To celebrate National Fish and Chips Day that was on 2 June, I recently attended Gosch Sylt in Hamburg's Central Station food court.
The fish, erm... it's not a huge chunk of cod or plaice or haddock really, more like small breaded chunks, reminding me of Dutch kibbeling. I was served tartar sauce with it which was alright. I would have preferred something acidic instead though, if staff had asked me upfront. Tradition dictates brown sauce or vinegar. I would have even arranged myself with ketchup though... if I had been asked. I was also surprised to find out that the fish chunks had burnt into the styrofoam box, which apparently wasn't fit for its takeaway purpose at all!
Of course, this is another of those very German places with an opaque €10 minimum spend for card payments. €7.90 is quite ambitious for that kind of food so I would have expected credit card acceptance, but I had to part with my last tenner and receive old metal in return.
To sum it up, it was probably edible but I was still kind of underwhelmed, as I've experienced much better service at other railway station food outlets. A little more professionalism wouldn't go amiss. Ironically this is an example of a corporate-run fast food outlet that is surpassed in quality by franchised outlets of the same chain. Berlin's central station Gosch is operated by SSP and accepts credit cards as well as mobile payments even for small purchases. And thus I'll take my custom elsewhere in the future. If you are booked for an ICE train, hold on to your cash and spend it in the train's buffet car where you'll likely have better value for money. read more