Pickled Onion Review #6: Black Country Chip Van Onion

Sometimes, the best things in life are unplanned. Escaping from the plague house, a spontaneous trip to Lichfield led me to "The Vintage Fish and Chip Van", a mobile fish and chip van promising "Black Country" fish & chips.

Naturally, my eyes were drawn to the massive 2.25kg jar of Driver's "Chip Shop Style Pickled Onions" in the window of the van. The label announced them to be "whole peeled onions pickled in a specially formulated vinegar for the chip shop trade". What else was a pickled onion obsessive supposed to do?

The menu listed a pickled onion at 50p, a decent price for an immediate moment of vinegary joy. I ordered one with a portion of chips (£4). So, I was chuffed when I was only charged £2.50 for the two together. Bargain.

Now, to the onion itself. This was a single, substantial specimen. It was large, but not so large that you couldn't eat it in one go, though you probably wouldn't want to. It had a proper, satisfying crunch that you could really bite into – none of the disappointing softness that plagues lesser onions. The "tang" was exactly as it should be: strong, sharp, and assertive, cutting through the richness of the excellent, crispy, beef-dripping-fried chips it accompanied. It was a perfect partner.

This is what a chip shop pickled onion should be. It's not trying to be fancy or middle-class. It's an honest, crunchy, tangy globe of pickled perfection, designed for one purpose: to complement a paper full of hot, salty chips. And it succeeds admirably.

A robust, punchy chip shop onion, made better by the unexpected discount.

3½ onions out of 5.

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