New café owner of Surf ‘n’ Fries at Thatcham Broadway keen to show off crispy, fluffy chips

Slightly crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, seasoned perfectly and served hot is how the owner of a new restaurant describes his much-loved chips.

Surf ‘n’ Fries opened at the beginning of this month and is already making a splash on the local scene.

The café and restaurant opened in Thatcham Broadway on February 1 and owner Tim Prizeman says he already has regular customers.

The Wantage, formerly Newbury, man opened the café following the success of his Surf ‘n’ Fries trailer which he began in November 2019.

He takes his trailer to music festivals – initially with the hope that he might have caught some good bands while there.

“I thought if I set up a business catering a music festival I would see lots of bands,” he said.

“It was a colossal misjudgement.”

Now he has a permanent location in the centre of Thatcham – where there is less music but more regular customers.

He said: “Thatcham is under catered for and it does not have a good selection of cafés if you compare it to Newbury.

“There is very little choice.

“We have had a very good reaction.

“People have come here and said ‘I needed a new place’ and now we have lots of regulars with some people coming back every day.

“Lots of people come back to repeat orders and say ‘wow, these are some of the best chips I have ever had’.”

The father-of-three added: “That is our wow thing, our highly distinctive chips.

“Chips are our national dish and yet when you go to most places they are awful.

“Either they are limp or soaked in grease or overcooked, particularly when you go to music festivals and when you go to restaurants they are treated like an afterthought.

“Whereas we focus that if the chips are going to be the biggest part of your meal by volume, they should be one of the best bits of the meal

“They should be your highlight.”