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Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
I tasted 13 vanilla ice creams – this budget supermarket tub beats the posh offerings
I did a double take when I looked at my tasting notes for this article. In front of me were 13 bowls of vanilla ice cream – no labels or brands visible, just a lineup of anonymous products (marked A to M) for me to taste and judge. Now, it was time for me to wipe my sticky face and fingers, open my laptop and reveal the labels on the tubs. One ice cream had stood out as too sweet and too strongly flavoured with an oddly woody vanilla taste that reminded me of an over-oaked chardonnay. I gave it a middling star rating accordingly, but when I checked which brand it was, I was surprised to discover it was a Häagen-Dazs tub – the very ice cream which had come top in my last tasting of posh vanilla ice cream two years ago. How could this be? Was the sugar buzz from tasting 13 ice creams addling my brain, or had its recipe changed? Happily, I still have my spreadsheet of data from 2023 (in which I record the prices, volumes, sugar content and more for each product – just some of the number crunching I do for all of my taste tests). I checked this year's Häagen-Dazs label against my notes, and sure enough, the ingredients had changed. While the price of the 400g tub has risen less than five per cent (roughly in line with inflation, but below the higher rate of food inflation) savings have been made elsewhere, it seems. The sugar content has gone up from 18.8g to 19.9g per 100g – enough to tip it from 'on the sweet side' (as I judged it to be in 2023) to cloying. Perhaps it's there to make up for the new ingredient – water – now listed alongside cream and condensed skimmed milk, sugar and egg yolk. More significantly, the vanilla extract used in the 2023 ice cream has been replaced with 'natural vanilla flavouring'. By law this must be made from 95 per cent vanilla, with the additional 5 per cent coming from natural sources (although these may be so highly refined they are unrecognisable from the original). The purpose of these extras (according to Neroliane, a French company that creates flavourings for the food industry), is to 'convey fresher, spicy, biscuity, buttery or even milky notes to the original vanilla.' Or, in the case of my Häagen-Dazs spoonful, woody notes. It's not a successful addition, and it's hard not to conclude that it's been made to cover up a switch to a lower quality vanilla. Talking of money saving, a favourite method of some manufacturers is to whip as much air into their ice cream as possible, so they need less of the mixture to fill a tub. This is called 'overrun' in the trade, and in this area Häagen-Dazs (which was approached for a comment) actually comes out shining, with the lowest overrun I've come across. Those who add the most air usually have to add emulsifiers – generally mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids – to stop the mixture splitting. This puts the ice cream in the ultra-processed food (UPF) category, and also makes for an unpleasantly foamy consistency as it melts. In order to estimate how much of your tub is air, I've calculated the difference between the weight of the ice cream and the volume as a percentage (a high percentage signals more air in the mixture). This isn't a perfect equation but it's a decent approximation, and it allows you to understand where you're spending money on real ingredients – and where it's just all hot (or cold) air. Skip to: How we tasted All the ice cream was given time to soften slightly in the fridge. A scoop was taken from each tub and placed in a glass bowl identified with a letter A to M. I tasted all the ice creams 'blind'. In order to work out the weight of the product and its overrun (the amount of air added to the ice cream), I placed any that did not declare a weight on accurate professional digital scales, subtracting the weight of the tub (these products I have marked with an 'approx' figure). The taste test
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Miriam Lord's week: Influencer Richie Herlihy's foul-mouthed review of Dáil restaurant leaves a bad taste
