The Scottish Fish and Chip Awards winners are out, and I have a few thoughts
The winners have been announced and I’m feeling hungry
My first thought, when seeing that the Scottish Fish and Chip Awards had come round for the third year running, was, who judges these things?
And, then, they’re so lucky, how can I get the job?
Perhaps it’s best that I don’t fill in an application, if such a thing exists. My cholesterol levels are already stratospheric.
Anyway, it turns out that the shortlist is decided by a public vote, before their team descends on individual chip shops in order to judge them.
I imagine that’s no easy feat. There are over 10,500 chippies in the UK, with a large proportion of those in Scotland.
In the end, the Scottish Fish and Chips Awards had a total of 111 highly recommended runners up and winners, who were announced earlier this week at a ceremony in Glasgow.
That amount seems massive, though it is just a small fraction of the chipper scene. There are many on the list that I’ve never heard of, and I’m sad that so few that have harnessed the potential of traditional punning names, like The Frying Scotsman, Chipsy Kings (a real place on Edinburgh’s Rose Street) or New Cods on the Block.
However, there are a few of my favourites in the line-up. When I lived on the other side of Edinburgh, I was a regular at the pint-sized #FISH - highly recommended in the Best Fish Supper in the East category. They’re situated in the upmarket Marchmont area, and that might explain why they’re a bit classier than the average chippie. They often have sustainable fishy options, in lieu of the usual haddock, and will put a wedge of lemon and a sprig of parsley on their takeaways.
However, they once defeated me with the gobstopper-sized pickled onion that I’d ordered on the side. It was so caustic that it nearly turned my eyelids inside out and gave me a coughing fit. I don’t think I’m man enough to try their pickled eggs or gherkins, though I really do have a penchant for both.
I’m also pleased to see Landy’s on the list, as winner of Best Newcomer. Owned by the Vittoria Group and situated on the Royal Mile, they’re a great spot if you want to do the rare thing of sitting in with chish and fips.
There used to be more sit-in spots in Edinburgh, like Brattisani’s in Haymarket, which closed down in 2002. I do like to have that option. That’s because I don’t really use Deliveroo or Just Eat, and, if you’re collecting in person, I find the hot-footing back to your home with precious cargo really stressful.
It’s equivalent to delivering a transplant organ. I always feel that my feet don’t move fast enough.
So Landy’s is a great option. There are booths, and they have chippie sauce on the table, so you can use it way more liberally than is ever dignified.
However, my last good takeaway was from a newly discovered Leith place, Guido’s on Great Junction Street, which isn’t on the list but probably should be. Unfortunately, my husband failed when he didn’t ask them to apply my requested sauce. That made me a bit sad, as a fish supper is a bimonthly sort of treat for us. I’m sure our marriage will recover eventually, after extensive therapy sessions.
Prehaps he forgot because he doesn’t like sauce - shame on him - and is a pedant who just orders salt, because he feels vinegar or sauce makes the whole package soggy. He applies his own vinegar at home, just so. Anyway, Guido’s went down well otherwise, and my other half rated their frites. He knows his stuff, since he once worked in Fochabers Chip Shop, who are not on this year’s winners list, though they have won awards before.
His teenage job was operating the rumbler, which spins the tatties until their clothes fall off, a bit like Bucks Fizz doing a dance routine in the Eighties. Then he had to feed those nudey tubers through the chipper. There were no free chips - or any food - included as part of the part-time role. Maybe that’s just as well, or he might still be there, rumbling away.
He’s still a fan of that venue, and will always order his favourite white pudding supper when he’s back home.
I never deviate from the fish. When I was a teenager, I always got chicken and chips, which seems ridiculous now. I don’t think I even liked it at the time.
There was also a smoked sausage phase, but I’ve recovered.
I’m disinterested in things like deep fried Mars Bars, and the more they mention them in the context of a typical Scottish diet, the more I ignore them and hope that they go away.
Same with pizza crunches and munchie boxes.
There are Best Pizza and Best Fritter categories at the Scottish Fish and Chip Awards, but I just think, no thanks. However, they may try to convert me if they wish.
Anyway, perhaps now, when my husband is up in his Moray homeland, he’ll try The Fish and Chip Company in Hopeman, as they were highly recommended as Best Fish Supper in the North-East. There’s also Fish ‘n’ Chips 2 Go and The Whyte Byte, both in Keith, who were highly recommended in the Best Mobile Fish & Chips category.
They’re in the wrong part of Scotland to serve chippie sauce, so at least if we visit them, he won’t have the opportunity to mess up my order. Just saying.
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