Every Tuesday the whole menu in gluten-free batter from the separate fryer, and on request any other day
Gluten-free Tuesdays
Every Tuesday the separate fryer does the whole menu in our gluten-free batter of rice flour and cornflour, with its own oil, baskets, scoops and a blue-handled set of everything, and a cook who does only that. On any other day we will do a gluten-free fish on request, with a ten-minute wait while the fryer comes up to temperature.
Gluten-free Tuesday started in 2014 when a girl from Penarth with coeliac disease asked her dad why she could never have fish and chips from a shop, and he asked us. We bought a second fryer, made a batter that people now ask for by choice, and set aside a day when the whole menu comes out of it.
The separate fryer sits on its own bench at the back, away from the main range, with its own vegetable oil changed weekly, its own baskets, scoops, tongs and boards with blue handles, and its own cook on Tuesdays. The batter is rice flour, cornflour, gluten-free baking powder and sparkling water; the chips go through the same fryer, so they have never been near the dripping or the wheat batter. The peas, curry sauce and gravy are gluten-free every day. The pies and the scampi are not, and we say so.
On Tuesdays every fish on the menu can be done gluten-free with no supplement and no wait beyond the usual. Any other day, ask at the window or in the slot booking, and we bring the separate fryer up to temperature: about ten minutes. We are not a gluten-free kitchen; flour is in the air at the main range. We are careful, we are honest about the risk, and the people who come every Tuesday know exactly what we do.
What you get
- The whole menu in gluten-free batter every Tuesday
- A separate fryer, oil, baskets, scoops and blue-handled tools
- Chips through the same separate fryer
- Peas, curry sauce and gravy gluten-free every day
- No supplement; on request other days with a ten-minute wait
- Honest about the risk: flour is in the air at the main range
What it costs
The same prices as the main menu; no supplement. Tuesdays all day; other days on request with a ten-minute wait. Chips are cooked in the separate fryer too. The menu has every price, the allergens page all fourteen allergens for every item, and the order page the collection slots still open.
Questions about gluten-free Tuesdays
Is it safe for coeliacs?
The fish and chips from the separate fryer are prepared and fried apart from the wheat batter and the dripping, with their own tools. We are not a certified gluten-free kitchen; many of our Tuesday regulars are coeliac and we will talk you through exactly what we do.
Do you do gluten-free on Sundays?
Yes, on request: say so at the window or when you book a slot, and allow ten minutes for the fryer.
Book a slot, skip the queue.
Pick a collection time from the slots still open, every fifteen minutes through each shift, say what you would like, and it is fried to the slot and waiting in a bag with your name on it at the end of the counter.