The Creel Fish & Chips

THE Porthmadog high street has a traditional feel about it. It's busy, but has not yet been taken over by designer chain stores. Instead, it has a lot of independent shops, each with its own character. You will find Portmeirion pottery, Cob records, cake stores selling monkey bread, Welsh Art and Purple Moose beer.

- MARK WILLIAMS

We walked from a car park by the historic port on the Glaslyn Estuary and watched the bobbing boats. We could hear the toot and the hiss of the steam from the nearby Ffestiniog Railway terminus, with excited children pulling their parents eagerly to the Welsh Highland Railway.

We were here to try one of the most rated chip shops in North Wales. The Creel chip shop has been a fixture on the Porthmadog High Street for a number of years. Inside, it has a small café area with about six tables and a counter with stools.

There are a few tables outside on the busy high street, which were taken up with walkers in woolly hats tucking into the steaming chips.

The overhead menu had cod priced for £8.95, Large chips for £3.45, Sausage for £1.85 and a good old chip bap for £3.50. Specials included more left field offerings like Peri Peri chicken dirty chips, which included chicken strips, chips, cheese and bacon bits or salt and pepper squid.