Grosvenor Fish Bar

After my previous endeavour in Norwich, I was in a fantastic mood ahead of this review. Olive’s breakfast had hit the spot perfectly but there was still time in the day to find one more restaurant and that led me to the Grosvenor Fish Bar in the city centre. After doing a bit of research, I recognised that this was the place in Norwich to get fish and chips although I was a little concerned by more recent reviews, many stating that the Grosvenor had gone “downhill”. Hmm. Let’s see.

I walked into a very interesting takeaway section which a huge great big board. I perused it for about two or three minutes before heading downstairs to their sit down area. Wow. I don’t think I’ve seen a crazier fish and chip shop in all my life. It almost reminded me of an Anderson shelter with a mini grotto. The acoustics were different, the music upbeat but quite loud so if you’re not a fan of music in restaurants, I would give it a miss already.

I ordered in the restaurant. The large cod and chips (£13.50), tiger prawns (£8.00), a fishcake (£2.00), curry sauce (£1.60), mushy peas (£1.60) and gravy (£1.60).

The meal took about 20 minutes to arrive however that’s fine by me as it’s all cooked to order. The interesting part is that they do not fry in beef dripping anymore, though they used to and everything is skin-on. The cod itself was very different to what I’ve seen previously. It was ginormous but something about the appearance was lacking. The chips concerned me straight away, very pale and looked old. The tiger prawns looked good and I much preferred the look of the batter on them, in comparison to the cod.

Unfortunately, the fish set the tone for the rest of the meal. The batter was nice and crispy but that’s where the fun ended. The cod itself was wet which made the underside of the batter too soggy and the fish itself, lacked any sort of real flavour. Was it defrosted properly? Was the oil hot enough? I’m not sure. Either way, I wasn’t impressed from the first couple of bites. The chips tasted stale, had no real golden colour and were tasteless. The less said about the sauces, the better. The fishcake was your typical chippy catering fishcake. Overall just a very disappointing experience at a restaurant that I was very excited to try out.

Total cost of the meal: £28.30

Star of the show: The tiger prawns and the 1940s-esque interesting decor.

Would I recommend it? No. Not currently.