Harry Potter is the Charm at British Chip Shop

Harry Potter fever struck Kings Highway Sunday night, bringing with it wands and wizards but mostly Muggles. (A Muggle is a non-wizard, for those not fluent in all things Potter.) 

In what is promised to be the first of several events, the British Chip Shop scheduled a Harry Potter trivia night, with special food options. All seats were reserved within days of announcing the dinner and contest, according to the restaurant’s Web site.

The contest wasn’t limited to simple questions like when is Harry Potter’s birthday, or what are the four houses of Hogwarts. Instead they relied on quotes that had to be attributed to characters and some cinematic knowledge not linked to the super-successful stream of eight fantasy books and movies.

In case you’ve lived under a rock for 15 years, Harry Potter is the main character in books about wizardry, set in the modern United Kingdom. The coming-of-age books draw in children and adults with tales of friendship, jealousy, revenge, justice, magic, preposterous creatures and just the tiniest bit of romance. And then there’s the Quidditch games, a magical twist on football with the added excitement of being played in the air.

Even the Chip Shop’s regular menu had some Potteresque additions, with references, by book title and chapter, to specific meals eaten at Hogwarts. Desserts ranged from simple pretzel wands to Harry’s treacle tarts.

Those enjoying the dinner couldn’t get enough of the food, especially the desserts. Denise Buzz of Runnemede, who has taught classes at Camden County College on Harry Potter, and her friend Danielle Salerno of Bellmawr, studied the menu intensely to decide which of the offered beverages they should try.

They each ordered both butter beer and pumpkin juice and then struggled to identify the tastes. “Butterscotch with a little bit of a bite. A cream soda base, perhaps,” said Buzz.

“This definitely has butter of some sort in it,” added Salerno. “Paula Dean would be proud.”

The pumpkin juice tasted like…well, pumpkin, they agreed, perhaps cut with apple juice.

Diners were split into four groups, representing the four “houses” or dormitories of Hogwarts. Strangers bonded in the thrill of the competition, huddling to present one answer for the group.

“We’ll be in the top three,” predicted David Butterworth, of Merchantville, a British native who was at the dinner with his wife, Emily Corse, and daughters, Lilla, 13, and Bailey, 9.

“We’re good on this. We’ve read the books multiple times and we’ve just been to a Harry Potter movie marathon (eight movies over four days).

Taking up a table next to the dessert spread was Denise Peters, chairman of the English department at Holy Cross High School in Cinnaminson. Peters said she talked with her friend, Ed Strojan, a co-owner of the British Chip Shop, about the possibility of a Potter trivia night.

“We couldn’t do it the night of the movie opening because everyone would be at the movie,” Peters said. Strojan agreed to give it a try. It was posted on Facebook and Accio! The rest is history.

Peters, part of a group of attendees from the Burlington County area of Cinnaminson and Maple Shade, said she drafted two sets of 100 questions to be used in the contest. One she described as OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Level) and other, NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests). 

Although Peters sat with her friends during the dinner and contest, she was mum when questions were asked.  “They think of me as Professor McGonigall. They think I talk like her,” said Peters, who lives in the Westmont section of Haddon Township.

Costumes weren’t excessive, many confined to a striped tie.  A cluster of teens filled one table, dressed in sundresses that the movie character Hermione might have worn to a tea dance.

Gary Coleman, co-owner of the restaurant, said they’re planning a Harry Potter weekend in October, to coincide with the borough’s Halloween parade.