National Fish and Chip Day – Halfprice!

It’s back!! National Fish and Chip Day 2012 is happening across the country today, with half price ‘one & one’s’ (not entirely sure what that is, but bet fish and chips are involved!) on offer in every ITICA member chippy.

This year they’re also offering generous prizes, including 2 trips to the European Championships (flights, accommodation and tickets to 2 matches) all in aid of the Cappagh Hospital Trust.

A couple of weeks ago the OH and I had a long, busy Friday evening and when we eventually clocked off the ‘window for cooking’ had closed, i.e., I was knackered. We wandered around Newbridge looking for something that appealed, and eventually stopped outside an Italian chipper down a little side street.  The smell of pizza and excitable chatter from Italian TV lured us inside, where we found ourselves in delighted conversation with the owner, a man with the look of Tony Soprano but the amiability of Ryan Tubridy.

He bemoaned the vanilla Irish tastebuds (had to do away with pepperoncini long ago) regaled us with stories of the WWII bombing of his family’s hometown in Italy and engaged fully in a good old rant about the costs of business.  We counted not one, but nine separate photographs of Pope John Paul II adorning the shop, and carefully studied the many photographs of his family hanging with pride on the walls.

Fifteen enjoyable minutes of banter later we left with armfuls of delicious chips, tasty pizza and a few extras he popped in the bag for good luck.  It had been a very long time since we’d experienced a proper old fashioned Italian chipper.  It was an evening we’d definitely repeat, if only to hear more about unexploded German bombs under the local chapel!

This all brings me to National Fish and Chip Day, which is set up by the Irish Traditional Italian Chipper Association (ITICA), celebrating the history of Italian chippers in Ireland – one that goes back to 1885 apparently!  You can read the great story of the first Italian chipper in Ireland here, thank goodness he got off the boat too early!

So if you fancy half price fish & chips tonight (it’s Wednesday, still time to be good for Thursday and Friday before the summer dresses have to come out for the bank holiday weekend!) just check out the list of participating outlets here, and get over early, as some outlets were out of stock by lunchtime last year – that’s a whole lotta chips!