Reviews

Colman's Gets Ministerial Approval

Shields Gazette
20th July 2007

Forget Le Manoir's roasted line-caught Icelandic cod, with accompaniments at £38 a wallop.

Or even The Ivy's Thai-baked sea bass, a snip at £24.50.

Celebrity dining, it seems, just doesn't do it for Britain's new Foreign Secretary who, when asked recently to nominate his favourite restaurant, plumped for vintage South Shield fish and chip eaterie Coleman's.

MP David Miliband was being quizzed by Waitrose Food Illustrated. Colman's in Ocean Road, which was founded by Mrs Nella Colman in 1926 and is still in the same family, is held in high esteem by the Cabinet Minister.

However, he caused some amusement for columnist Hugo Rifkin in The Times by going on to add, "I order the sustainable haddock and chips with mushy peas."

Comments Rifkin: "Is there really a chippy in South Shields with the words 'sustainable haddock' on the menu?"

Well actually the answer, more or less, is: yes. Colman's is proud of how it sources its fishm and how the waste oil is collectd and made into bio fuel, etc - all info made available on the menu to customers.

And don't think that these things don't matter. Owner Richard Ord tells me that they've already had visitors from London popping in purely on the strength of the Waitrose article.

The only thing I would say is that at least Mr Miliband didn't go on to commit Peter Mandelson's famous gaffe of mistaking mushy peas for avocado dip.

Also, Colmans actually has a rather good website (www.colmansfishandchips.com) which is worth looking in on for imformation on the family business and also some great recipes.