Popular vegan menu lands Banbury chippy with national TV spot

A Banbury fish and chip shop has been featured on a national television programme for its most popular vegan item - the banana blossom.
Mark Beynon, the manager of the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy in Banbury, holds a banana blossom, the popular vegan alternative to fishMark Beynon, the manager of the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy in Banbury, holds a banana blossom, the popular vegan alternative to fish
Mark Beynon, the manager of the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy in Banbury, holds a banana blossom, the popular vegan alternative to fish

The Q Fish Chatsworth chippy in Cherwell Heights was included in part of the Channel 4 programme called Food Unwrapped yesterday at 8pm, (Monday April 19).

A spokesperson for the Channel 4 programme said: "Food Unwrapped is on a mission to unearth the secrets behind the food on our plates. This week, Jimmy Doherty's in Thailand asking how the blossom from a banana tree is shaking up our fish and chip suppers."

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The programme traced the creation of a growing vegan menu item called the banana blossom.

The vegan menu at the Q Fish Chatsworth chippyThe vegan menu at the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy
The vegan menu at the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy

You can watch episode of season 19 of the programme through the following web link https://www.channel4.com/programmes/food-unwrapped/on-demand/70358-007 or on catch up.

Mark Beynon, the manager of the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy, said: "Veganism is a massive growing industry.

"The banana blossom is our version of the fish in fish and chips."

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The Q Fish Chatsworth and the Q Fish Queensway chip shops are both family run businesses owned and operated by two brothers, Andrew Christoforou and Peter Christoforou.

Mark Beynon, the manager of the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy in Banbury, holds a banana blossom, the popular vegan menu optionMark Beynon, the manager of the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy in Banbury, holds a banana blossom, the popular vegan menu option
Mark Beynon, the manager of the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy in Banbury, holds a banana blossom, the popular vegan menu option

Peter and Chatsworth shop manager Mark Beynon came up with the banana blossom idea when they launched the vegan menu nearly two years ago.

So what does vegan fish look like?

The Banbury Guardian was lucky enough to try the vegan version of fish, and it looked a lot like fish. The alternative banana blossom provided a lot more flavour and was surprisingly tasty.

Mark said: "It's a banana blossom, the flower off the banana tree. We marinate them ourselves overnight in lemon and seaweed and we coat it in seasoned ground rice and seven spices.

"It's about the size of a typical mini fish."

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People have travelled from far and wide to try out the popular vegan option of fish and chips.

Mark added: "We were the first fish and chip shop in Oxfordshire to offer a vegan menu as a takeaway.

"We've had people come from Kidlington and Birmingham. We had a vegan review guy come from London too."

Among the more than dozen options on the vegan menu other popular choices include the vegan burger and sausages.

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The vegan menu options are also prepared in their own separate fryer and with their own separate utensils too.

The vegan menu is available from 5 to 8pm Tuesday to Saturday at the Q Fish Chatsworth chippy.

For more information about the Q Fish Chatsworth and Queensway chip shops see their website here: https://www.qfish.co.uk/

Mark added: "It's something to be quite proud of, offering a vegan menu at a fish and chip shop. Obviously we're still offering the normal fish and chip menu too.

"This way we can cater to the whole family. We're able to cater to a wider audience."

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