The Dáil's Regional Independent Group has lodged a complaint to the Ceann Comhairle and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission after a social media influencer posted a foul-mouthed and scathing review of the meal he was served in the Dáil members' restaurant while there as the guest of an Independent Ireland TD. Cork-based content creator Richie Herlihy, who robustly reviews spice boxes and other takeaway favourites for his online platforms, visited Leinster House a month ago on the invitation of Cork North Central TD, Ken O'Flynn. On the day, Deputy O'Flynn told the Dáil his friend, who also runs a food truck, 'has the best battered sausage in Cork'. After his visit, the comedian/influencer uploaded a video on Facebook , TikTok and Instagram. The visit also featured on Independent Ireland's social media feeds. READ MORE Richie began by giving a plug to the menswear shop in Cork where he picked his new suit for the occasion. And he said there was 10 per cent off everything in the shop for his followers (126,000 and counting on TikTok and 85,000 on Facebook). Then he meets Ken 'the legend himself', who is seen showing him around the place. He loved that, as he also loved the 'as creamy as they f***in' get' pints served in the bar. He didn't like the food, though. Taking photographs and videos without permission is prohibited in the public areas of Leinster House, including the bars and restaurants. There are strict rules around this, although in recent years, as everyone has a mobile phone, an unspoken tolerance has developed for people taking discreet pictures for personal use. Richie's visit, though, was something of a production. He set up a camera with a microphone attached on a tripod beside his table in the restaurant where he sat next to Ken O'Flynn. A friend simultaneously recorded the scene on his phone. The camera zoomed in on his chicken liver pate and an opinion was given. 'Like dog food' with 'burnt' toast, which was 'actually f***in' soggy' like it was 'cooked on a radiator'. As for his chicken curry. 'I'd say Micheál Martin cooked this yoke anyway because I've had better microwaved dinners out of Lidl. Absolute garbage, chicken tough as a badger's arse.' Could they not get it right 'with all the money [they] waste up in the f***in' Dáil . . . absolute sh***.' There were scenes of banter with Ken in his office, and as Richie walked the corridors he commented for his followers: 'There's a smell of vermin in here, vermin in the f**kin' hallways!'. Richie said Ken treated him like gold and all the TDs he met were very nice. He met none of the TDs he wouldn't get along with, but if he had, he would have given them a piece of his mind. As he was leaving, the content creator talked about having to wash the 'smell of vermin' out of his suit 'because of the other rats that are in there'. The video upset the hard-working catering staff in particular. The politicians were angered on their behalf and they weren't amused by the references to vermin either. The video was deleted soon afterwards but it is still doing the rounds on Kildare Street. Staffers are still very annoyed about it. This prompted the Regional Group to lodge a formal complaint and request that Deputy O'Flynn apologise to the catering staff. The group comprises the Lowry TDs, Danny Healy-Rae, Mattie McGrath, Carol Nolan and those junior ministers previously attached to the group. Minister of State Noel Grealish said he sat down and spoke to the staff because 'they were extremely upset' over the video. 'They take pride in their job and they take pride in the quality of the food they produce.' Meanwhile, Mattie McGrath took the issue to the floor of the Dáil on Wednesday when he called for an apology from Ken O'Flynn, who hosted the influencer. 'A deputy brought an outside person into this House with a tripod and camera. That person made appalling videos and denigrated the excellent staff of this House in the restaurant and the excellent cuisine on offer there,' he told the Dáil. Meanwhile, there will be no apology from Richie Herlihy. 'These politicians should have more on their plate with the state they have the country in, instead of this handbags' he told us on Friday. 'I told the truth that day, food I got was shocking, and some of them politicians including Mattie McGrath should be busy working on the real problems in this country. There have been threats to public safety from the people they have let into Ireland. Should be more on their agenda to be keeping the Irish people safe than to be attacking me about a bit of banter with a bit of truth in it!' We were unable to contact Deputy O'Flynn. Emotive fox-hunting issue attracted outsiders to the Dáil, some of whom arrived on all fours Rural based TDs Danny Healy-Rae and Independent Ireland's Michael Collins were criticised on Wednesday for trying to stop the passage of a Bill to ban fox hunting at its first stage. Ruth Coppinger of People Before Profit introduced it in the Dáil. She was gobsmacked when the two deputies spoke against it and Danny called for a vote. It is common practice for Bills to go through on the nod for a full debate at the next stage. The Dublin West TD said it was 'unprecedented' for a TD to try to prevent a Bill from reaching second stage and a full airing in the Dáil. 