18 September, 2006

Padstow - Rick Stein's Fish and Chips - review

Back to the 31st of August now, for our visit to RickSteintow, sorry Padstow, a wonderful picture postcard kind of place set in a sheltered estuary on the north Cornwall coast (it's about an hour south west of where we were staying)...parking in the place is an absolute nightmare, we drove in droves around (forming part of a the constant procession of cars doing exactly the same) then pulled into the "park and ride" next to Tesco just outside town. The bus came quickly, we all hopped on, and literally 300 yards down the road we were all told to get off to walk the rest of the way into town! Bit of a waste of time!
Cornwall 2006 #59
Anyway, we got there in the end, only to find quite a lot of the shops were closed because of a power cut, suspiciously though, none of Rick Stein's (many) business ventures (at last count I believe it was 7, yes seven, in this one tiny village) seemed to be having any problems at all...
Cornwall 2006 #60
So, passing Rick's Patisserie, Rick's Kitchenwares, and one of Rick's cafe's we worked our way down to the the harbour...
Cornwall 2006 #61
Struggled through the thronging crowds and then up the cliff path looking out over the estuary -
Cornwall 2006 #62
- and up to chapel point (where we had a little rest) and watched the ferries and fishing boats zooming around the sand banks in practiced fashion -
Cornwall 2006 #63
- then back down to the main car park (there was still a power cut), past Rick Stein's main (and original) resturants, on past Rick Stein's deli (had a quick nose round) and on to sample a bit of Rick Stein Fish and Chips in his chip shop (next to his Fish and Chip resturant, which was closed)...is that seven? Might even be eight, I lost count... ;)

We were reasonably lucky with the queue, rumour has it that it can sometimes take up to an *hour* to queue to even make your order, but this time we were waiting just a few minutes -
Cornwall 2006 #66
- then you go and join the *other* queue (armed with your order number) and wait for your number to be called -
Cornwall 2006 #64
- (I had haddock and Flyingpops went for cod) -
Cornwall 2006 #65
- it was served up with a flourish, never had take away fish with fresh parsley garnish before... ;) The homemade tartare was really tasty, the chips were flawless, the fish was moist and fresh with a crispy batter, but I couldn't help thinking that it was just...well...fish and chips...albeit in a Rick Stein cardboard box...so, jolly nice, but not worth a 1 hour wait... ;)

11 comments:

Ginco said...

Perhaps the place should be renamed to - let's see, Ricky's
Village, hahaha!
Something about the man I don't care about, if we're talking food here, I wholeheartedly prefer Gary Rhodes, I won't get started, space won't allow!
The fish looks very good though, and the pics are lovely!!!
Oh, and I'd love to visit Cornwall!!! :-)

Unknown said...

Well, we spoke to a couple of the locals, and they seemed to be genuinely positive about the money he is bringing to the area (with the extra visitors)...but I have to say, it's just...wrong...to have so many of his own shops in the area...

The man? Well, I'm not a big seafood eater so I can't attest to his recipes...Gary Rhodes I actually met once, he came to the canteen at one of my old places of work (some sort of corporate do for the chefs) and I bumped into him quite by accident...I only managed a quick shocked look and said "Hello Gary"...he said "Hello" in the cheery way, smiled and walked on...was quite surreal... ;)

Gary's recipes are getting the foodies in the office quite excited at the moment though, tell you that for nothing! ;) Might have to get his latest book...

Cornwall is lovely, go there at least once a year for a break, strongly recommend it...

Ginco said...

Which reminds me of the two ONLY
large supermarkets ruling the roost here in my corner of the globe, it just isn't....right!!!

Fink, you are indeed a lucky guy to meet good ol' Gary on the way (from a woman's point of view here, haha) AND I'd have been most surprised if he was anything other than cheery - HMMMM, the way he speaks to his food, OK! I'll stop right here, LOL!! :-)

Unknown said...

Hehe... ;) You are quite right, Gary has quite some passion for his grub (in his quiet brooding way)...not sure if he is following the nation's trend towards the "healthy" end, but hey... ;)

Linked to you btw...welcome in.. :)

Ginco said...

Honoured Chinese tree - bow low-
vely kind man.

Cheers!!

Shablagoo! said...

Rick Stein might appear to own Cornwall but he doesn't own my fists.

What silly little cardboard boxes. I guess if you tied an engine to the mans head you'd have a Zeppelin.

kipperfrog said...

lol, we went crabbing in Padstow a couple of years ago, but I don't remember seeing anything Steinesque about the place.. shows how observant I was!

Unknown said...

Did you go for a dip in Rick Stein's sea? I remember Gary's visit and that the food was really good at the 'old place of work' mate

Unknown said...

Nah, danger finger prevented any naughty behaviour...Humph...

Mmmm...remember the pigs in blankets... ;)

Anonymous said...

well I'm sorry I did not enjoy rick stein's fish and chips at padstow! After a lovely day we wanted fish and chips and thought that Rick Stein's would be worth a try. It cost just under £20 for fish and chips x2 and two cokes but if they are good then I don't mind paying. I was very dissapointed, the fish was very nice but very small! and the chips were well... rubbish! My husband said he'd 'had better oven chips!' My local chippy is a 100% better! Whist we were there one customer walked out as he said he would not pay twice the price for half the size when the food is not even served on a plate, and we agree!
Next time we will be trying the local chippy "Chips Ahoy".

Unknown said...

The chips were fine on our visit, but no, it's not worth the extra money/wait...

However, nothing said here will stop the queues of rabid Stein fans filling the place to the rafters every single day...