French Fry Diary 537: Celebration Night at Enchanted Garden

After a night suffering from a thankfully 24-hour bug, and a special thank you to the newlywed couple who helped me out, especially the man who escorted me to the medical center, I was back on track aboard the Disney Fantasy. The kindness of strangers is a wonderful thing, and these two gentlemen were very caring and thoughtful. The next morning I awoke, fever broken, and voracious, diving right for those great roasted potatoes up at Cabanas. I was back.

Our final night on board was a good one, and not just because I was feeling better. First I was feeling good enough to eat. As an appetizer I tried the Grilled Potato with Goat Cheese Napoleon. Wow. The potato part was very good, but I'm not sure why they called that other stuff cheese. Nope, Tiggers do not like goat cheese.

Now all week I had been using the new app for my iPhone that only works on the boat called 'Disney Fantasy Navigator.' It was basically an electronic version of the daily schedule given out everyday on the boat. In the dinner menus for everyday I kept reading about this Golden Chicken Strips with Barbeque Sauce served with Steak Fries. As it turns out this was a kiddie offering, but by the end of seeing it all week, I wanted it, and ordered it. Sadly, they were out of steak fries. I guess the good fries go first.

For dessert, The Bride was sung to for her birthday, and we were both sung to for our anniversary. Combine that with a luscious dessert called Chocolate Decadence, as well as baked Alaska, and this was a very good night.

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French Fry Diary 524: Keg & Kitchen

As we had already been disappointed once that week by A Battered Tartan, so The Bride and I had to find another place to have our actual anniversary dinner. She had received a gift card from a place in Westmont called Keg & Kitchen (or alternatively, Keg N Kitchen), so we were off.

On the edge of the Collingswood restaurant district, and with very little parking out front (there is a backlot), Keg & Kitchen has a very nice pub feel. There is large variety of beers and flatbreads and cheeses, as well as the standard pub fare. Be warned however, this place is very dark. I'm guessing the money meant for the electric bill went toward maintaining the big blackboard of breads and cheeses.

Remembering a very good ground chuck hamburger I had at P.J. Whelihans recently, I ordered a similar burger here, which came with, of course French fries. The burger was very good, juicy and tasty, and the caramelized onions on top completed a great meal. We drank our sodas out of canning jars, which would have been cooler had they been larger. Jars are fun as long as they hold enough.

The fries were natural cut skinny regular cuts, not quite shoestrings but thinner than usual. Unfortunately they were more than a little burnt. This was disappointing because I think these could have been pretty good had they not been so overdone.

We might come back someday if we have another gift card, and we bring flashlights, and they don't ruin the fries. Seriously though, it was the company that counted, not the food.

French Fry Diary 522: The British Chip Shop 2013

For our birthdays, and especially our anniversary, The Bride and I planned a Disney vacation - a week long Disney cruise on board the Fantasy, bookended with shorter stays in the area and at the parks. Therefore we weren't really going to do anything big for our anniversary this year, which was the night before we left for vacation.

After getting an email saying they were open again (we were unaware they had been closed) we joked about an anniversary dinner at A Battered Tartan. It had started as a joke because when we had gone before, the thing that had struck us most was how small it was. But the more we thought about it, the more we actually did want to go. We wanted to go so much in fact, we went earlier than our anniversary, on the weekend before.

We should have called, as they actually do suggest on their website. Of course the reason suggested for calling first is to make sure they haven't run out of food, not because they were power washing their kitchen. Yep, that was what the sign that greeted us at their door said when we drove all the way out to Moorestown. We really wanted something edible from that realm, we were off to the British Chip Shop in Haddonfield.

They were open, no problems there, and they were happy to have us. As an appetizer, The Bride got Curry Cheese Chips. These were the near perfect chips (that's French fries for us Americans) that BCS always has, but slathered in curry and cheese. The cheese was Irish cheddar as is only right, and the curry was more in a BBQ sauce vibe, and overpowered the cheese, and the chips were awesome. I'm not one for putting stuff over fries, but this was delicious.

For my entrée, I got my British Chip Shop usual, Chicken and Chips. They were golden brown to perfection. As I said on The GAR! Podcast recently, when I used to be asked who has the best fries ever, I would always say Cookes of Dublin in Downtown Disney, but the quality has gone down the last few times we've had it. Now if you ask, it's the British Chip Shop hands down.

These chips are near perfect, if not perfect. Golden brown crispy shell on the outside and soft and hot, almost mashed potato-ey on the inside. Not too greasy, if at all, always hot, these thicker than usual regular cut natural cuts are the gold standard for fries as far as I'm concerned. The chicken was also terrific: battered, crispy, and succulent. To wash it down, not only has BCS added Coca-Cola products, but also RC Cola, which is what I ordered.

I really have to remember to come to the British Chip Shop more often, it's the best.

Free Slider!

To celebrate their 88th anniversary, White Castle is offering this coupon to print out for a free slider!

Only for a limited time, so get moving!

And don’t forget the fries!


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