'I have introduced many controversial things, as have other TDs, and I have never stopped a Bill from going to second stage. I have been told to put on the big-girl pants and allow debate, but here we have a stifling of the freedom of debate and freedom of speech.' Coppinger urged the Government not to back the call to block it . But Healy-Rae said he got calls 'from every corner of Kerry' asking him 'to ensure that we stop this at the start'. Farmers are losing hens and lambs to foxes, he said. 'They're all over the place. They're coming into towns and villages. They're in and out of bins and they're everywhere. They've completely taken over the place.' Collins said foxes are a danger to young lambs and native birds, and controls are needed for 'pests' such as the fox and the hare. People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger during a protest against fox hunting on Tuesday. Photograph: Gráinne Ní Aodha/PA Wire 'We have to have some kind of controls, because the next thing is you'll be inside here looking to see if we can protect the rat or the mouse or whatever. And nobody wants to protect the human being, that's the problem here.' As he spoke, a strange noise, like an animal bleating, came from the public gallery where anti-blood sports campaigners were sitting. Collins, a TD for Cork South-West, stopped and looked around. He said: 'Sorry, is that a lamb or what?' Meanwhile, the following evening, as the Dáil voted on whether or not to scupper legislation to outlaw the killing of foxes for 'sport' without a full hearing, one interested observer was spotted sitting stock still at a back door around the services side of the building, as if listening intently. The Bill passed to the next stage. And the little Leinster House fox hurried away. This fox had a particular interest in proceedings at Leinster House Turning the page from one generation of political journalist to the next A big crowd escaped from Leinster House after the weekly voting bloc on Wednesday and streamed down the road towards Hodges Figgis bookshop for the launch of Gavan Reilly's latest opus: The Secret Life of Leinster House. Among the TDs was Government-supporting Independent Barry Heneghan, currently sans moustache, but that could change by next week. Barry was in good form, having just voted against the Government and in favour of Sinn Féin's pro-Palestine Bill seeking to prevent the Irish Central Bank from facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds in the European Union. Veteran newsman and political commentator Sean O'Rourke did the honours at the launch in a lengthy and entertaining speech on how political journalism has changed down through the years. He drew on his own early years with the Irish Press group, focusing on one particular day in the 1980s when the Evening Press released three editions. The early edition trumpeted that Fianna Fáil minister Séamus Brennan was 'on the brink' of resigning. The next edition, a couple of hours later, had 'pressure' mounting on Séamus to go. And the headline on the final, late evening edition, announced that Brennan was staying on. Gavan, whose wife Ciara is a daughter of former GAA president and Kilkenny hurling great Nicky Brennan, could not have spoken for as long as Sean even if he wanted to. Midway through his speech he realised he forgot to order the takeaway for the babysitter and wrapped things up pretty sharpish after that. 'This book will provide an important public service,' said our own Pat Leahy in his review last week. The Secret Life of Leinster House (published by Gill Books at €17.99) clips along at a fair pace and does a good job of explaining for outsiders and aspiring anoraks how the whole place does or doesn't work. Committee meetings could be blink-and-you-miss-it affairs if early indications are accurate The committees are cranking into action after a much-delayed start and a lot of fuss over who would get those coveted committee chairs. The lesser vice-chair prizes are now being decided. This week, the Health Committee voted on a deputy for Pádraig Rice, Social Democrats TD for Cork South-Central. There were two contenders: Fine Gael's Colm Burke from across the way in Cork North-Central and Martin Daly, Fianna