Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

PECKING ORDER: Maltings landlord Shaun Collinge with one of the hen-shaped fried eggs on sale at the Tanners Moat pub Picture: Mike Tipping

That was the question staff at the Maltings pub began to ask themselves when they came second in this year's Founders Cask Ale Pub of the Year competition, having won first prize the year before.

The pub, in Tanners Moat, York, has channelled its frustration into a zany chicken-shaped fried egg now being served up to puzzled customers.

Mikey Naylor, barman/cook, and creator of the unusual egg, said: "We didn't come first and we should have done so I got to pondering, 'what came first, the chicken or the egg?'

"So then I started hand-shaping these hen-shaped eggs. The customers like them. Everyone thinks they're cool.

"They look at us in a strange manner at first but when they find out the reason, everyone agrees we should have come first in the competition."

The former Yorkshire Pub of the Year and Yorkshire Town Pub of the Year in 1997, has been serving up the eggs on top of gammon and inside sandwiches.

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