As i have never tasted their pasty's i can't really comment on them In my day it was the Ivor Dewdney pasty that we complained about. So what's wrong with the Gingster.
Bleddy ell' BC where do you start with that one................. For a start to me they don't even taste remotely like a pasty so I almost refuse to call them one. They are just factory produced tasteless rubbish. The pastry is wrong, the contents are wrong and there is little in the way of any seasoning either. I got introducted to the Dewney pasty in my days of heading back onboard in the Dockyard. Not an Ivor but a Ron which you could buy outside St' Levens gate in a shop across the road. The real treat was an Oggie special and a pint of milk. The Oggie special had a size nine sausage running through the middle of a traditional pasty so it was a sort of pasty extra. I was never that kean on an Ivor Dewney although many many moons ago, and I'm talking almost 50 years now, my good lady worked in the Ivor Dewney shop in the town centre. She always assured me that the contents of the pasties was the real macoy and nothing was second rate. The one thing to start an argument in Plymouth is to ask which pasty variety is the best one. The only thing you will get for sure is that Ginsters isn't at the top of anybodies list. Personally I quite like a Pilgrims pasty.
Proper pasties are made of shortcrust pastry, not puffy stuff, sliced potatoes and swede, not diced, and chunky fatty beef, e.g. skirt and never, ever, anything minced. Ginsters fail miserably.... Dewdlies are closer and pass my Mum's 2nd tier standard of "not bad for shop bought" although that's still a compliment with a significant backhand tinge. Sent from my mobile phone - E&OE
If your ever in Hayle, Cornwall try Hampson's on Chapel St. It's a butcher and deli. and the xtra large pasty you need to hold with two hands to get it out the shop. The best by far and watch the meat juices don't scald your lap when freshly baked....Bloody gasping for one now!
If you've never had an Oggie Special when stood outside the Dockyard gate on a cold night you've never lived notdistant. Nothing like a good sausage I say.
Last time over i had a very tasty pasty from a shop in Tavistock. They make a good one here in our loco English Shop plus a good jar of Pickled Onions. Ok so whats the best Pickled Onion M & S ?
Ok whilst we are on the food subject. What about the best Fish & Chips. In the Plymouth area and in Kent for Plymborn.
You can't expect notdistant to know about things that come wrapped in a newspaper BC. Now if you asked about baked Sea Bass and Saute Potato in a creme sauce............... The best fish and chips at the minute in plymouth for me is the small shop on West Hoe. Not even sure of the name of it but the produce is very good. As for pickled onions I'm afraid I get a bit anti social when I eat them these days so have to give them a miss. I used to scoff a lot of Ede's and am partial to one or two. Proper pickled onions in proper vinegar with a few spices chucked in not the poncy ones you get in a small jar that look anaemic and the size of a gerbils bollock. Pickled onion and cold pork sarnee...............
Cheese pickled onions Jacobs Cream Crackers and a glass of White Wine. Good F & S used to be in Elburton
I'll conceed the cheese and crackers but can't comment on the Fish and chips in Elburton. Never actually been there to my knowledge.
Mo's Fish & Chips at Crofton.....chips done as you wait.....no chips going soft and soggy that were cooked awhile ago.....best for miles.....discount one day a week for us older uns.
They can't do chips in most places these days probably due to health and safety. Blanched first in lard then cooked again whilst you wait in the same lard. Most resturants you go to these days do frozen chips. Shocking.