Fáil TD for Roscommon-Galway. Colm was a minister of state at the Department of Health in the last government, while Martin, a first-time deputy, is a GP based in Galway and a former president of the Irish Medical Organisation. He is Fianna Fáil's spokesperson on health. Dr Daly, with his extensive experience in the medical world, was seen as favourite for the position. But Colm, who was an MEP and then a senator before he was elected to the Dáil in 2020, proved a very strong campaigner. He got the job, thanks to support from Sinn Féin. A thank-you, perhaps, for Colm signing a cross-party letter sent by Sinn Féin to the Minister for Housing urging him to release immediate funding for the Tenant in Situ Scheme in Cork city. The scheme allows councils to buy rental properties when landlords put them on the market. Colm was the only Government TD to sign the letter. Timing will be a major bone of contention at forthcoming committee meetings. In its desire to please everyone and come up with all sorts of new committees on all sorts of subjects, the time available for sittings has been truncated. Too many com-mit-tees and not enough meeting rooms or staff to cope. This explains why the much-anticipated meeting of RTÉ and the Media Committee was conducted at a breakneck pace by chairman Alan Kelly. They could have gone on for hours, but in a lucky break for RTÉ, this wasn't possible. He had to be out of the room after 2½ hours — and that included their private session — to make way for the daintily titled Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform, Digitalisation, and Taoiseach.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
I tried supermarket Cornish pasties – my 99p own-brand winner tastes better and is cheaper than Ginsters
A WHOPPING 120 million Cornish pasties are baked every year in the UK, making them one of the nation's favourite snacks. Genuine bakes must be made in the namesake country, contain at least 12.5 per cent beef and 25 per cent root veg. 9 But not all of us can make it to the South West to try one, so how do the supermarket options measure up? LYNSEY HOPE finds out: Ginsters Original Cornish Pasty (227g) £1.95 (£1.95 each) Nutrition: 597 calories, 35g fat, 3.7g sugar, 2.1g salt Lynsey says: "Given the high price and the somewhat shocking calorie, fat and sugar content, I didn't want to like these. "But I did. "There was a good filling with 15% British beef as well as the traditional potato, swede and onion. "It was big with a staggering 35g fat and nearly 600 calories - and very filling - definitely a meal as opposed to a snack. "The pastry was rich and flavoursome though I didn't like the added turmeric. "Why mess with a classic?" Taste: 4/5 Value: 4/5 Overall score: 8/10 Shopping discounts - How to make savings and find the best bargains Tesco Cornish Pasties (520g) £2.50 for 4 (62.5p each) Nutrition: 364 calories, 23.3g fat, 9.5g fat, 2.6g sugar, 0.98g fat 9 Lynsey says: "These pasties came out smelling very appetising and they had a lovely pepperiness on the tongue. "They are huge, proper wedges, and I liked the flakiness of the puff pastry. "There's a good helping of beef at 18 per cent and these had one of the highest levels of swede, at nine per cent. "A crowd-pleasing family pack for a good price." Taste: 4/5 Value: 5/5 Overall score: 9/10 Asda Cornish Pasties (520g) £2.74 for 4 (68.5p each) Nutrition: 364 calories, 23g fat, 2.3g sugar, 0.86g salt Lynsey says: 'Not the tastiest but they are good value and they are filled with a generous 18 per cent beef. "The filling was dense but a lot of it was onion and it was definitely lacking in swede. "It's alright for a meal or snack but I fear pasty purists would not like this.' Taste: 2/5 Value: 2/5 Overall score: 4/10 Morrisons Cornish Pasties (520g) £3.20 (80p each) Nutrition: 373 calories, 25.1g fat, 2.1g sugar, 1.16g salt 9 Lynsey says: "Very similar to the Tesco pasties with a generous 19 per cent beef. "The pastry was well cooked and they gave a nice peppery hit on the tongue. "Perhaps too much spud - I'd have preferred more vegetables. "Whilst there was seven per cent swede, there was no carrot that I could detect and too much onion. "Overly salty, too. "Over 17p more each than the Tesco pasties and not as nice." Taste: 3/5 Value: 3/5 Overall score: 6/10 M&S Cornish Pasties (300g) £3.50 for 2 (£1.75 each) Lynsey says: 'Unlike lots of other pasties we tried, this one was made with flaky pastry. "It was a little fragile with lots of pastry breaking off when I tried to heat it in the oven. "It was incredibly tasty though. "The pastry