No.1 Cromer, Norfolk

After reading the Fabulously Free From blog on Eric's  in Norfolk I had a craving for fish and chips. Although becoming more common, gluten free fish and chips have been hard to come by. Some places are grasping on to the increasing popularity of gluten free diets, but don't provide dedicated fryers, which doesn't help a coeliac like me. Eric's was a little far for us to drive this time, but we vowed to make a trip soon. Instead, we headed out to Cromer, about a 40 minute drive from Norwich. 40 minutes might seem a long way to drive for fish and chips but trust me, these were well worth the effort!

No.1 Cromer is a relatively new venture by the extremely talented chef Galton Blackiston owner of the Michelin starred Morston Hall in Norfolk. There's a traditional take away, an eat in restaurant and a more modern take on British cuisine available in the upstairs restaurant. We were here for one thing and one thing only though, gluten free fish and chips! We phoned in advance as many places only do gluten free options on certain nights but were informed that No.1 Cromer did them all the time. We took a seat in the window looking out to sea and the Cromer pier. We both ordered gluten free cod and chips with a side of mushy peas. I think the peas had a sort of mint sauce running through it which wasn't gluten free so they provided ours without this. The waitress was well informed and took great care. The fish and chips were certainly well worth the trip! A crisp, crunchy gluten free batter coated a beautifully cooked, succulent piece of cod. The chips were proper chip shop chips. There's a time for the triple cooked ones and there's a time for skinny ones, but when you're having fish and chips, they need to be proper chip shop chips! It came with a creamy tartar sauce, in my view the perfect accompaniment, and a tasty tin of mushy peas. The portions are big too, we were saving room for ice cream but were too full by the end!

Gluten free Cod & Chips at No.1 Cromer