Diner flies 5,000 miles to honour friend with supersized chip supper
A British ex-pat travelled more than 5,500 miles from the US to eat a gigantic chicken dinner in tribute to his best friend.
The pair had made a pact during a covid lockdown to go on a pilgrimage to the Chip Inn – famed for its supersized food boxes.
However Peter Cogan’s friend died before they were able to make the journey to the family-run chippy in Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire.
He nevertheless made the trip from California alone to sample a £28 ‘Beast Box’ containing chicken nuggets, spicy wedges, mozzarella sticks, twister fries, onion rings, garlic mushrooms, chips and cheese and doner and chicken kebab meat, all served with salad and sauce.
Peter ‘happily’ paid full price on his visit and enjoyed British hospitality from a fellow customer who gave him a lift back to his hotel.
His homage at the village chippy earnt him hundreds of comments on the Chip Inn’s Facebook page showering him with praise.
Peter, 61, who was born in London and brought up in Torquay, had been due to make the trip with his best friend, Pete.
The chippy wrote: ‘We had a visitor from CALIFORNIA last night….YES CALIFORNIA.
‘Now you might think maybe he was over here anyway and wanted to give us a try but no not this time.
‘So this lovely chap and his best friend decided during lock down that when they retired they would make the trip to England to sample one of our boxes. Sadly his friend passed away and as a homage to his best mate he came to see us.
‘Sir we salute you….THIS IS TRUE FRIENDSHIP.’
Peter and his friend of 30 years had been to Torquay a couple of times but after seeing the Inn on YouTube they decided it would be a fun trip and had flights, train tickets and a hotel booked until covid hit four years ago.
Pete then passed away 18 months later from non-covid issues.
The diner, from San Jose, said: ‘The visit was everything I hoped it would be.
‘Even though it was a busy Friday night they took a few minutes to chat with me, really nice, friendly people. I got the Beast Box and it lasted me from dinner on Friday through breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday.
‘Even cold it was great.’
The Californian gave his approval to the humongous meal and to a fellow customer who gave him a lift home from the chippy on Friday night.
Responding to the Inn on Facebook, he said: ‘And it was bloody marvelous.
‘Thank you for your hospitality! I happily paid full price.
‘Props to the customer next to me who gave me a ride back to my hotel so I didn’t have to call a cab. Thank you Chip Inn.’
Customers have been travelling from across the country and overseas to try out the enormous feasts of food.
One of signature offers is ‘The Codfather’ — a £45 box with extra-large cod, cheese and onion fries, scallops, different sausages, batter bits, three portions of large chips, a variety of other fish and a choice of 10 sauces.
Megann Altınöz, who runs the shop with husband Erdal, has said she has never seen a fish and chip supper so big, with the 20-inch boxes being a struggle for her to lift when fully loaded.
The couple came up with the idea of supersized portions after a customer asked for a kebab to be put in a pizza box.
The team then found they were inundated with visitors after they shared a video of the serving on social media.
Americans have also shown they are prepared to go the extra air miles for a slice of British fast food at Binley Mega Chippy in Coventry.
At the height of its viral fame in June 2022, four newly-made friends from the US made the outlet their first port of call on a UK trip — and left complete with the T-shirts.
MORE : We review the ‘mega’ chippy that’s gone viral on TikTok
MORE : Friends from four US states make 4,000-mile trip to chippy everyone’s talking about
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