was well-baked and the pasty itself was generously filled with heaps of meat, potato and swede. "The meat is beef skirt, as per the traditional recipe, which made this juicy and lovely. "Pricey - but a cut above the other supermarket options.' Taste: 5/5 Value: 4/5 Overall score: 9/10 Aldi Crestwood Beef and Vegetable Pasty (200g) 69p for 1 (69p each) Nutrition: 544 calories, 28.5g fat, 3.1g sugar, 1.55g salt Lynsey says: 'Aldi's pasty has a Devon 'crimp' which means it is sealed on the top rather than traditional Cornish-style on the side. "It looks great, very substantial and you can't argue with the price. "But the filling was bland and sloppy. "It was lacking meaty flavour and the chunky texture you'd expect. "Although there was 17 per cent beef, it was potato heavy and the carrots and swede inside were a bit mulchy. "Very high in fat and calorific too." Taste: 2/5 Value: 3/5 Overall score: 5/10 How to save money on your supermarket shop THERE are plenty of ways to save on your grocery shop. You can look out for yellow or red stickers on products, which show when they've been reduced. If the food is fresh, you'll have to eat it quickly or freeze it for another time. Making a list should also save you money, as you'll be less likely to make any rash purchases when you get to the supermarket. Going own brand can be one easy way to save hundreds of pounds a year on your food bills too. This means ditching "finest" or "luxury" products and instead going for "own" or value" type of lines. Plenty of supermarkets run wonky veg and fruit schemes where you can get cheap prices if they're misshapen or imperfect. For example, Lidl runs its Waste Not scheme, offering boxes of 5kg of fruit and vegetables for just £1.50. If you're on a low income and a parent, you may be able to get up to £442 a year in Healthy Start vouchers to use at the supermarket too. Plus, many councils offer supermarket vouchers as part of the Household Support Fund. Waitrose Mini Cornish Pasties (180g) £3.75 for 6 (63.5p each) Nutrition: 90 calories, 5.60g fat, 0.60g sugar, 0.19g salt Lynsey says: "Little pockets of delicious pastry but filled with air. "The filling was nice but there was really only a teaspoon in each one. "I enjoyed them immensely and loved the tiny size for a snack. "They were incredibly moreish and I kept eating one every time I opened the fridge. "I liked the meaty flavour of the beef and there was lots of swede. "Whilst they contained palm oil like many of the others, it was sustainable. "However, for the price, I'd have liked them to be fuller." Taste: 4/5 Value: 3/5 Overall score: 7/10 Lidl Chef Select Cornish Pasty (200g) 99p (99p each) Nutrition: 597 calories, 35g fat, 3.7g sugar, 2.1g salt Lynsey says: " Lidl 's pasty was hefty and one of the most appetising on offer. "After 20 minutes in the oven, the pastry was really nice and flaky and the filling was hearty and flavoursome. "The meat was tender and not chewy and there as no gristle. "Surprisingly, it was more expensive for a single pasty than many others, but it was huge so I still felt for less than a £1 it was excellent value for money. "You could easily make a meal out of this."
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Influencer is heckled and called a 'f***ing piglet' by a stranger while filming herself eat 20 plates of food in Wetherspoons
This is the shocking moment an influencer was heckled and called a 'piglet' while filming her meal in Wetherspoons. Becca Stock, who is known on social media by the username @Beccaeatseverything, has built a following of nearly half a million following for filming her 'honest food reviews'. The 28-year-old, who often records her videos at home, recently took a trip to The Regal, a Wetherspoons in Gloucester, with the intention of reviewing the chain's breakfast menu. But footage of her tucking into the third dish of her 20-plate mega meal was interrupted by a 'drunk and elderly' man heard declaring how filming 'all of that' is 'absolutely disgusting'. When the TikToker repeatedly asked why, the 'horrible' man said 'you're just sat there eating like a f**king piglet'. The video, captioned 'man interrupts me while filming', saw Becca tucking into a full English while fully mic'd up for filming purposes. The man, who wasn't visible in the shot, could be heard saying: 'Excuse me, I actually do not agree with you filming that in here and I think it's absolutely disgusting.' 