Potato cakes were one of my favorite junk foods back when I could eat all I desired. Soggy potato cakes drenched in oil, overly salted potato cakes, crunchy potato cakes, mini vinegar potato cakes from the corner shop – I loved them all. I have a list of gluten free fish and chip shops on my restaurant wish list, but all are quite a long drive away, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to cross one off my list on the way home from a mini Summer holiday. I first called Baxter Fish & Chips to enquire and was super excited to confirm their gluten free menu included potato cakes! The shop was busy when we visited, the day before New Year’s Eve at around 7pm. The staff both young and older were friendly and helpful.
Once we collected our paper parcels after an informed 30 minute wait, my family and I headed off to the nearest beach so that we could enjoy a true fish and chip meal by the sea. I was anxious to try the potato cakes as I worried they would taste overly gluten free or just downright crap, but as I eagerly ripped through the paper their appearance promised otherwise.
I ordered a crab stick, two potato cakes (was given an extra free of charge!) and a battered blue grenadier upon recommendation.The deep fried batter of each food tasted amazingly normal, it was crunchy, oily and almost spot on to the taste and consistency of regular batter (also better than Hooked‘s GF batter). And let me tell you, I could not believe I was eating a potato cake! Thin potato was encased in a super crunchy deep fried batter. A thicker slice of potato would have been even better though.
We ordered the chips gluten free too. The chips were very, very oily so no crunch, but the thick chips were full of soft, fluffy potato. They were not salted, but I thought they were tasty enough without. The crab stick was soft flavoursome crab fried in the crunchy batter. I was quite happy Baxter’s offered crab sticks, because the frozen crab meat (sometimes called ‘seafood mix’) at the supermarket are not gluten free.
Everything was quite oily, but the meal was not at all sickening as a result. I have no other way to describe this other than to say that the oil ‘tasted’ clean. I left for Melbourne feeling 100% satisfied. I only wish I had ordered those potato cakes to last me a year.
