Fish and Chips with Simon

[joiei]

Oh dear, now I am craving an order of fish and chips from Chelsea Fish and Chips that used to be on Larkin in San Francisco.  https://www.facebook.com/SimonMajumdarPage/videos/1004456122955712/

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Good grief!   I hadn't thought of that place in decades.    You'd carry you order home wrapped in newsprint.    Good eating it was.

[Martin Fisher]

Quoting Simon...."this [fish & chips] is probably what I'll have to be my last meal in the whole world"

 

I've said essentially the same thing for many years.

[lesliec]

Those aren't proper fish and chips - these are.

 

Proper fish and chips are served in newsprint, not on plates at restaurants (you have the right idea, Margaret. When I was a kid it was actual newspaper with a smaller sheet of plain paper inside, but somebody decided the small amount of printers' ink you might ingest wasn't good for you).  And slathering it with vinegar is a vile English habit which, in my view, should be outlawed.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

No newsprint, but excellent quality fish and perfect fries at Woodhouse Fish Company in SF.   I prefer the Polk Street kitchen to the Market Street one, but they are both good.     Not the cheapest, but huge portions of really well prepared battered fish and super fries.

http://www.woodhousefish.com/   

[cakewalk]

And I thought this topic was Fish and Chips with salmon.  I remember a good friend of mine (originally from New Zealand) reminiscing about fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

 

I think Simon used to post on eGullet back in the day.

[haresfur]

On 1/7/2016 at 5:10 PM, lesliec said:

Those aren't proper fish and chips - these are.

 

Proper fish and chips are served in newsprint, not on plates at restaurants (you have the right idea, Margaret. When I was a kid it was actual newspaper with a smaller sheet of plain paper inside, but somebody decided the small amount of printers' ink you might ingest wasn't good for you).  And slathering it with vinegar is a vile English habit which, in my view, should be outlawed.

 

I'll eat flathead and chips in a restaurant since none of the fish and chip shops here have it. And better vinegar than "chicken salt". I suppose I'd eat restaurant fish and chips in England if that's what it takes to get them cooked fresh.

[liuzhou]

I'm confused. Or he is. He says he is going to show us a "proper" fish and chip shop, but then goes to a pub/restaurant. Not a fish sand chip shop in sight.

[naguere]

If ever you are in Whitby you are in luck for several fish and chip places, also local kippers:

Whitby is a wonderful place to visit just on its merits, on the sea and locally caught fish.

 

http://www.magpiecafe.co.uk

 

The Magpie Cafe is where I would head for.

 

[DianaB]

On 14/02/2018 at 3:22 PM, naguere said:

If ever you are in Whitby you are in luck for several fish and chip places, also local kippers:

Whitby is a wonderful place to visit just on its merits, on the sea and locally caught fish.

 

http://www.magpiecafe.co.uk

 

The Magpie Cafe is where I would head for.

 

 

I occasionally have to visit Whitby for meetings but it isn’t one of my favourite places, the pretty old streets team with tourists to such an extent that it can be difficult to get around on any day let alone when the sun is visible.  The Magpie keeps a number of the tourists happy and out of the way by having them queue outside for a while before feeding them.  If you don’t want to stand in line but you do want excellent chips and fish head over the swing bridge to https://www.hadleysfishandchips.co.uk/.  

 

The position is similar in York where there is at least more space per tourist if you forget weekends during the summer.  Rather than queue for Bettys https://www.bettys.co.uk/cafe-tea-rooms/our-locations/bettys-york main tea room where you will wait a good while to be allocated a tiny table millimetres from your neighbour, head up Stonegate to what was Taylors but I’ve an idea it has been rebranded Bettys.  Both are under same ownership for a good while now.  The ground floor is a tea shop selling loose teas etc but upstairs are tea rooms where the menu is mostly the same as all of the other Bettys places.  Many people don’t know that tea room exists.  Space is more generous, the decoration is nicer and you are not exposed to the stares of all the passers by as you will certainly be in the larger Bettys. 

 

Fish and chips are on the Bettys menu but while I’m sure they will be excellent I have never been tempted and I haven’t seen anyone else take this choice when I’ve lunched in any of their places.  Pikelets dripping with butter does me, with a serving of their Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. Ceylon sapphire tea is also lovely.  Menu on website.

 

Mmmm pikelets....  butter....

 

Cant be hard to make pikelets,  Bettys is impossible on Saturdays so that might be a project.  Fish and chips can wait but having tried the Magpie (admittedly before the rebuild but I see that the queuing is the same) I would always pick Hadley’s if I want fish and chips in Whitby.