'I find it really bad both of you,' he reiterated to Becca, who was sat opposite her partner in the restaurant. The Wetherspoons patron continued to criticise her, repeatedly telling her what she was doing was 'disgusting'. He said: 'It's wrong what you're doing. Just sat there eating like a f***ing piglet.' Brave Becca hit back to brand the foul-mouthed punter 'a disgusting human being' and 'the worst person I've ever come across' before alerting staff who were bringing her more food. The former chef said staff told their manager who ordered the rude customer to finish his drink and leave, which he did within 10 minutes. The full-time content creator wasn't sure if the 'beer-bellied' man, believed to be in his late 60s, was offended by the idea she would eat so much or the possibility of food wastage. The video has since gone viral on social media, racking up 3.5 million views. Many viewers took a sympathetic view, with one calling the offender 'an awful angry little man boy'. 'Pure misogyny. If a man was doing the eating he wouldn't have cared. So sorry you had to experience that,' another wrote. A third agreed, writing: 'You handled that so well! He deserved that plate all over him.' But others weren't so sure, with several commenters taking 'his side' and lambasting her for 'filming in public'. Another wrote: 'I'll be honest I'm so sick of everyone filming everything everywhere too, but the way that guy went about it was really inappropriate. speak to the business about instituting rules of behavior prohibiting content creation at their premises.' 'Okay but you are reviewing a budget breakfast in a pretentious manner... Could be perceived as acting ironically, sneering down on customers,' said another. Becca admitted she was shaken and shocked by the 'nightmare' incident and struggled to continue her review of the £70 food haul. The Gloucestershire-based food creator said: 'I was just shocked and I wasn't going to let someone talk to me like that. I wasn't hurt by it. 'My adrenaline was so high and my heart was beating out of my chest. This was my worst nightmare. 'I thought he was just walking to go to the garden, then he stopped and started talking to my partner and telling him he doesn't like what he's doing. 'Because I've dealt with a lot of hate online, you do keep yourself calm a little but I thought 'hang on, you don't get to say those things to me when you don't know anything about what I'm doing'. 'I thought he'd called me a fat pig but he called me a f**king piglet. What a weird thing to say to someone. 'He must have been in his late 60s. He was around 5ft 5in with a beer belly and he had a cane. 'It was clear he'd been drinking because he was slurring his words a bit and a bit drunk. 'The table was full of plates and I'd say there were about eight on there at the time. 'I assume he was brought over by the fact he saw so many plates. Perhaps he was a bit shocked. 'Maybe he was thinking we were going to eat it all but I genuinely don't know and that's why I asked him what the issue was. 'Was he thinking I was overeating, was he concerned about food waste, was he just jealous? He didn't give me a reason. 'He was just drunk and miserable.' Becca says she and her fiancé, who was filming the content, were sitting in a quiet corner of the pub with around eight plates on their table at the time. Her dishes included a Traditional full English breakfast, a vegetarian breakfast, savory muffins, scrambled eggs on toast and fruit with yoghurt. She's explained how she tries to avoid food wastage as much as possible and feels like her filming 'isn't anyone else's business'. Becca said: 'He really shook me up. It was verbal harassment and it was really uncalled for. He could have just enquired and given his opinion. 'I don't feel like it's anyone else's business. Everyone does things that they want to do and not everybody agrees so just keep yourself to yourself. 'We went to Tesco beforehand and got some plastic tubs so anything we didn't eat and we could take away, we did. 'We give it to foxes, birds, our dog and then we eat everything we can eat. With this job there's food wastage but I don't want stacks of food left on the table. 'I'll put the video out at some point but I'll have to give some sort of context because at the start I'm fine and then I'm visibly shaking and I'm finding it hard to talk.' Becca, who didn't report the incident to police, had been asked by followers to review Wetherspoons' breakfast offerings so decided the night before to film the video. Her post said: 'I'm still shaken up that this happened. The staff at The Regal Wetherspoons were amazing and told him to leave after the incident. 'Gutted I didn't get his face on camera. Some people are so miserable.'
