Chip shops north vs. south

[Bletchleyite]

Just been to the chippy and got sausage, chips and peas, which is very nice and being scoffed (near enough) as I type.

But one oddity I noticed (and waste of paper) - each element of it was wrapped separately then put in a bag. Yet up north it'd be more conventional for it all to go in one tray to allow the peas time to soak in nicely on the way home.

Why the difference, I wonder? Do any Southern chippies serve chips and peas (or gravy/curry) in the Northern manner?

 

[najaB]

Why the difference, I wonder? Do any Southern chippies serve chips and peas (or gravy/curry) in the Northern manner?

I suspect that in the south it's more likely that it'll be taken home to be reheated there. So you'd want to be able to keep everything separate.

I've definitely had them all together in Norwich - don't know if that counts as 'South' for purposes of discussion though.

 

[furnessvale]

Just been to the chippy and got sausage, chips and peas, which is very nice and being scoffed (near enough) as I type.

But one oddity I noticed (and waste of paper) - each element of it was wrapped separately then put in a bag. Yet up north it'd be more conventional for it all to go in one tray to allow the peas time to soak in nicely on the way home.

Why the difference, I wonder? Do any Southern chippies serve chips and peas (or gravy/curry) in the Northern manner?

Up North it would be more conventional to buy fish and chips at a fish and chip shop, but with what passes for fish in southern chippies I too would buy a sausage!

 

[GatwickDepress]

Up North it would be more conventional to buy fish and chips at a fish and chip shop, but with what passes for fish in southern chippies I too would buy a sausage!

I take offence to that! Born and raised in Hastings, and there's nowt better than fresh local fish and chips on the beach.

 

[DarloRich]

Southern fish chops have no idea what they are doing.

 

[furnessvale]

I take offence to that! Born and raised in Hastings, and there's nowt better than fresh local fish and chips on the beach.

I knew I'd get a bite somewhere!

 

[radamfi]

There are some good fish and chip shops down south, but they are usually expensive. There is an award winning one near Selsdon, near Croydon, which is particularly good IMO.

 

[nlogax]

I take offence to that! Born and raised in Hastings, and there's nowt better than fresh local fish and chips on the beach.

True. Second best fish and chips I ever had was in Hastings.


..but the best I ever had was from Marshalls in Tynemouth

 

[pdq]

When we first moved to Yorkshire from SE London, the first thing we noticed about most of the local chip shops was that they closed after 'tea time' - ie around 6pm. Not a lot of use for people coming in from work and fancying fish and chips at 7...
Things have changed a bit, but still our closest chip shop closes at 6.30, so no chance of anything being cooked fresh after 6.15.

Other differences - fish choices (no Skate up here, and rare for plaice) and no saveloys.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Saveloys are vile anyway.

Round here they were all shut on Sundays for years, the day when I'm most likely to want chips having come back from somewhere. That's changing though.

 

[IanD]

Up North it would be more conventional to buy fish and chips at a fish and chip shop, but with what passes for fish in southern chippies I too would buy a sausage!

With you on that. Most places in the South East have no idea how to cook fish properly, with the odd exception. The natives only put up with it because they know no better.

I knew I'd get a bite somewhere!

But rareli in a southern chip 'oil.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The chippy I use up here wraps the polystyrene carton of mushy peas or curry sauce separately. They don't put the sausage and the chips separately though.

I'm just glad we don't (generally) leave the skin on up here.

 

[Bevan Price]

I have encountered good, bad, & indifferent chippies through the country - north, south, and also Scotland & Wales. I don't eat fish, so get chips, sausages, or beefburgers. And more than a few are inconsistent - well cooked chips sometimes, other times under-cooked or over-cooked, etc. And I have also encountered some strange-tasting sausages.

The chippy closest to me has changed hands several times; with a previous owner, they had the worst chips I have ever tasted. Don't use it now, despite new owners, because it is closed at dinner time (midday - or "lunchtime" to some southerners), and only opens in late afternoon to mid-evening..

 

[Harbouring]

Had some very ordinary fish and chips at an extortionate price at a tourist trap in the north, had some good grub at a good price in the south, also had some average fish and chips everywhere. One mans treasure maybe applies.

