The Fry Awards has announced the best fish and chip takeaways across the UK and some are right here in the North West.
For the past three months, people with arguably the best job in the world have secretly dined at each outlet in the running.
They’re assessing 40 aspects of the business, including everything from the quality of fish and chips and staff presentation to front-of-house hygiene and customer service.
The food remains the main focus, including ratings of the flakiness of the fish, crispiness of chips, crunch of batter and value for money.
The takeaways tested needed to hit a 96% pass rate of the assessed factors, much higher than any previous years so you know they’ll all be incredible chippies.
Reece Head, competition organiser, comments: “Announcing our award winners couldn’t come at a better time. The industry is going through a stage of uncertainty with coronavirus impacting the lives and incomes of thousands of shops and owners.
“This is just the news we need to lift the industry so that those that are still trading can tell their customers immediately, while those that are closed have something exciting to shout about when their doors open again.
“Our award winners are all at the top of their game and are moving with the times, embracing technology such as contactless payments, online ordering, and click and collect and delivery while still ensuring the food they are serving is top quality and the customer service is second to none.”
And the Greater Manchester borough that has managed to bag itself one of the top spots might be good at pies, but it turns out it’s also really good at fish and chips too…
Coming in the 50 Best Fish and Chip Takeaways is The Fish at Goose Green, on Clapgate Lane in Wigan!
It’s well loved by fans with a solid 4.8 out of 5 rating on Facebook and plenty of supportive customers.
One customer wrote ‘without a doubt best chippy in Wigan’ five weeks ago, and it turns out they’re not wrong!
There are a few other North West chippies topping the list too, including The Codfather on Manchester Road in Northwich, The Fish Bar in Crewe, and Fylde Fish Bar in Southport.
See the full list below:
Auckley Friery, Auckley, South Yorkshire
Bishopston Fish Bar, Horfield, Bristol
Callaways Fish & Chips, Dorchester, West Dorset
Captain’s Traditional Fish & Chips, Harrow, London
Chish and Fips, Norwich, Norfolk
East Coast, Musselburgh, East Lothian
Drakes, Babbacombe, Torquay, Devon
Fiddlers Elbow Fish & Chips, Leintwardine, Herefordshire
Finn’s Traditional Fish and Chips, Reading, Berkshire
Fish ‘n’ Fritz, Weymouth, Dorset
Fishtastic, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
Fochabers, Fochabers, Moray
Frydales of Syston, Syston, Leicester
Frydays of Kendal, Kendal , Cumbria
Fylde Fish Bar, Marshside, Southport, Lancashire
Hiks, Brynhyfryd, Swansea, Glamorgan
Hill Top Village Fisheries, Huddersfield, Yorkshire
Hirds Family Fisheries, Halifax, West Yorkshire
Hooked@31, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire
Land & Sea, Sowerby, York, North Yorkshire
Market Hill Fisheries, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
Middleton In Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop, Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham
Mister C’s, Fulford, North Yorkshire
Mister C’s, Selby, North Yorkshire,
My Plaice Fish & Chips, Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk
Oysters Fish & Chips, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Penaluna’s Famous Fish & Chips, Hirwaun, Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Plattens Fish and Chips, Wells-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk
Priory Plaice Fish and Chips, Ulverston, Cumbria
Proper Fish & Chip Co, Exmouth, Devon
Redcloak Fish and Chips, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire
Robinson’s Traditional Fish & Chips, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham
Sandgate Friery, Penrith, Cumbria
Scott’s Plaice, Gosport, Hampshire
Smith’s Chippy, South Shields, Tyne & Wear
The Chip Club, Kingston-Upon-Thames, London
The Codfather, Manchester Road, Cheshire
The Cod’s Scallops, Bramcote Lane, Nottingham
The Esk Cafe , Carlisle, Cumbria
The Fish at Goose Green, Wigan, Lancashire
The Fish Bar, Crewe, Cheshire
The Fish Works, Largs, North Ayrshire
The Friary, Carrickfergus, County Antrim
The Magpie Café, Whitby, North Yorkshire
The Plaice To Be, Kilmarnock, Troon, South Ayrshire
The Real Food Café, Tyndrum, Perthshire
Topcatch Fish and Chips, Southampton, Hampshire
Towngate Fisheries, Idle, Bradford, West Yorkshire
Valerios Fish and Chips, Lanark, South Lanarkshire
Wetherby Whaler, Wetherby, West Yorkshire
Wollaston Fish Bar, Wollaston, Stourbridge, West Midlands
Big news in the foodie world: Mancunians can now feast upon an Indian Delhi brunch with bottomless cocktails and fizz.
