Gluten Free At Ripley's Fish & Chips, Ripley
Published On Sunday 5 Apr 2015 by Sticky Beak
See Recent Dining Out Reviews | See All Recent Reviews
I am a curious birdie as you know dear reader, so when word reached me that Ripley’s Chips do a “Gluten Free Friday and Saturday“ at their restaurant and takeaway I wondered how the batter would match up to a “regular“ batter. The Boy Wonder didn’t really want to do much except veg out, but a quick bout of nagging / whinging / persuading did the trick and we were soon flapping our little wings over to Ripley. We arrived just after 1pm and took a seat in the eat-in side of the premises, and it looked as if the lunchtime had been popular, which is always nice to see.
The decor was your usual easy to keep clean set up, with tiled floors and brickwork walls punctuated with vinyl covered banquet seats and fixed chairs. There were several seating areas rather than it just being a boring open plan layout, and it was well lit. The staff were all very friendly and smart, and the service was very efficient.
I ordered the gluten free battered Fish with chips and mushy peas, and The Man Bird had ordinary battered Fish with chips and Beans, and we had a pot of tea each. When the meals arrived you couldn’t tell them apart, the batter was lovely and golden and crispy on both bits of fish. I tried a bite of the regular fish and batter first, and then had a good munch of my gluten free offering. Both seriously good, I have to say. In fact, I don’t know whether I was expecting the gluten free batter to be somehow lacking in substance, crunch or taste but I was really pleasantly surprised to discover that my Fish was every bit as tasty as the regular stuff. Both meals were steaming hot, portion size was great and the chips were crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. Both Fish portions were a good thickness and size and the fish was skinned and boned so you can literally eat every last morsel. At this point I think I ought to make my confession. I won’t be offended if you have a little titter at me, and I know for certain that you won’t be surprised at what I have to say. My fish and chips were so delicious (and in my defence I hadn’t eaten anything since my gluttony at Ice Creams and Dreams) that I merrily scoffed my way through the majority of my portion before I realised we hadn’t taken a photograph of the food ! So please excuse the rather tatty looking piccie of what remained of my food, but by golly they were blooming good :)
To say it’s your basic town centre premises the atmosphere was really warm and welcoming, and there were couples, families and all generations in there tucking into their meals. We felt in no rush to leave so we had a couple of coffees (a Latte and a Latte Macchiato) as well. The coffee was from a range we hadn’t heard of before, Rijo 42, and again we really enjoyed them. The coffee has a lovely smooth taste to it and I would happily drink it again.
So if you have a member of your family, or a friend that has a Gluten intolerance, IBS or Coeliac Disease please tell them there is somewhere local that does a cracking fish and chip meal that they can indulge in on a weekly basis. Top marks team Ripley’s, nice to see a local business with a bit of forward thinking :)
| Sunday Lunch At The Restaurant At The Renishaw It was another Sunday (where are the weeks going this year?!), which meant a jaunt out with Mummy Bird for a roast dinner. The Man had done some scouting around and consulted our list Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Robin Hood Near Baslow Before you all jump on me, I'm just going to clarify that I do like the warmer weather. But.... Come on, 30 degrees+ is just too much for a pasty English Rose; I can't function: I'm sweaty, lethargic Read The Article | |
| Dinner At Roka Turkish Kitchen In Ripley After a day at the Spa, the last thing either myself or The Man wanted to do was cook! We scratched our heads as to whether to get food delivered, order pick-up takeaway or just bite the bullet and go out Read The Article | |
| Dinner At Nicco Restaurant & Bar, Pride Park, Derby The Man and I have eaten in Pride Park before, but this was our first visit to Nicco Restaurant and Bar. I'm happy to say that the car park is a decent size and we found a spot for the jalopy Read The Article | |
| Out For Dinner At The Merchant's Yard In Tideswell I've always been a huge fan of our stunning scenery here in the Shire, but I'd forgotten just how glorious the scenery is on the drive up to Monsal Head. Even with storm clouds threatening Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Bulls Head Inn, Foolow The Man and I had kindly been invited along for the Sunday Roast at The Bulls Head Inn at Foolow and, I tell you what, you'd be hard-pressed to find a traditional English village Read The Article | |
| Sunday Roast Platter By Hogbroast At The Mixing House, Derby Well, what a blast from the past! The Man and I were kindly invited along by Matt and Jordan of HogBroast to sample their Sunday Roast Platter at The Mixing House Read The Article | |
| Back To The Village Inn In Marehay For Their Pizzas The first rule of life? Don't razz your Mummy off; or, if you prefer to look at it a different way, keep Mummy on-side. Happy Mummy = Happy Sticky = Happy Man Bird, Fledge, BB etc.. Read The Article | |
| Out For Dinner At The Dog In Pentrich The Dog at Pentrich is [now] the sister site to Tony's Bar and Grill in Beeston, a restaurant His Nibs and I recently visited, and enjoyed. It's been a fair while since we've pootled out to Pentrich, so Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Scotsmans Pack, Hathersage I don't care what anyone says, as a Brit, there's one meal that screams home: the iconic Sunday Roast. The Man and I were on our way to Hathersage and The Scotsman's Pack Country Read The Article | |