Whitebait

Monday night I went out with a ladyfriend co-worker to see a band recommended by an American ladyfriend. The fact that a man she fancies (note use of British colloquialism) is in said band may have been the primary factor in her telling us to go see them.

Anyway, we had a lovely time at a lovely pub called the Slaughtered Lamb, which would have been even lovelier had their sewage pipes not been backed up and in the process of being emptied. The entire pub, drinking and performance space, smelled disgusting for most of the night.

But the grossest part of the evening was my decision to order whitebait. The menu listed it as "whitebait, with tartar and lemon sauce £5, with chips £7". So I order with chips, thinking I'll get a nice piece of white fish with a sauce and some chips.

Nope.

For those of you who don't know, like I didn't, whitebait is THE WHOLE LITTLE FISH - FRIED. It's like baby fish, sardines or something, and its fried whole - bones, eyes, tails, everything. One pops it into one's mouth like a fish stick.

Gamely, I ate about half my bowl. My co-worker ate all of hers, and at one point we discussed how disgusted we were by the meal. She is from New Zealand, and whitebait there is served mashed into little patties, not literally just fried fish. Obviously the only thing we could do after eating such delicacies was drink some more beer, and sit outside to escape the stench.

(PS: We bailed out before the band even played, thus making all of the torture for naught!)