Fish Hut, Hornbaek

As part of an early Autumn holiday in Denmark we visited one of the famous fish-huts of the coastal towns and villages along the Northern Zealand coast – an outstandingly beautiful area known to many as the Danish Riviera.

Lonely Planet recommended the Fish Hut in Hornbaek and so we took the very slow train round the coast from Helsingør to Hornbaek and walked down to the harbour.

The fish and chips came with mayonnaise and a salad (I say salad when what I really mean is a lettuce leaf, a slice of cucumber and a cherry tomato) all for the equivalent of about £6. This is very cheap for Denmark, very cheap indeed.

I didn’t know what the fish was but it was fresh, as you’d hope, and it tasted OK, but was certainly nothing to write home about. Maybe nothing to write a blog about either.

The batter was a thick greasy nonsense with a slightly sweet taste and was highly reminiscent of a Findus Fish and Chips ready meal from the 1970s.

We found out through accidental detective work near the bins that the chips were fried in soya oil and were definitely just from a frozen packet. A superior frozen thin chip but as they’d be smothered in rock salt it was difficult to truly enjoy their taste.

The lemon was impossible to squeeze as it was too small and had actually been stuffed into the blob of mayonnaise. The mayo itself was OK but just lacked oomph.

The meal was washed down with a very average bottle of white wine – the Torre Mayor variety.

What makes the whole thing stand out is the view. You sit outside on metal chairs at metal tables overlooking the stunning little harbour. You order your food at a hatch, you are given a metal disc and when your disc vibrates it’s time to go and get the food. It was a shame there was cloud cover, which was moving very, very slowly and we sat and waited for the sunshine.

We left before it arrived.

© All Rights Reserved Ole Jais

 

The Town Hall Tavern, Leeds

 

© Copyright Bill Henderson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

It was the perfect storm.

Nearby beer festival + a rained-off game at Headingly + business lunches = a very, very noisy pub.

The noisy pub in question was the Town Hall Tavern on Leeds’ Headrow, which describes itself as an eclectic gastropub. I couldn’t imagine what they meant by this, so I took a trip to Leeds to find out.

 

Despite the noise, I decided to go for the non-eclectic crunchy East Coast haddock, dripping cooked chips, tartare sauce and crushed peas at £9.95.

 

The meal came on a plate. Unfortunately the plate had a piece of ‘newspaper’ on it called ‘The Daily Catch’ which actually stated to fall apart because of the combined weakening effect of the heat of the fish and the oil from the batter. What utter nonsense!

The fish was an OK chunk with the skin off and the batter was light, with good colour, plenty of flavour and it had been really well cooked. The chips had good taste and texture and a great mid-brown colour.

 

The peas were of the petit pois variety and had quite a soft, slightly buttery flavour.

Then the tartare disaster. It looked good with a bright mayo and well-chopped pieces of veg. However, once tasted it quickly became very clear that one of those vegetables was cucumber. And I hate cucumber. Cucumber is tartare? Not on my watch.

 

The chunk of lemon was full of pips and it was a genuine struggle to get any of the juice out. The salt cellar didn’t actually crush the salt, rather it just dispensed whole crystals from the cellar onto the chips. The vinegar was a slightly indulgent, and unnecessary, Aspall Golden Malt Vinegar.

 

Although the staff were charming, it was difficult to enjoy the meal in such a noisy, claustrophobic pub and I wouldn’t do it again. After the meal we headed to the wonderful Friends of Ham, which was blissful by comparison – but they don’t do fish and chips!