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I'm a fish and chip expert and these are Britain's best - but some say the batter colour is all wrong
A food reviewer says a down-to-earth Yorkshire fish and chip shop serves up the tastiest supper in the UK - but some have questioned the colour of the batter in the dish. YouTuber @Garyeats shared a video entitled 'The UK's best fish and chips - wow, wow, wow!' and revealed that, after eating the dish takeaways across the country, he'd found fish and chip nirvana in a corner of West Yorkshire. He said that Mr Yorkshire, aka Danny Malin from another YouTube channel had Rate My Takeaway, had tipped him off about George A Green Fisheries in Wakefield. The 18-minute video that follows shows @Garyeats ordering a battered haddock with chips for £9.50 - and he samples pots of mushy peas, gravy and curry sauce. The food reviewer also marvels at the fact that he's offered 'scraps', tiny pieces of leftover batter that are popular in northern England but largely unheard of elsewhere in the UK. The dish is cooked in beef dripping, which creates a darker than average hue to both the battered fish and the chips, which many said was 'how they should be served' - but some suggested the shade was 'off-putting'. One person wrote: 'The colour of those chips is incredible!' Another added that the colour was spot on, saying: 'That's exactly how I like my Fish and Chips. Brown and crispy. Nothing worse than a pale, anemic chip that is undercooked.' However, one fish and chip fan penned: 'The fish and chips looked a bit off putting with the dark colour.' Another added: 'Some people might think the batter and the chips look too dark but that is what they should look like if cooked in beef dripping. They are so much more tasty like that.' One person surmised: 'That's not overdone, that's perfect.' Others agreed it was one of the nation's best, with one person writing: 'My mum used to send me to that chippy for tea after school, I'm 67 now and still go. Best in England.' Earlier this year, the National Fish and Chip Shop Awards gave the title of Britain's best fish and chip shop to Darlington-based Yarn Road Fish and Chips. The competition's judging criteria is rigorous, with interviews, mystery taste tests and skill assessments all undertaken by competitors. Owner Will Burrell says that its his shop's ingredients which saw it outmuscle rivals and claim this year's title. 'It starts with the best ingredients that money can buy. We use Icelandic, sustainable cod fillets fried in a nice clean oil with a light batter', Burrell said. The shop had already received rave reviews online, with one Tripadvisor user writing: 'Visited last year for the very first time and their fish & chips are delicious! Everyone is always friendly, welcoming and efficient but never impatient. 'The shop is kept clean and high standards maintained overall. Love the food, prices are good and if it wasn't for my waistline, I'd be there every week!' Another penned: 'Never disappointed with the standard of the food and plenty of it. 'Always call for take away lunch when in the area, you wait for the food to be cooked fresh, but it is worth it.' However, the takeaway boss, serving up portions for £9.90, issued a stark warning about price rises for the nation's favourite dish due to rising costs of food. Burrell warned: 'Our dish is still under a tenner but there are big price rises are coming in the industry. The cost of fish has gone through the roof and the cost of potatoes are on the rise.' Last month, another award winning fish and chip shop in Greater Manchester was accused of 'ripping people off' after it raised the price of haddock to £8.20. Chips @ No 8 in Prestwich has regularly been hailed as one of the best fish and chip shops in the region. It has also made it into a few national lists, and often draws in big crowds during the day. Run by owner Dan Edwards, the takeaway has defended raising the price of its haddock at the weekend, which it has described as its biggest seller besides chips. The takeaway said the cost of ordering a box of haddock from their suppliers had increased by 125 per cent in the last seven years. Costing £58 a box in 2018, Dan said the cost of haddock had now 'jumped to an all-time high' of £130 a box. Dan said that the £4.70 cost of haddock in 2018 would now cost around £12.70 today, not factoring in overheads and utilities which would see it priced at around £15. Instead, the shop has begun temporarily changing £8.20 for haddock until the price drops. Saying he would 'continue to support our domestic fisherladies and fishermen', Dan said he was sharing the news in a bid for 'transparency' after being accused of 'ripping people off'. He posted: 'We temporarily increased the price of haddock to £8.20 on the Saturday so that we weren't in danger of making a loss after we factor in the overheads and the reason for this post was someone accused us of "ripping people off!". So this is for transparency.
