After all that debate a while ago on where to find the best chippies here's a short field report on the UK's best fish and chips of 2007. It's official. They're at the Townhead Cafe in Biggar in South Lanarkshire and were very good indeed. You get a huge portion, the fish was light as a feather and there was something almost architectural about that batter.
For cafe lovers everywhere, I tried to capture the atmosphere of this very strange place in Gretna. Full story of a cafe with no name, an ominous photo and a cranky parrot on Nothing To See Here.
Present & Correct who made the wonderful Alphabet of endangered species have done it again with a really smart set of classic cafe notecards. 4 different designs celebrate great British dishes in a fitting old-timey way. There are other items to coo over in their new shop.
I liked this little diagram, from the Smiler Take Away in Burnham-in-Sea. It's a bit blurry but you should be able to make out the names of fried foods found on their hot shelf with a rough approximation of their shape. The man behind the counter, who was indeed very smiley, explained that he'd knocked it up because he was always being asked what things were. Nice touch, I thought. Continual improvement and all that. Incidentally, he also mentioned that some people think they're England's smallest chippy, but were struggling to corroborate that. It certainly was tiny. So anyone in the chip shop measurement business check it out.
Gareth found this graffiti on the boarded-up New Piccadilly. It's amazing how one sentence can be funny, evocative and sad, all at the same time.
Michael Prince, who took those great photos of the George Hotel has been on a cafe tip lately. He has superb photos of Boni's Cafe in Clarkston, near Glasgow and The Ritz Cafe in Millport. They're both real favourites of mine and feature on the second set of I like postcards. They won't be there forever so enjoy while you can.
We Live Here from Sheffield make wonderful art prints, t-shirts and accoutrements featuring risky modern buildings. The prints feature Owen Luder's Get Carter car park in Gateshead, soon to be demolished apparently, Sheffield's Egg Box, New Roxy Disco and Cooling Towers, remaindered from a long gone power station. If you like these, wait 'til you see the memorial Sheffield Castle Market Greasy Spoon Mug.
Deep joy. Thanks Simon James for the tip (via Creative Review blog).
From YouTube, 3 delightful short films by Saint Etienne and Paul Kelly about London's disappearing classic cafes. It's even more precious because they've all closed now. Each features a voiceover from the owner telling the tale of that particular establishment. Great stuff.
Today's Special 2: Eldon Street
Today's Special 3: New Piccadilly
More on these and other great caffs at Classic Cafes.
We took a wee trip "doon the watter" yesterday to Millport. This is a little island resort, like Rothesay, that used to be very popular with Glaswegian holidaymakers before the lure of the Costa del Sol. A highlight of any trip is a visit to The Ritz Cafe, run by the Giorgetti family since 1908. It's a wonderful dayglo vision of formica and geometric patterns - what a gem. The good/bad news is that it's up for sale and has been for the past 2 years. The good side is an opportunity for someone sympathetic to own their own classic cafe, the bad is the thought of it getting bought over and ripped out. I worked in a cafe for a year and it was one of the best jobs I ever had, so I wouldn't rule out running a cafe. It's such a nice pipe dream but having no money and no business sense probably rules this out. Anyone else interested? Can you help keep the Ritz in good hands? More details from Christie + Co.
There was a nice article about classic cafes (scanned) in the Scottish Sunday Times today, featuring quotes from Adrian Maddox and yours truly on the delights of caffs. It bills I like as a classic cafes site which isn't strictly true. It's a classic everything site, if it's anything. So anyone looking for cafes might like to see these photos and more on Flickr. They're all due for a clear out so please bear with me. Nice to know that all those hours spent filling my face has paid off.
Otherwise, there's been a lack of cafe news lately. I revisited a few over the summer and was pleased to see so many still standing. In Troon, Togs has gone, but the Pavilion Cafe (pictured) still survives against all odds. It's also worth mentioning that the New Piccadilly, one of London's finest is due to close forever on 23 September. Go now while you still can.
Firstly a discussion on BBC News about the origin of the 99. I don't want to spoil it for you but there are no conclusive answers. Fun reading though. UK ice cream trade organisation The Ice Cream Alliance (imagine their conferences!) has some Fantastic Frozen Facts (see Info for Ice Cream Eaters) - "Ice Cream Sundaes were created when it became illegal to sell ice cream with flavoured soda on a Sunday in the American town of Evanston during the late 19th century. Some traders got round it by serving it with syrup instead, calling it an 'Ice Cream Sunday' and eventually replacing the final 'y' with an 'e' to avoid upsetting religious leaders". More on ice cream's secret history at Wikipedia - "One important development in the 20th century was the introduction of softer ice cream. A chemical research team in Britain (of which a young Margaret Thatcher was a member) discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in ice cream, which allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual ingredients, thereby saving money." That bloody woman. Also, an explanation of brain freeze, or ice cream headache. Ooch. Find out about the history of the ice cream trade at London's Canal Museum. This Much I Know by Wayne Vineer Ice Cream Man. For fans of the regional ice cream variation, read up on the Top Hat, invented by the Zavaroni's of Rothesay. Finally, if you haven't sickened yourself by now, check out the Ice Cream and Ice Cream Van pools on Flickr.