 

Despite my dislike of the town Whitby is also THE place to go for fresh fish/sea food.  Lobsters were £5 each last time I looked! OK those were the ones with one claw missing or similar but they were all less than £10 per lobster.  You need to be there on the right day of course, same for all of the other delights from the sea.

 

 

[naguere]

DianaB, that's The Magpie buggered then, as for Bettys, who needs their fat rascals anyway. thanks for the information.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2018 by naguere (log)

[adey73]

Where about you seeing the super cheap lobsters? 

[liuzhou]

On 10/03/2018 at 7:55 PM, DianaB said:

Despite my dislike of the town Whitby is also THE place to go for fresh fish/sea food.  Lobsters were £5 each last time I looked! OK those were the ones with one claw missing or similar but they were all less than £10 per lobster.  You need to be there on the right day of course, same for all of the other delights from the sea.

 

I'm going to respectfully disagree. My birthplace was St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland and the fishing villages along the south coast of Fife: Pittenweem, Anstruther, Crail etc. have the cheapest and best lobsters I've ever eaten. 

Of course, those in the know buy them directly from the  boats as they land. Cut out the middle man.

[DianaB]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

 

I'm going to respectfully disagree. My birthplace was St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland and the fishing villages along the south coast of Fife: Pittenweem, Anstruther, Crail etc. have the cheapest and best lobsters I've ever eaten. 

Of course, those in the know buy them directly from the  boats as they land. Cut out the middle man.

 

I will happily agree that the best and probably the cheapest food from the sea comes direct from the boats.  Decades ago I would help out with mending of nets on days the boats couldn’t go out, in exchange were lots of crabs and the occasional lobster.  Sadly the town where I lived then, which grew from fishing, has very few boats now.  The council considered them an eyesore for the tourist.  

 

Boats still go out from Whitby.  Once fish and chips have been consumed a nice afternoon can be spent watching them coming into the harbour if you are lucky with the tides (or of course if you have checked them first).   I would guess that the fishing communities @liuzhou mentions will be similar to those few that still exist around Whitby.   I’m not sure if it is still possible to buy direct from the boats, something tells me that the introduction of strict quotas meant that everything landed had to be declared and then sold via an auction house made for that purpose.  Of course if you know get to know people working on the boats you might still be lucky.  I think the place that makes kippers is still in operation in Whitby and much appreciated by those who enjoy kippers.  You won’t need the address to find it, just follow the aroma...

 

For the enthusiast holidaying in Whitby you can book yourself onto a boat that will take you a little way off shore so that you can catch your own fish, in theory at least.

 

The way memory works never ceases to amaze me.  I haven’t thought about the nets or about fishing at Whitby in a long time.  While writing I remembered a TV play made years ago about a group of blokes going to Whitby for a fishing weekend.  I found it on YouTube here:

 

I need to watch this again.

[naguere]

DianaB You have really pushed the boat out.

[Harters]

The winner of this year's Fish & Chip Shop of the Year award is Millers Fish & Chips, Haxby, York. Runners up were the Burton Road Chippy, Lincoln and Harbourside Fish & Chips, Plymouth

 

Regional finalists, etc here - http://www.fishandchipawards.com/images/pagebuilder/NFCA2018-WinnersandFinalistBrochure.pdf

[Martin Fisher]

Wish I could afford a trip to visit some of shops.

On 1/6/2016 at 6:24 PM, DiggingDogFarm said:

Quoting Simon...."this [fish & chips] is probably what I'll have to be my last meal in the whole world"

I've said essentially the same thing for many years.

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Kim Shook]

This is the best fish and chips I've had in my life and nary a scrap of newsprint:

(And malt vinegar is the nectar of the gods).  Master's Super Fish - London.  Forever grateful to @Harters for the recommendation.

[Martin Fisher]

I told a friend earlier tonight, fish and chips justifies a trip to England!

 

[liuzhou]

36 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

I told a friend earlier tonight, fish and chips justifies a trip to England!

 

 

Or Scotland. Especially the  Anstruther Fish Bar and Restaurant, Fife. (Note pronunciation of Anstruther is Ainster). Notable customers include Prince William, Tom Hanks,  Robert De Niro and me!

[Martin Fisher]

8 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Or Scotland. Especially the  Anstruther Fish Bar and Restaurant, Fife. (Note pronunciation of Anstruther is Ainster). Notable customers include Prince William, Tom Hanks,  Robert De Niro and me!

 

 Scotland would be great too!

Ancestry in both!

John Proudfoot is an ancestor... "The Scotchman in America: Addresses, Songs, Etc., at Scottish Gatherings; Religious Poems and Occasional Verses"