Kerbisher & Malt - Ealing Broadway

Review

Price: 2 people, £20-£30

With a few weeks away from the blogosphere and completely under my work, I decided that I would share my next meal out with you. Kerbisher & Malt is a “modern, British fish and chip shop” with 4 locations in London and they have some great draws. Fresh fish, choice of battered or grilled, no frozen chips, cooking in rapeseed oil. All plusses in my book. We walked in – the smell of the Friday afternoons of my youth, simple timeless decor, happy warming service and a brilliantly comforting menu. But an army marches on its stomach and we were famished. Between the two of us, we chose grilled haddock with the crushed potato salad and a battered cod with their twice-cooked chips. Mushy peas, coleslaw and a couple of sauces made sure our table was covered.

Despite all the brilliant reviews I read and made me want to eat there, I found my meal disappointing. The food looked brilliant and our fish tasted incredibly fresh and was cooked to a delicate softness, but the cod was quite badly under seasoned and greasy; half the batter was crisp, half like soggy paper. The haddock arrived moderately warm. This was a problem as the crushed potato salad served with it was very cold (straight out of the fridge), a little stodgy and made for an overall cool mouthful when coupled with the fish. I want a potato salad to be a packed-full-of-herbs, rich, filling comfort food, at room temperature. I would hope most people are the same and we only eat cold potato salads that come out of the snack section fridges in the supermarket. The chips that came with the cod, despite the assurances, tasted a lot like those fat school-dinners frozen chips. Luckily I managed to couple my cod with lots of extra salt and pepper and the coleslaw that was super finely shredded and with a big citrus zing which was a positive that I took from the meal. 

While not a very bad portion of fish and chips, there is a nostalgia attached to the meal that restaurants can't ignore; so many expectations can be uprooted by little things that aren't quite how we all remember them. Memories are very hard to live up to and perhaps I shouldn't try to judge a restaurant against my wistfulness, but I found that my disappointment in the meal was less down to skill or poor ingredients, and more down to lack of attention to detail. And that really is a kick in the teeth as I could have easily been enjoying a wonderful meal.

This is the first review I have posted that isn't positive and that annoys me a little. However, I experienced an absolute revelation at Casa Roberta recently and will soon post about the wonderful wonderful food they have on offer there! 

As a recommendation for west Londoners, The Golden Chip on Boston Road, W7, is pretty much an unbeatable portion of fish and chips.