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Is this the best Fish and Chip shop????


Thorntons girl

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22 hours ago, RLongden said:

The change from frying fish and chips in beef dripping to vegetable oil has without a doubt altered the taste. Plus, the traditIonal ‘chippy’ is now a rare breed, with kebabs, fried chicken and pizzas, all jockeying for position in many of the old shops.... those who have escaped the transition to the ubiquitous Chinese, Indian, Turkish, etc. takeaways.

There was a time, even in my relatively recent youth, when the chippy ‘menu’ consisted of cod, haddock, fishcake (proper ones), rissole (imposter fishcake!), roe, saveloy (latterly battered sausage), peas, curry sauce (no baked beans) and buttered bread cakes under a Perspex dome. Pukka Pies, pickled onions, eggs and the ability to buy vinegar, pop and other outsales for consumption off the premises. Waste products of scallops (the potato portion of the fishcake, fallen apart in the frier) and scraps (crunchy clumps of batter, separated from the fish.... or sometimes luckily still containing some!) were given away free on request, if they were visible in the warmer.

’Open’ was in newspaper, or plain paper, skilfully crafted (origami-style) into a perfect container for eating on-the-go (but what was the little greasproof paper bag, amongst your chips in aid of?)

’On a Tray’. As above, but the ability to securely contain ‘wet’ accompaniments, such as peas or curry. 2p surcharge over ‘Open’

‘Wrapped’. Packaged securely for eating at home/work and multiple portions of chips were merged into one amorphous mass, separated vaguely with the greasproof bag, almost guaranteed to result in a punch-up as the diners tried to divvy-up!

Wooden (lolly stick wood) forks gave way to plastic, paper wrapping gave way to polystyrene clamshell boxes and the menu expanded to include many other options, which detracted from purist chippy fare.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips

There may be other chippies in town that still observe the traditional ways, but one near my work on Whitt’ Moor in Chesterfield still do and although they only open two lunchtimes and three evenings a week, they have queues down the street, whenever I pass and see them open.

Happy days and how come as a kid, you could scoff them with impunity, whereas nowadays just the smell of them and you put a stone on?! :) 

 

Chippys as I remember them, my mouth is watering, somebody please go back to beef dripping chips!!

Fish and chips is not made to be dry and tasteless, we want scraps and loads of salt and vinegar!!

Thanks for sharing.

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13 hours ago, Thorntons girl said:

Sprats?? I must admit I had never heard of them, thanks for the info boginspro, what did they taste like? They certainly look tasty.

I wonder if any chippys in Sheffield do them now and if they dont they should!!

Any chip shop owners out there willing to take the challenge?!

Hello  Thorntons girl  I am not sure if they are available in the fresh form now in Sheffield but any decent fish monger would tell you about that. I think they came in on the fish trains from the east coast, they must be genuine sprats ( scientific name Spratus Spratus , I am not kidding ) because I think in recent years other small white bait have been passed off as sprats. They are available in tins I believe but not the same.  Cooked properly they are lovely but I think we first had them when I was young because they were cheap. Where I live now I catch my own fresh fish, but not sprats, the nearest I get now is battered sand eels .

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Moving slightly sideways, many of us will remember when the fish & chip shop was the only take-away available, especially in the evenings - except that it was never called a "take-away" in those days, simply "the chippy". I would guess that the next type of shop to enter the fray was the Chinese food outlet - for which the expression "take-away" was probably invented. But when? I remember the first one opening in the town where I then lived, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, about 1970, run by one Johnny Wong; but I suspect that the "chinky chuck-out" as they were rather dismissively called back then, would have arrived in big cities such as Sheffield before that.

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4 hours ago, Athy said:

Moving slightly sideways, many of us will remember when the fish & chip shop was the only take-away available, especially in the evenings - except that it was never called a "take-away" in those days, simply "the chippy". I would guess that the next type of shop to enter the fray was the Chinese food outlet - for which the expression "take-away" was probably invented. But when? I remember the first one opening in the town where I then lived, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, about 1970, run by one Johnny Wong; but I suspect that the "chinky chuck-out" as they were rather dismissively called back then, would have arrived in big cities such as Sheffield before that.

