The Bishops Arms (part two)

It was a little bit longer than five months ago when we visited "The Bishops Arms" for the first time and tried what they described as the American variation of fish 'n chips served according to the English tradition...

Well, five months later we though we'll give it one more try, and we felt brave enough to order their cod-fillet fish 'n chips served according to the English tradition, which as the chef enlightened us was made of haddock, and no we do not have one and the same word for both cod and haddock in Swedish. Cod is torsk while haddock is kolja, loud and clear.

Fish 'n chips at "The Bishops Arms"

The pub was almost empty from customers - it was just after four o'clock in the afternoon - but most of the tables were "reserved".

We ordered a pint of Erdinger Weissbier and a pint of Guinness, waited about eight minutes for the Guinness to be poured, thank-god-they're-not-busy, and sat at the back of the pub.

Here comes the haddock cod-fillet fish 'n chips served according the English tradition.

Looks delicious, doesn't it?
- Could we have some vinegar please?
- Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot it, my fault...
Back comes the chef herself with the vinegar.
What do you mean you cannot spot the vinegar in the photo? It is in this white bowl next to the slice of lemon, between the lemon and the basket of cod-fillet fish 'n chips made of haddock and served according to the English tradition....

I must confess I haven not visited UK for a long time, maybe things have changed, maybe they have changed the way they serve fish 'n chips too. Maybe nowadays you have to baptise your haddock into a bowl of vinegar blessing it to cod-fillet... Maybe the chips have to taste like fried old cloth...
I do understand. Things have changed since Maggie's was in power, but not to that extend! Has Tony and the rest deteriorated even fish 'n chips?
I by no means expected fish 'n chips to be served wrapped in "The Guardian", "The Mirror" or "The Sun", not when it's served in Skövde, Sweden, but I expected it to taste according to the English tradition as advertised on their website.


By the way, the best fish 'n chips in Sweden is served in Gotland at "Black Sheep Arms"!

To wash down the disappointment of the haddock cod-fillet fish 'n chips served according to the English tradition we order tow more pints, one of Guinness and one of Erdinger Weissbier.
The Guinness was served in the record time of less than two minutes (you can see it in the picture still settling) and surprise! You can have two slices of lemon with your pint of Erdinger, to compensate you for the... you know the cod-fillet et al.

Erdinger Weissbier served with lemon slice
@ "The Bishops Arms"

What on earth are the two slices of lemon doing in my Erdinger? Is the poor guy drinking Corona missing something?

And what about "The Bishop´s Arms välutbildade och kunniga personal..." in other words, "The Bishop's (they are a little bit undecided about whether to use or not the apostrophe but that's another story) Arms well-educated and proficient staff..." as advertised on their website? Where do they work?


Now let's see...

The minus.
- Guinness serving time varies from about eight to one and a half minutes.
- Speed of service is something you will not find here.
- A smile and a welcome, you will get only from the doorman and maybe from the personnel, if they don't have too many customers to serve and in the case of "The Bishops Arms" personnel "too many" means more that three. They do have time to smile between each other though. Nice to see people being happy with their job.
- Incompetent bar-staff.
- The sole cash register slows things to meditative levels.
- The huge variety of beer reminds of a bazaar rather than of a professional choice (no Alsatian beer, no monastery beer, unless they have it but don't know they do).

The plus
+ Low level of music.
+ No TV sets.
+ Huge variety of beer and malt whisky.
+ Right on the centre of the town.

We will certainly visit "The Bishops Arms" again but not during peak hours and we will certainly stay very far away from their cod-fillet fish 'n chips served according to the English tradition.

Thank you "The Bishop(')s Arms", but the stand up comedian is something I can definitely do without when visiting my local. Please don't destroy the pub's atmosphere!

I would like to clarify that I do not dislike haddock, which makes a delicious fish 'n chips plate (but it is not what they advertise at their website and menu, plus the fact it has a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries).

The links of both the post about "The Bishops Arms" I have forwarded to the company's email. I believe it is only fair to let them know what some of us think about the pub in Skövde.

The Bishops Arms (part one)

According to "The Bishops Arms" web page, the first Pub was opened 1993 in Västerås and since then, more than 30 stores have been established, from Luleå at the north, to Malmö at the south of Sweden.

The concept, always according to their web pages, is to offer to the broad public the opportunity to meet and talk over a pint, in a nice English atmosphere (remember this for later).
The truth is that in spite of my plans, I never managed to visit any of the Bishops (or is it Bishop's?) Arms until lately.