I don’t have peas or curry sauce but if you asked a chippy in the south to pour it on before wrapping for you I’m sure they will.

 

[DanNCL]

..but the best I ever had was from Marshalls in Tynemouth

That's where the best fish & chips I've ever had came from!

I wouldn't have said there was much difference between chip shops in the North and in the South; the main difference I notice is that in many (but not all) chip shops in some parts of the country don't seem to serve cod, only Haddock

 

[Busaholic]

The worst fish and chip shops are in Bristol: when I was a student there I used to starve rather than eat their inedible rubbish.

 

[Tetchytyke]

..but the best I ever had was from Marshalls in Tynemouth

They're not what they were, alas alas.

My favourite now is the Harbour View in Seaton Sluice.

 

[DarloRich]

here comes the science part: The big problem is often the oil/fat used. The best fish and chips are done in lard but that is very rare these days (think Beamish or Black Country Living Museum). Vegitable oil, rape seed oil and palm fat are all used

 

[najaB]

If you want to venture a wee bit further north - Anstruther, Fife is home to possibly the best fish and chips shop in Scotland (and, by extension, the UK seeing as you can't get a decent fish supper south of Gretna).

 

[nlogax]

They're not what they were, alas alas.
.

That is a shame, but I need to go have them again just to be sure. I still laugh at my friend finishing his and noticing that on a sunny but freezing winter's day his jacket was coated in solidified beef dripping.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

The key ingredients to perfect fish & chips are beef dripping, haddock rather than cod, and a good potato variety. Saturday visits to Bradford to visit family & watch the Avenue are always topped off by a visit to a local chippy. The best ones are those in the outer suburbs like Wibsey, Low Moor and Horton Bank Top generally run by ethnic Yorkshire folk (if I can say that without being deemed politically incorrect). Many inner city chippies run by our friends in the Asian community generally use vegetable oil for religious reasons and the results don't taste as good (but their curries are marvellous - just £7 for a two course meal last time I went to the Karachi).

When in Lancashire, I love Holland's steak & kidney puddings with chips, peas and gravy. And in the Midlands, you can't beat a Pukka pie. I believe Pukka have also branched out into very good steak puddings. But the chippies in Liverpool are awful.

The worst chips of all are those dreadful thin things you get at places like McDonalds. And what self-respecting Yorkshireman would ever stoop to asking for "regular fries" instead of chips?

Finally the best thing my missus ever did was to wean me off salt. They look at you weird when you say you want "just vinegar" but the fish & chips taste as good if not better.

 

[96tommy]

When I moved from Yorkshire to Central London at the time, the first thing I missed was the lack of any good chippies. All the ones in Central were "fake" chippies which were tourist traps and charged about £11 for fish and chips. It is only now i've moved a bit more East (Bethnal Green) that I've found some proper good traditional chippies. My favourites being one on Cambridge Heath Road which has sadly just closed down and one on White Hart Lane in Stepney Green.

I've found servings down here are smaller than back home but prices outside Central are pretty similar to back home. My favourite chip shops are in the Midlands to be honest. I've found theres much more choice and the fish are genuinely ready. At most chippies in Yorkshire they don't have fish ready and wait until someone has ordered to prepare it. Advantage of this is it is more fresh but can lead to 5/10 minutes of waiting in an ever increasing queue, especially on Friday nights.

 

[Bletchleyite]

London of course has the other traditional option, the pie and mash shop, though there are not many left and a lot are the tourist type mentioned.

 

[BanburyBlue]

Firstly, this type of thread gets my goat!! There is more to the UK than the 'North' and the 'South'. And what is with this north vs south rubbish anyway. We are still the same country and you get good and bad in every connotation in any location. So there will be good and bad chippies everywhere and I'm sure how they do things varies from town to town let alone region to region. There's no law that says if you open a chippy in 'the North' you must do it this way!!

Rant over.

Looking at the OPs question/statement, I live in Banbury in North Oxfordshire, so we are just in the South-east. Generally, round here, if you asked for fish and chips (or anything and chips for that matter) it would go in the same wrapping. Mostly chip paper, and not those polystyrene trays (exception being what they call round here a lunch box, which is a mini fish fillet, a sausage, chips and peas/gravy/curry sauce/beans). Mushy peas, curry sauce etc, would normally be served separately in a little polystyrene cup - but I'm sure if you asked they would add this to your 'x' and chips.

