it all tasty as well as a really good serve. Presentation was again not really in line with that modern trend of turning a plate into an artwork while hiding a lack of food on it. Instead it was a very adequate serve and of course that is important because in the end what matters is if you feel satisfied inside on leaving, not if you thought the chef had talent as an artist.

We don’t often have a dessert at lunch time but on this occasion decided we would do so. Ice-cream was the choice and once again it was a fair serve for a fair price.

In all the experience was very positive. The prices are pretty much on average for larger pubs. Not as cheap as some that offer lunch time specials, but none the less I felt they were fair and the food provided was similarly fair for the price.

BEACH ROAD CHIPPY

Beach Road Chippy.

As part of the search for a traditional fish and chip shop of the old style I knew as a kid, I responded at once when my wife pointed out that there was one open on Beach Road at Christies Beach. On parking outside I was impressed to see several people waiting inside and a young man obviously enjoying himself eating at an outside table. An empty shop can sometimes be a warning to stop...do not proceed...nobody likes this place. There was no such sense of warning here.

On entering I did have that feeling of ‘tradition’. Oh sure there are all the usual extra foods available these days, but the signs offering meal deals were mostly to do with various combinations of fish, with varied quantities of Chips. I made a selection and noted that the prices were quite good. Equal to some, but certainly much better than some others we have explored recently.

Near the door the comfort of patrons was taken seriously with a couple of couches and chairs to use while they waited. There were several who came in, placed orders and sat down there too, so it was not only considerate, but obviously appreciated by customers. It was hardly a plush five star hotel lounge, but quite adequate. There were also magazines to read. Great, just like when I was a kid.

Three staff were working behind the counter, all wearing matching blue tops. Not an essential thing and a level of uniformity often not seen these days, but it did give an impression that the owner cared. I took the middle aged gentleman serving to be the owner and noted a certain amount of experienced efficiency in the way he went about things. The two girls looked as if they certainly knew there way around a fish and chip shop too and although unhurried and undemonstrative, there was an impression that the three of them were a well practiced team.

There were some funny signs up about the place which indicated the owner obviously had a sense of humour, plus there were some displays of coral and beach sand items. I found there was something ‘old’ and comfortable about the whole air of the place.

One would not want to have become too engrossed in the magazines provided as the service was quite quick. Two nice parcels were exchanged for cash and I headed out to the car to join my wife to relate to her that it was indeed traditional and I had high expectations for the food. I had her chuckling when I described some of the funny signs in the ‘Chippy’ as we drove to a nearby park.

Having unwrapped the two parcels we found the fish had a traditional batter look to it, but on biting into it both of use expressed delight that both the batter and fish inside it were very tasty. Fish loses flavour when over cooked and that can be a problem in far too many eating places. Our serve had been cooked just long enough for the batter to crisp, and yet for the fish to cook to nice and juicy, rather than dry. The chips were also a surprise. Crisp and tasty; perhaps not the traditional style I remember as a kid when they would often be soft and greasy, but very nice. Chicken salt had been applied and also added to the taste.

We were at a park without Seagulls, but found some other willing birds to toss crumbs too and the whole experience was good fun. Having enjoyed the food I can recommend THE BEACH ROAD CHIPPY at Christies Beach for a good old style fish and chips meal.