A Salt and Battery
Deep Fried Mars Bar as Served at A Salt and Battery (Courtesy of BotheredByPeas on Flickr)
A Salt and Battery brings you as close to “across the pond” as you’re going to get here in the West Village without taking a flight to London. Many flock here for the golden crisp battered fish and chips properly wrapped in British newspaper. Just don’t call the chips French fries and don’t ask for ketchup. This is Great Britain after all and only a good dousing of malt vinegar will do!
Run by 2 Brit expats, you might be able to catch a soccer game on the radio while gnashing in this tiny shop. In recognition of the fact that Cod fisheries the world over have been over harvested, they now mostly substitute that fish with locally caught Pollack (similarly flaky) along with Whiting and Haddock. However, your Cockney escape isn’t limited to just one dish. They have plenty of other seriously English delicacies like kidney pies, pickled onions, fried beets, mushy peas, Chip Butties (chips sandwiched between two slices of fried bread slathered with Mayonnaise) as well as fried fruit. For dessert, the deep-fried Mars bars can’t be missed. Before you cringe at the saturated fat and calorie count, this is an English Mars Bar, richer than the American version, coated and deep fried for a just a minute yielding a surprisingly greaseless crunchy coating with the candy bar inside warm and just about to melt. They also whip up a deep-fried Toffee Crisp that is equally tantalizing.
