Whats for Lunch?

Whenever I’d ask my old Captain “ What would you like for lunch?”

He would say; “Cookies”

And down the hatch I would disappear to the galley to brew some tea and unbox what remained of the cookie supply.

But really, what I hankered after most at sea when my stomach was starting to grumble with a gaping hole, was something salty or savory and preferably a large packet of slap chips drenched in salt and vinegar from the local corner café.

(“Slap chips” is the local colloquial word for pommes frites drenched in vinegar.  The chips become soft from the vinegar hence the word “slap.” It’s also a great hangover cure.).

When I was studying photojournalism, my local fish and chips was Revelas fisheries in Long Street. Old man Revelas had been there for generations and would still man the counter everyday.

His manual till was the original from when he had first opened the shop in the ‘60’s but what intrigued me was that his original fryer was still wood fired. An open fire was made under the fryer in the morning and the occasional log would be added during the course of the day to keep the cooking oil boiling. He personally went to the market in the early morning to select the best potatoes and his helper would slice them into chips before tossing them into the fryer. It was a far cry from today’s pre-ordered, pre-cut, frozen chips that restaurants somehow seem to get away with.  

But, those freshly cut chips, boiled in the wood fired fryer were a dream. They would come out steaming hot, wrapped in paper to absorb the dripping cooking oil. Sprinkled with a generous shake of salt and dribbled with vinegar, they would burn my fingers as I greedily pulled the chips out, too excited to wait for them to cool off. Each fishery has their own secret fish batter recipe and Revelas had one of the best. The crispy batter protected the delicious soft tender hake fillet on the inside.

Fast forward a few years and I now find myself currently in Hamburg. Still on the lookout to plug that hole that sporadically appears in my stomach, I have found a fishery that’s easily on par with old man Revelas – The Veddeler Fishgaststaette. Having been in the same location and run by the same family for the last 90 years, it is now, wedged uncomfortably between flyovers on one side and the working port on the other so it’s easy to miss this quaint old shack:  

As is customary, the soul of a restaurant resides in the kitchen. Here magic is conjured upon a historical oven that dates back to the 1920’s. This marvel is able to fry oil at 220 degrees Celsius – a much higher temperature than what commercial kitchens are nowadays allowed to achieve and herein lies their secret. (The quick fry keeps the fish tender on the inside and the batter crispy gold on the outside) This establishment’s popularity has long since outgrown it modest seating but the City of Hamburg is adamant, if they move premises, the oven stays and they will have to modernize.

Here a pic of the famous oven:

The original fish batter and potato salad recipe from 1932 still gets made the same way today. Back then, there were no fish knives so your meal was served with 2 forks instead, a tradition that remains today. This must be one of the few remaining places in the world where your childhood memories and nostalgia still tastes the same today as it did back then, as confirmed by one of my dining companions who, now in his 60’s has been coming here since childhood and maintains that the food still tastes as good today as it did back then.

(Fun fact: Once the city realized that the restaurant wasn’t going to move, they recently tried to force them out by having the area re-zoned. There was such as backlash from the community that the City was forced to backtrack and now there is as at least a half hour wait for a lunchtime table)

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