Growing up in Brooklyn, I am no stranger to ethnic food.  Chinese,
Caribbean and Thai foods are a mainstay in my home and rarely a week goes by that we don’t eat one or more. Maybe because of this, my sons and I are foodies.  That’s why after seeing a restaurant featured on best fried foods on the Travel Channel that was close enough to our home to walk, we decided to check out the British food at the Chip Shop.

 

So the Chip Shop is literally fried food paradise.  My little guy was in love with the fried macaroni and cheese, which comes like a round ball and oozes cheesy yumminess when you crack open the side.  The teens’ favorite is the fried deserts.  Fried Snickers bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (pictured below) were eaten so quickly I think they burned their tongues!  They will also fry anything you bring with you such as a pack of Oreo’s from the corner store.  (Yup, that was T’s idea!)

 

Our first experience was so fun and the menu so extensively original, we made it one of our ‘hotspots’: we go for the occasional night out or birthday dinner.  I have decided to go through all of the things on the menu that are uniquely English that you wouldn’t get anywhere else.  My boys usually stick to the fish and chips or other fried seafood, but I like to go for stuff that sounds and looks really different.  Like ‘Bangers and Mash’ which turned out to be sausages and mashed potatoes with lots of brown gravy and onions.  Very yummy.

 

A couple of weeks ago we found ourselves at the Chip Shop again, and my kids called me on a dare. (Kids are good for remembering crap like that.)  We had gone to see the Disney movie ‘Brave’ in which they ate haggis.  ”Hey, the Chip Shop serves haggis,” I commented enthusiastically.  ”I dare you to eat it!” said T, just as enthusiastically with a “Yeah!” chimed in by his little brother.  I totally agreed, I mean, why not?  Sigh.

 

So I ordered the haggis knowing full well that some of the original ingredients that they use in the U.K. aren’t allowed here in the U.S. and hoping that would work in my favor. (I’ll let you use your imagination on that one or feel free to do some gross, uh I mean interesting reasearch…) Not that it mattered.  I was really hungry by the time we ordered too, so I figured that would definitely help and it did.  They gave me a huge plate half-filled with chips and two giant servings of haggis. The first two bites were fine, they reminded me of an over seasoned, ground liver.  I like liver, a little crumbled bacon, onions, mmmm.  But the next couple of bites started to leave a funny tang in my mouth.  Two bites after that and I was chewing slower and swallowing really hard.  T was grinning like a lunatic as he watched me eat until finally he offered me one of his fried shrimp and Khev said, “Mom, you want some of mine?”

“No, thanks, I’m fine,” I said as I gulped huge mouthfuls of pumpkin beer to push most of the first giant piece down.   Suffice it to say, I did not take the second piece to go.  And although I am happy to be able to say I tried and ate haggis, I will definitely not be ordering it again.  Shepherds pie, here I come.  The location also has it’s own blog, check it out here: http://atlanticchipshop.blogspot.com/