Chip Off The Block is an honest-to-god cheesy chips van. I found them flogging their wares at the Bristol Hot Air Balloon Fiesta sandwiched between an £8 a cup Pimm’s stall and some other thoroughly generic food truck, with a proper chalkboard declaring theirs “the best you’ll ever have”.

LET’S GET DOWN TO CHEESINESS

The chips come in a cone – much better for walking-and-eating than a regular box, although it makes sitting down a bit complicated.

Unfortunately, the triple-cooked chips (which I’ve slowly discovered means “way too crispy”) are often on the small side – this at least made sure the whole cone is full, at the expense of getting a proper mouthful of starchy queso. There are still enough large chips in there to make it a proper serving, running through the cone like main arteries of starch.

Chip Off The Block seem to pride themselves on their use of a blend of cheeses – Cheddar & Ogleshield – and to their credit it works well with a good level of saltiness. The cheese is very finely grated, but not smoothly melted – not exactly “smothered”, but spread thoroughly through the cone so that every single chip has its own serving. Given the hecticness of dealing with a queue, it’s good of them to not just dump it all on the top.

ROUNDUP

PRICE: £3.50 + 50p for cheese (festival prices, eh?)
CHIPS: Triple-cooked, on the small & crispy side
CHEESE: Not fully-melted, but extremely thorough
PRETENTIOUSNESS: The cheese-combo actually worked pretty well, I’d love to see this used more often
OVERALL: Chips a little underwhelming, but much better than expected for a festival van