Like most places it varies from chippy to chippy. The worst ones are the 'generic take away' types that do everything for of take-away known to man. But we do have some very good ones - you just need to know where to look.

 

[DarloRich]

Firstly, this type of thread gets my goat!! There is more to the UK than the 'North' and the 'South'. And what is with this north vs south rubbish anyway. We are still the same country and you get good and bad in every connotation in any location. So there will be good and bad chippies everywhere and I'm sure how they do things varies from town to town let alone region to region. There's no law that says if you open a chippy in 'the North' you must do it this way!!

The answer is that the best fish and chips comes from a northern seaside town. Southern chippies ming. They don't use the right oil, the fish is not fresh and is more and more becoming a processed white fish finger, they don't cook in hot enough oil and most don't do scraps. Some don't even do peas or curry sauce! Not one of them does a parmo. AND they cost a fortune. Philistines.

Looking at the OPs question/statement, I live in Banbury in North Oxfordshire, so we are just in the South-east. Generally, round here, if you asked for fish and chips (or anything and chips for that matter) it would go in the same wrapping. Mostly chip paper, and not those polystyrene trays (exception being what they call round here a lunch box, which is a mini fish fillet, a sausage, chips and peas/gravy/curry sauce/beans). Mushy peas, curry sauce etc, would normally be served separately in a little polystyrene cup - but I'm sure if you asked they would add this to your 'x' and chips.

My local chippie will wrap each portion of fish and chips in its own wrap. They don't use the polystyrene trays that seem to make everything sweaty thankfully. They serve the peas in a polystyrene cup which is surely the correct way to serve them so you as the customer can decide where they are deployed.

 

[96tommy]

London of course has the other traditional option, the pie and mash shop, though there are not many left and a lot are the tourist type mentioned.

Bethnal Green Road have some very traditional pie and mash shops. Yet to try a jellied eel though

 

[Bletchleyite]

The answer is that the bets fish and chips comes from a northern seaside town. Southern chippies ming. They don't use the right oil, the fish is not fresh and is more and more becoming a processed white fish finger, they don't cook in hot enough oil and most don't do scraps. Some don't even do peas or curry sauce! Not one of them does a parmo. AND they cost a fortune. Philistines.

To be fair the heart attack in a pizza box that is a parmo is not generally available outside the North East at all...I think this forum was the first time I heard of it!

My local chippie will wrap each portion of fish and chips in its own wrap. They don't use the polystyrene trays that seem to make everything sweaty thankfully. They serve the peas in a polystyrene cup which is surely the correct way to serve them so you as the customer can decide where they are deployed.

In the North West they will do that if you want but you have to ask for a "carton of peas", if you just ask for chips and peas you get a polystyrene tray with both in, and they soak in wonderfully.

You do know you've just forced me to have chips and peas for lunch[1] again, don't you?

[1] Dinner, sorry. Been down South too long.

 

[BlythPower]

I knew I'd get a bite somewhere!

You came to the right plaice!

here comes the science part: The big problem is often the oil/fat used. The best fish and chips are done in lard but that is very rare these days.

A lovely sight is the big blocks of beef dripping being added to the friers at the chippy in Robin Hoods Bay (the original one down at the bottom, that is).

 

[Butts]

If you want to venture a wee bit further north - Anstruther, Fife is home to possibly the best fish and chips shop in Scotland (and, by extension, the UK seeing as you can't get a decent fish supper south of Gretna).

Personally I think that place is a bit overrated, particularly as they use those cardboard boxes to serve it in.

Try Linda's in Cullen - excellent cheap sit down.
Fish - Haddock of course
White Puddings, Haggis Puddings and Black Puddings also to die for.

 

[najaB]

Personally I think that place is a bit overrated, particularly as they use those cardboard boxes to serve it in.

I've never been in myself (the one time I went there the queue was out the door and round the corner!) My chippy of choice is Dora's on Dura Street in Dundee