The Delhi House Cafe, located in the Corn Exchange, is marking its first birthday this week and, to celebrate, has launched its brand new bottomless brunch offer.
Available every Thursday to Sunday between 12pm and 4pm, guests can choose one starter, one main and then receive ninety glorious minutes of bottomless booze for just £31.95 per person.
On the drinks front, diners will get the choice of fizz, lager or some of Delhi House Cafe’s notoriously impressive cocktails, such as their Spiced Bloody Mary, Mango Mimosa and Rose Sangria.
And their food menu boasts an equally impressive selection: For starters, there is a choice of Dahi Poori; a popular street food snack of puffed puri shells filled with a mint and tamarind yoghurt, A.A.C; a tasty fried avocado and potato dish, and Moong Dall Ladoo; sweet lentil fritters served with radish and a tamarind yoghurt.
And as for mains? Diners will be able to choose from one of five dishes from Delhi House Cafe’s menu, including their famous ‘Not My Burger’; a tandoori chicken tikka naan sandwich served with chips, salad and homemade curry mayo, Creamed Chicken or Achari Paneer Kathi Rolls; rolled in a crispy paratha and served with salad and chips, or the Masala Chicken Scrambled Eggs served with hash browns and a toasted bun.
This epic brunch menu launches TODAY, so make sure to get down to try it out for yourself.
Remember those really tasty and sugary puddings dished up during school dinners? You know, the one’s you’d get before Jamie Oliver had stuck his nose in?
Well, there’s a new recipe that will enable you to recreate the iconic vanilla sponge cake from the comfort of your own kitchen.
Rekindling those childhood memories, Instagram baker @cakeontherun recently shared her recipe for a vanilla traybake, complete with icing and sprinkles on top.
@cakeontherun / Instagram
The recipe for Laura’s vanilla cake tray bake uses no eggs, so a vegan version can easily be made using dairy-free milk. So, what are the rest of the ingredients?
All you’ll need is 400g self raising flour (or all purpose flour with 1 tsp extra baking powder, or gluten free flour), 250g caster sugar, 200g margarine, 200g vanillaor plain yoghurt, 200ml milk, 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract, 1 tbsp baking powder, a splash of lemon juice,400g powdered icing sugar, a splash of cold water and sprinkles for the icing.
The method is straight forward, too: Firstly, you’ll need to pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F/ gas mark 4 before creaming the margarine and sugar together in a large bowl. Then, you’ll need to sift in the flour and add all of the other ingredients.
Mix together until combined – though be careful not to over mix! Once this has been done, line a baking dish with parchment paper and bake for thirty minutes (or when the top is golden and the sponge is cooked in the middle.)
@cakeontherun / Instagram
Then, remove the cake from the tin and paper and leave to cool on a wire rack. You can then make the icing sugar by slowly adding water to the powder in a deep bowl. When it’s runny and the cake is cooled, pour over the top and then scatter sprinkles. Then, you can cut into chunks and serve with custard to live out your primary school dream.
Other fun twists you can try is coconut (using coconut milk and desiccated coconut instead of dairy and sprinkles), almond (with almond milk and almond slices) and lemon.
Make sure to follow Laura’s Instagram pagefor more baking inspiration.
BAB, the Northern Quarter gourmet kebab joint after all our hearts, has launched its new menu and as you’d expect, it has some incredible new kebabs up for grabs.
BAB’s August menu boasts a number of new additions to its famous mezze dishes, including a Spinach and Feta Stuffed Flatbread with a feta and mozzarella dip for £6.50, Prawn Saganaki,£7, Octopus Terrine, £8.50, and Moussaka Croquettes filled with spicy minced lamb, aubergine and feta cheese, £6.50.
But, perhaps most excitingly, the new menu has brought with it a seafood version of their massively popular Mixed Kebab.
The new Seafood Mixed Kebab, priced at £15, features deep-fried calamari, soft shell crab and octopus, alongside a staple kebab shop salad, a creamy coriander and lime dressing and BAB’s special sauce.
It joins the OG Mixed Kebab, which comes topped with lamb adana, aleppo chicken and a portion of cheesy chips, all costing £14.50.
Also new on the menu is a vegan King Oyster & Mixed Mushroom Shawarma for £10, Octopus with a butternut squash tarragon puree, priced at £13.50, and a Chickpea Shawarma with huge fried halloumi chips, costing £10.50.
You can still also get BAB’s famous Flat Iron Steak Kebab, their Greek Fries and the always popular Scotch Bonnet Chicken Wings, and they’ve even added a Cookie Skillet (£6) that perfect for sharing, and a Pistachio Frangipani (£5.50) to the desserts.