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 Angel & Harlequin Bistro In Spinkhill It'd been a couple of weeks since we'd last been out for a Sunday roast, what with one thing and another, so after a hard days' graft in the garden and home at Mummy's, His Nibs Read The Article | |
| A Bank Holiday Breakfast At The Bridge House In Ambergate Unusually, the weather had been pretty decent for the majority of the Easter weekend, so we'd managed to get quite a bit done. Being Brits, though, we know that good-fortune Read The Article | |
| Out For Dinner At Cicchetti by Carlo In Wirksworth A message came in to Beak H.Q recently, one that had me and His Nibs looking over at each other in silence. One 'Don Orlando' had invited us to a 'sit down' at his Italian restaurant Read The Article | |
| Visiting Olive Moroccan Restaurant At Their New Location In Belper As regular readers will know, Olive Moroccan in Belper is one of our regular haunts. The wonderful Jacqui, owner and Chef at Olive, has become a true friend over the years, Read The Article | |
| Burger And Pizza Night At The Canal Inn, Bullbridge, Ambergate The Man and I have fiiiiiiiiiinally got around to visiting The Canal Inn at Bullbridge to sample their Thursday night offering: Pizza and a pint for £11 or Burger and a pint Read The Article | |
| Lunch At Scoozi Ristorante in Clevedon Every now and then life presents an opportunity to combine business and pleasure, and when it does, The Man and I jump on that train PDQ! I had booked a cheeky night away. I had booked a cheeky Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Fork & Furrow Restaurant, Moorwood Moor Near Alfreton Things have been a bit chaotic for The Flock recently; what with one thing and another (health-wise) its been a good month or so since we all got to go out for a Sunday Read The Article | |
| Lunch At The Ashford Arms, Ashford-in-the-Water On Their Soft Opening Its always lovely and exciting when a new venue opens; even more so at the moment, with news of venues shutting coming along fairly regularly. The Man and I were Read The Article | |
| Dinner At Haveli Indian Restaurant In Chilwell, Nottingham We've been busy little bods lately - just how we like it! - and this particular evening saw us winging our way to one of Nottinghams suburbs, Chilwell, to visit Haveli Read The Article | |
| A Sunday Lunch Sharer At The Malt Shovel Near Wirksworth The Man Bird and I were invited along to The Malt Shovel Inn recently (Mummy Bird tagged along as well), to sample their Sunday Sharer Board so we jumped in the jalopy and set off. Read The Article | |