" But when? "  That is a good question and probably vary hard to answer but I am sure someone on here will have an idea. I know Chinese restaurants were covered on here but don't think chippies were mentioned. My favourite comedian Brendan Grace, did a sketch about Chinese chippies on YouTube here.    ---------     

 

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On 28/05/2018 at 16:16, lysander said:

I know I highly rated Queenies during the 50/60's, but another one for which I have fond memories was Hoskins on Bellhouse Road, Shiregreen. As a young lad ,after an evening stroll with Mum and Dad around ( well, almost) Concord Park a treat walking home was chips and a fish cake...eaten "open" not "wrapped" ...and with lashings of salt and enough vinegar to sip it out of the corner of the bag of chips. Incomparable and, doubtless, unhealthy.

Do you remember the matador poster Roy Hoskins had on the wall in the chip shop. It wasn't until I was much taller and could see over the counter there were scantily clad ladies on the wall. Remember seeing the lads from Hatfield House Lane Senior at dinnertime buying a bap cut in half from shop next door (Slaters, I think) before it became the post office. After scooping out and eating some of the bread then throwing the rest at one another before going into Hoskins and getting it filled with chips and scraps. 

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The best that I’ve had were from a tiny chippy on the bottom of Woodbourn Road, Attercliffe. The elderly lady who ran it only cooked to order, and only sold fried fish, fish cakes and rissoles, not forgetting her excellent chips, this was back in the 60’s/70’s. 

To run her a close second I will nominate Brenda’s on Moor Street, but even this was a good few years ago. If I had to think of a good one now I would probably go for the one on Chesterfield Road, on the opposite side to the police station.

 

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As a lad if I could snaffle 6d from somewhere the Millhouses chippy served excellent chips with scraps on. Mmmmm.  Mind you, to answer the original title I'm afraid I'd have to leave the City and head to Whitby, down at the end of the north pier.  Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!

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Martin has reminded me about "scraps", and I too remember asking for them in chip shops. They were the bits of batter which had fallen of the fillets of fish during cooking, and were thus basically dep-fried globs of almost pure cholesterol. I suppose it was because we all walked and ran around a lot in those days that we didn't all weigh twelve stone by the time we left junior school. These days I see Mums getting their children out of cars and rolling them to the school gate, and wonder what the future holds in store for such kids.

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On 17/04/2021 at 08:35, DaveJC said:

 If I had to think of a good one now I would probably go for the one on Chesterfield Road, on the opposite side to the police station.

 

Woodseats Friary, this is my current favourite.

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On 17/04/2021 at 10:42, MartinR said:

to answer the original title I'm afraid I'd have to leave the City and head to Whitby, down at the end of the north pier.  Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!

The other year I set myself the challenge of finding and visiting every chip shop in Whitby, so far I have found the following

 

Magpie, Pier Road (poor)

Trenchers, New Quay Road (poor)

Royal, Baxtergate (awful)

Silver Street Chip Shop (good)

Mr Chips, Bridge Street (good)

Hadleys, Bridge Street

Robersons, Bridge St

The Middle Chippy, Bridge Street

Riverside Fisheries, Bridge Street

Russels, St Anns Staith

Quayside, Pier Road

Railway, Fishburn Road

Angel Fisheries, Angle Yard off Baxtergate

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55 minutes ago, LeadFarmer said:

The other year I set myself the challenge of finding and visiting every chip shop in Whitby, so far I have found the following

 

Magpie, Pier Road (poor)

Trenchers, New Quay Road (poor)

Royal, Baxtergate (awful)

Silver Street Chip Shop (good)

Mr Chips, Bridge Street (good)

Hadleys, Bridge Street

Robersons, Bridge St

The Middle Chippy, Bridge Street

Riverside Fisheries, Bridge Street

Russels, St Anns Staith

Quayside, Pier Road

Railway, Fishburn Road

Angel Fisheries, Angle Yard off Baxtergate

When you’ve completed this you could do the pubs, 

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The one I was thinking of is now "Mr Chips by the beach", though I don't think it was called that back in the 1970s

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On 18/04/2021 at 16:55, MartinR said:

The one I was thinking of is now "Mr Chips by the beach", though I don't think it was called that back in the 1970s

Up to now Mr Chips is my preferred, but the mission is not yet complete 😀

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I’m of the opinion that the customary bin positioned outside fish and chips shops if not just for the packaging, but for the whole meal in respect of someone who knows his/her fish and chips and has inadvertently purchased from a crap hole. But having said that, looking at some of the culinary delights on sale in our supermarkets, I am convinced that some folk have no idea what good wholsome food tastes like. 👎

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