The photo is taken from "The Bishops Arms" official site.

When the news that The Bishop's Arms were to open in Skövde - where outing is limited to few, without any personality and taste of music, mainstream bars and boring restaurants - reached the town, I was really thrilled.

With Facebook as source of information, I kept following the progress towards the day I could finally be able to visit "my local".
The long expected day came and it was the 16th of July 2011.

We were greeted at the door by a couple of  doormen and we entered the temple of malt.
We didn't know that we had to order at the bar, but we did it out of habit.
After a not-so-short waiting to be served, we ordered two pints and two fish 'n chips - you cannot visit an English Pub and not try their fish 'n chips especially when you have read at their menu that "enligt engelsk tradition serverar vi panerad torskfilé med pommes och citrussås", which means "we serve coated with egg and breadcrumbs cod-fillet according to the English tradition".

We could already see the bottom of our pints when the food arrived, and there was certainly something fishy about those plates of fish 'n chips...
We wondered if we could be served two more pints, and the waitress was kind enough to make an exception and serve our drinks.
To the point.
The fish, which supposed to be cod-fillet coated with egg and breadcrumbs according to the English tradition, was definitely coated.
What was it coated with remains a question, since it was fried to a shade of distinct dark brown and desert with no oasis dry!
The so-called "cod-fillet coated with egg and breadcrumbs according to the English tradition", was fish-sticks looking like bits of a substance with a vague after-taste of... fish(?)

This time it was a waiter's time to come and collect our empty pint glasses and ask if the food tasted good.
I commented that it was not what we expected to be served when we ordered fish 'n chips "served according to the English tradition", but we were enlightened been told that what we had been served, it was the American variation of fish 'n chips - which is served in Bishop's Arms according to the English tradition!
At my comment "I thought there was something wrong with them" meaning the Americans and said with a smile, I got no response.

Did I mention they had no malt vinegar? :-)

Thank you Bishop's Arms, maybe next time we'll be more lucky...

Ale Möller Band concert

Ale Möller Band will be performing at "Folkets Park" in Tidaholm. The time will be 16.00, March 27, 2010, the price 120 kr and the atmosphere full of ethnic and folk sounds. A "must" for all music lovers.

Tickets: Tourist office (Turistbyrå), Tidaholm.

Folkets Park is located in Egnahemsvägen by the exit towards Skövde.

Info: Östra Drottningvägen 3, 522 33 Tidaholm

Tel: 0502-606144

Ale Möller - Africana

Fascinating, colourful and vibrant is only few of the adjectives that could describe Ale Möller's performance in Vara Konserthus, the night of Novenber 10, 2009 .

Along with the band members, Ale Möller (mandola, bouzouki, harmonica, flute accordion, composer, arranger), Mamadou Sene (singer, acrobat), Rafael Sida Huizar (Percussions) and Mats Öberg (keyboard, harmonica, vocals), played Ale Möller's guests from Senegal: Solo Cissokho (African harp), Mama Sadio (singer) and Ousman Ba (flute).
Solo Cissokho is a "griot" i.e. musician storyteller, from Senegal, who lives in Norway.
Ale Möller met Ousman Ba and Mama Sadio, during the Jazz Festival of Saint-Louis, Senegal in May earlier this year. Ousman Ba uses his voice while playing the flute, to produce an amazing mixture of tones.

The introduction was made by Ale Möller, but he never tried to play it leader of the band or to show off in any way. Both Solo Cissokho and Mamadou Sene took their chance to interact with the audience that was warm and ready to applause.

Mama Sadio's looked initially a bit shy, but by the end of the performance she even dared say "tack så mycket".

Jazz found its real roots during this extraordinary performance that lasted almost three hours.
By the end of the show, people were invited to join the dancing on the stage, while after the end of the show the entire band remained on stage conversing and shaking hands with the audience.
Mama Sadio looked really insecure and didn't know what to do when a pen and a paper was handed to her in order to sign an autograph!

The power of this band's music, as well as the simplicity of its members, sent the best of vibrations to everyone present, and it surely inscribed an unforgotten experience to all prepared to accept it...

Ale Möller is currently Artist in Residence at both Vara Concert Hall and Gävle Concert Hall, writing music for and creating new collaborations with the permanent ensembles of both concert halls.